Wollongong’s free shuttle, one of the most popular in NSW, is safe, but seven buses, including those in Newcastle, Cabramatta, Penrith and Bankstown, will be discontinued, NSW Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian said.

Ms Berejiklian said the buses were introduced by the previous Labor government as an ‘‘election stunt’’.

‘‘Each of these shuttles is funded per-kilometre by taxpayers and we can’t afford to be wasting money that could be spent on much-needed extra transport services including those that will be introduced for bus and train customers in the October timetable and are desperately needed,’’ Ms Berejiklian said. 

Transport for NSW figures show that most of the free shuttles are used by only a handful of passengers.

Wollongong has an average of 7.4 passengers per kilometre compared to 1.3 passengers in Newcastle and 0.6 in Liverpool.

“There is so much to do in transport we can’t afford to be wasting millions of dollars a year on ghost services that are not use,” Ms Berejiklian said.

Services in Gosford and Kogarah will be retained, but a fee will be introduced for these buses, while Sydney’s CBD shuttle will face an alternate route.

Ms Berejiklian said extra bus services had been introduced in areas where the free shuttles operate and  passengers could use these services to get to their destination.  

The Gong Shuttle, which operates daily, has been incredibly popular since it was introduced in 2009. 

Nine buses travel on a 15-kilometre loop between the university, TAFE, Innovation Campus, North Wollongong and City beaches and the CBD.