Transport for NSW: Actors paid to rile rail staffers

A TENDER has gone out for “professional role players” and actors to help Transport for NSW with “recruitment and selection activities” and put rail staff through their paces.

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IF you’re worried there aren’t enough angry customers on NSW trains already, have no fear: the state government wants to hire actors to play the part at taxpayers’ expense.

A tender has gone out for “professional role players” to help Transport for NSW with “recruitment and selection activities such as role plays and group-based tasks”.

Transport Minister Andrew Constance has refused to reveal the expected cost of the services, as it is an open tender, but a similar contract issued for a year’s worth of role playing between 2014-2015 cost the state government $506,000.

It is understood that Transport for NSW has hired “professional role players” since 2006, with taxpayers footing the bill for actors cast in roles as everything from angry customers to vandals.

The 2014-2015 contract for role playing services was issued to a company called Role Play Australia, which Mr Constance was grilled about in Budget Estimates last year.

The company’s website states its actors have played roles such as “a vandal on a train trying to avoid detection”.

Opposition Transport spokesman Ryan Park yesterday accused Mr Constance of “setting his sights on Hollywood” instead of spending the money on improving rail services across the state.

“If the government is looking for upset and disgruntled customers, head down to any train platform and ask one of the thousands of commuters whose fares are due to go up by $959 a year,” Mr Park said.

“Andrew Constance should get his day job right before setting his sights on Hollywood.

“The Baird government has its priorities out of whack when it thinks spending taxpayer money on actors is a better use of money than improving services.”

A spokeswoman for Transport for NSW said the actors were a way to “test” rail staff, and make sure commuters get better service when travelling.

“We get thousands of candidates every year vying for jobs with transport. Last year we had more than 25,000 candidates assessed through transport recruitment centres,” the spokeswoman said.

“Role players are brought in as part of our recruitment process to test candidates in scenarios they’re likely to face out on the network.

“We don’t want rude, arrogant or short-tempered staff serving our customers and don’t apologise for putting candidates through their paces to make sure they’re up for the job.”