Transit centre misses bus again

A REPORT into a Hobart bus transit centre, which during the election campaign was touted to include an underground bus mall, has been delayed until the end of the year.

In May, then infrastructure minister Jeremy Rockliff announced WSP Australia had been appointed to examine the feasibility of a dedicated bus transit centre in the CBD, “that will cater to predicted growth in demand and emerging technologies over the next 30 years”.

The study was to be delivered by the end of July. The date was later pushed back to September.

Infrastructure Minister Michael Ferguson said yesterday: “Due to the size of the project careful consideration and full analysis is required to best determine long-term usage and demand. A report on the Hobart Bus Transit Centre will be provided to Government by year’s end.”

Opposition infrastructure spokesman Shane Broad slammed the Government’s lack of progress on the project.

“Will Hodgman’s underground bus mall might possibly be Tasmania’s greatest ever infrastructure con job,” he said.

“Eighteen months after its announcement and we’ve barely moved beyond Rene Hidding’s glossy election brochure. Just like the Bridgewater Bridge, the airport roundabout and Macquarie Point — the Liberals are all talk and no action.”

Independent MP Madeleine Ogilvie said that while an underground bus mall may work it would have to be part of an integrated transport system, not an isolated underground asset.

“We’ve got to look at future solutions and I think that’s underground,” she said.

“But it’s big dollars and it’s big engineering so we’ve got to get it right.”