The cost of improving the troubled north-south bus line has blown out to around $32 million, well above the State Government’s earlier claims, the budget has revealed.
That’s more than four times the costing the State Government put on the project when it was announced in April.
That was when Transport Minister Chloe Fox announced eight bus routes on the north-south line would be taken from Transfield and handed to rival operator Torrens Transit in a bid to improve performance.
Two months later and the cost has increased.
The Minister’s office says the additional funding is a provisioning measure and will only be used if performance does not improve. At the moment the project costs $2 million a year.
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The papers say the money is being spent on the route transfer – Torrens Transit charge more to operate the services than Transfield did – and the purchase of extra buses.
Seven new buses and 28 replacement buses will be purchased by the Transport Department next year.
“The Government will invest an additional $2 million per year to improve the north-south corridor, which will include an additional 16 buses,” Fox said in a statement at the time.
“The Department will continue to make necessary changes to improve services, which will likely include more additional buses, and the Department is currently reviewing these requirements.”
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On Friday the Minister’s office issued a statement saying the extra budgeted costs were the result of a further review of the north-south routes.
“In April, Minister for Transport Services Chloë Fox said the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure was currently reviewing requirements on those routes and would continue to make changes to improve services,” a spokesman said.
“DPTI deputy chief executive Emma Thomas also told the 24 April news conference that DPTI would continue to work with Transfield and look at the remainder of the routes in the north-south contract region to determine what was needed in terms of bus numbers and bus mixes to ensure continued improved performance.
“Following the conclusion of that review, the Department requested $8 million a year, which comprises the previously announced $2 million a year cost for transferring the eight routes to Torrens Transit, and provisioning for additional buses and associated operating costs if required.”
Channel 9 News has reported that the latest performance figures for the north-south line – which have not yet been released publicly – show Transfield’s on-time running has improved from 61 per cent in the October-December quarter to 69.5 per cent between January and March.
However it will be the figures for the June to September quarter, when the improvements program was in place, that will show whether the Government’s moves have had an impact.
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