Tourist shuttle bus may go

By Alison Kinkade

The future of the Melbourne City Tourist Shuttle hangs in the balance due to a lack of funding.

Melbourne City Council’s Finance and Governance Committee met in a confidential session on February 9 to discuss the future of the bus which operates throughout Melbourne and Docklands.

The free service, which has been in operation since 2006, operates 16 services per day, costs $1.3 million to operate each year and attracts almost 300,000 people annually.

The chairman of the Docklands Co-ordination Committee, Cr Kevin Louey, is pushing to keep the tourist bus in operation.

“We have other buses that go other places in Victoria but there’s no economic benefit to Melbourne in sending people to Geelong and other places in regional Victoria. This bus brings and contains people,” Cr Louey said.

Cr Louey argues the bus has always been very successful, adding that there were four buses in operation with the route having been extended due to its popularity.

“No one disagrees that it isn’t successful. The only problem is the finance because there is no money in the budget for it. All the money dedicated to it has been put into cycling paths and green initiatives,” he said.

A spokesperson for the City of Melbourne confirmed that the route was extended in December 2008 which, in turn, reduced the number of circuits completed and the passenger capacity.

Cr Louey is calling for all businesses and residents to support the shuttle bus. “The decision has now been delayed because we’ve bought it into the open so that the public can have a say. Next month there will be another meeting,” he said.

The president of the Docklands Chamber of Commerce, Keith Rankin, is throwing his support behind the bus, describing it as an international success and one of the most innovative initiatives of the John So era.

“It would be a mini diaster if they cancelled it at this stage. I know my business and others have a lot of international visitors who comment on how great the service is,” Mr Rankin said.

Cr Louey agreed and said that businesses would suffer without the shuttle.

“Businesses pay 70 per cent of the rates and they need to get something back for it. We have a duty to our business stakeholders.  Adelaide and Perth already have buses and Sydney wants to copy the system,” he said.

Driver Bus Lines currently operates the service and the present contract for the Melbourne City Tourist Shuttle expires on August 31.