Illawarra drivers are spending hours operating empty school buses, under cookie-cutter contract arrangements that have gone unchecked by state authorities.
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The so-called ‘ghost buses’, operated by Premier Illawarra, continued their runs to area private schools throughout this week, despite some schools having broken up for the holidays since as early as December 7.
An industry whistleblower says the practice is a waste of taxpayers’ money.
St Mary Star of the Sea College, The Illawarra Grammar School and Edmund Rice College were among the Illawarra schools visited by ghost buses this week, despite classes having wound up on December 8, December 13 and December 7, respectively.
The buses arrived at Edmund Rice’s Keira Mine Road turning circle at their scheduled times Thursday afternoon. They paused a while, then departed with only the driver and sometimes an attendant on board.
According to Transport for NSW, the buses are operating according to their usual timetable.
In some cases this would keep them needlessly on the road for more than an hour.
The ER6 bus for example, spends 35 minutes getting from Port Kembla to Edmund Rice College in the mornings, and 45 minutes travelling the reverse route in the afternoons, according to Premier’s timetable.
An industry source told the Mercury Transport for NSW should have detected and put an end to the “wasteful” practice.
“The bus contracting system, with GPS-tracked buses and routes to measure on time performance, is insignificant if government-owned buses operated by a private provider for a contract period of four years are being used when they are unjustified to service schools that students have already stopped attending for the school holidays,” the source said.
“This is NSW taxpayers’ money and it is being wasted when [buses are] not required, and there appears to be no checks or balances from Transport for NSW as to what is happening on the ground.”
Premier Illawarra manager Sunny Brailey declined to explain the ghost services when contacted by the Mercury.
Transport for NSW would also not answer questions on the financial arrangement that underpins Premier’s contract.
A department spokesperson said the ghost buses were operating in line with the public school calendar.
“Due to differences in private and public school holiday periods, there can be short periods of time where buses operate at a reduced capacity,” he said. “These periods are rare and only occur a few weeks a year.”
“These services, which are being operated in accordance with the published timetable, will continue until such a time as all public and private schools close so that no school students are disadvantaged or inconvenienced by any changes to the scheduled trips.”
The spokesman said the department would work with Premier Illawarra on “options to improve operational efficiencies where possible”.
The ghost buses observed by the Mercury at Edmund Rice College were not scheduled to visit any other schools, according to Premier’s timetable.
The bus company’s holiday timetable – excluding all school rootes – starts on Monday.
