West Australian Transport Minister Dean Nalder has backflipped on his decision to cut late-night train services from the city.
"I initially supported the PTA's decision based on the information provided to me, however, I spent last Friday night speaking to a number of businesses in both the central business district and Northbridge before taking the Mandurah line train at 1.15am," Mr Nalder said on Tuesday.
"It has become clear to me that these trains are far more utilised than I first thought and I have decided to overturn the decision to cancel these services."
Mr Nalder announced last month the PTA had decided to cancel the 1am, 1.15am and 2am services from the Perth CBD on Friday and Saturday nights due to low passenger numbers.
He said he was disappointed by the quality of the data he initially received from the PTA about late-night train patronage and had asked them to improve their patronage data collection.
The decision to cut the trains sparked a social media backlash, with commuters planning a pyjama party protest on Friday.
Mr Nalder told Parliament on February 18 that if people wanted to use the service they needed to vote with their feet and use it.
"The advice I received from the PTA is that there is an average of 80 passengers per 1.15am and 2.15am service on the weekends – a figure that can go as low as between 20 and 20 passengers," he said at the time.
Opposition leader Mark McGowan said the government was "once again in a mess".
"It's chaotic, it's dysfunctional – we had sharks, local government, Serco, libraries and now the backflip on late night trains," he said.
"This was a decision that should have never been made if the minister was doing his job. He should have gone and had a look at the service, rather than cutting it, then going to have a look at the service."
The Perth hospitality industry has welcomed Mr Nalder's decision to overturn the train cull.
Bradley Woods, CEO of the Australian Hotels Association WA, said "cancellation of these late night services by the PTA occurred without any consultation with the hospitality industry on how the train services could be greater utilised by passengers".
"This is a good decision by the Minister and clearly shows that the government has listened to the overwhelming voice of the community," Mr Woods said.
"These services are not only used by patrons but workers in the late night economy, which is an important part of growing our capital city."
