A Transport for NSW review that decided a joint $700,000 a year funding deal to save the Gong Shuttle was not good enough only occurred last month.
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In December the University of Wollongong and Wollongong City Council agreed to each provide $350,000 over three years to keep the popular shuttle free.
A Transport for NSW spokesman said the body had had “a number of discussions” since December 2017 with council and the university.
But it wasn’t until a meeting last Wednesday that Transport for NSW representatives told Wollongong City Council and the University of Wollongong would each have to kick in an extra $44,000 in funding for the next financial year.
By the third and final year of the agreement, the amount each would have to pay would pass $400,000.
The spokesman told the Mercury Transport for NSW carried out a review of the funding offer earlier this year.
“We received formal offers from council and the University of Wollongong in late February to partially fund the service,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman said the review looked at the offers “in detail” but they did not cover 25 per cent of the costs to operate the shuttle over the next three years.
“Following the completion of the review around the middle of March, Transport for NSW requested a meeting for early April,” the spokesman said.
“However, April 18 was the earliest possible date where all parties could attend.”
The spokesman did not state whether the deal has to be signed off on before the end of the year but said Transport for NSW was “committed to on-going open communication”.
Wollongong MP Paul Scully predicted the funding impasse earlier this month, saying it was probably the main “sticking point” in the negotiations between the three bodies.
At that time the Mercury asked Transport for NSW if there was an issue with the level of funding.
Transport for NSW did not respond to that question despite the fact it is now known that there was an issue with the amount of money being offered.
Mr Scully said the UOW and council funding total of $700,000 had been known since December last year and could not understand why Transport for NSW waited until April to say it wasn’t enough.
“I find it incredible that it’s taken four months for transport bureaucrats to suddenly say, ‘oh, that might not be enough’,” Mr Scully said.
“Everyone knew the sort of number the local stakeholders were talking about. If that was incorrect it shouldn’t have taken this long for Transport for NSW to bother saying something about it.”