The Gong Shuttle appears to be far and away the most popular bus route in the Illawarra, according to government figures.
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Each month the average number of passengers on the free green bus is more than half that of all the other buses in the Illawarra combined.
According to Transport for NSW Opal card data, from September last year through to April, Premier Illawarra buses carried a monthly average of 346,000 passengers.
The monthly average for Dion's buses over the same period was 60,750.
In response to a question on notice from Keira MP Ryan Park, Roads and Transport Minister Andrew Constance called the shuttle "a popular service" and said it alone averaged 254,000 passengers a month.
As the Gong Shuttle does not require passengers to tap on and off, its passenger numbers are not included in Transport for NSW's Opal card data.
This means the Gong Shuttle monthly averages are equivalent to 62 per cent of those for all the other major bus routes in the entire Illawarra.
It's a statistic that confirms the popularity of the Gong Shuttle service and how much a part of the city it's become.
It also carries a strong indication of just how many cars are not travelling around the Wollongong CBD and surrounds because people can use the Gong Shuttle to get around.
The government had planned to introduce a fare on the Gong Shuttle in 2018, citing the need to get people off it and onto other routes to balance out the load across multiple buses.
The University of Wollongong and Wollongong City Council both saw the benefit of the shuttle and agreed to chip in $350,000 a year each for three years.
Initially the amount was viewed by government as insufficient but a rejigging of the service's timetable allowed it to run with the offered funding.
Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said council would look to open negotiations on the Gong Shuttle deal well before it expires in 2021 to avoid another last-minute resolution.
A Transport for NSW spokesman said negotiations on any new arrangement would not start until early next year.
"As per the agreement, Transport for NSW will meet with Wollongong City Council and the University of Wollongong to discuss the current service arrangements for the Gong Shuttle and its ongoing funding around March next year," the Transport for NSW spokesman said.
The spokesman would not comment on whether Transport for NSW intended to reintroduce the option of fares on the shuttle in any negotiations.