Yarra Trams partners with Kinaway
Yarra Trams operates the world’s largest tram network with 250kms of double track, more than 480 trams, 1,680 stops and 5,000+ services a day serving 200+ million trips a year. Melbourne’s trams are 100% offset by solar energy, and tram travel saves ~$97 million in environmental damage annually through reduced emissions compared to driving.
Yarra Trams is proudly operated by Keolis Downer, the largest private provider of multimodal public transport in Australia. Our guiding principle is to ‘think like a passenger’. We focus on delivering safe, reliable, clean, and easy-to-use services, and we are committed to increasing the environmental, social, and economic contribution that Melbourne’s tram network makes to the city.
Yarra Trams is dedicated to providing meaningful outcomes that advance reconciliation and help us form mutually beneficial partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities.
As part of the Keolis Downer group, we launched our Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan in September 2022 that reaffirms our commitment to reconciliation.
A landmark series of artwork by First Peoples artists is now rolling through Melbourne as a key feature of the RISING festival, supported by the Department of Transport, Keolis Downer proud operator of Yarra Trams and Creative Victoria.
The Melbourne Art Trams Program wraps eight trams with unique designs by inspiring artists. In 2021 and 2022 all designs were created by Indigenous artists. The top six selected artworks speak to diverse themes of environmental ecologies and caring for Country, to personal stories of journeying and family, and reflect on the history and cultural heritage of First Peoples in the landscape. As a collective of moving artworks all six share with us the strength and beauty of creative cultural expression and the interwoven connections and continuous cultures of First Peoples in Victoria.
Yarra Trams recognises it has significant buying power that can be harnessed to seek socially and environmentally sustainable value above and beyond the value of the goods and services being procured.
Yarra Trams is focusing effort to support the equitable participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the economic opportunities this buying power creates. The membership with Kinaway will assist us to match our procurement categories with the capacity of certified Indigenous businesses. We are also keen to grow the cultural awareness of our employees through participation in Kinaway’s lunch and learn sessions.
