The University of Wollongong (UOW) has warned it could pull its three-year spend to keep the Gong Shuttle free – if the state government doesn’t honour the conditions of the funding.
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The government this week announced it would give the shuttle a stay of execution by extending the planned Opal fare start date from January 29 to July 1 – keeping the city-loop service free, for now.
The government plans to negotiate with the university and Wollongong City Council, which has also stumped up cash, to determine the shuttle’s longer-term future.
However, a UOW spokesman said its share of the joint funding arrangement was a non-negotiable grant.
He said the government didn’t have the university’s support unless it committed to keeping the shuttle free until 2021.
The spokesman said the university hoped the government would accept its offer of $350,000 per year for three years.
That money, coupled with the same spend promised by the council, would help keep the service free until June 30, 2021.
The uni’s cash is contingent on the council’s offer, as well as there being no changes to the route or timetable without prior negotiation.
The spokesman said the funding was offered as a grant, meaning it was “a specific sum, for a specific period, for a specific purpose”.
“While there may be negotiations around proposed route or schedule changes once UOW’s offer has been accepted, the offer itself was intended to be firm rather than being considered negotiable,” he said.
It’s unclear whether the annual uni-council spend will be enough to cover the required 25 per cent of running costs.
Lock in shuttle cash by Christmas: MP
Member for Wollongong Paul Scully has called on the NSW government to end the uncertainty around the long-term future of the Gong Shuttle within days.
The Labor MP has issued Transport for NSW an ultimatum to lock in the joint three-year funding deal on the table from the University of Wollongong and Wollongong City Council.
Each organisation has vowed to provide $350,000 a year over three years from July 1 to keep the shuttle free.
Opal fares had been due to come into effect on the city-loop bus service from January 29.
However, the government this week buckled under community pressure and pushed back the date until next financial year.
Mr Scully said it was “time that any uncertainty ended”.
“I won’t believe that everything is squared away until there is a signed, sealed and delivered funding agreement that the people of Wollongong can be confident will deliver the free service through until 2021,” he said.
Transport for NSW told the Mercury it would “review the merits of any reasonable proposal”.