The Newcastle Herald reported last week that data on the Transport for NSW website revealed a 7.75 per cent decline in the number of Opal card passengers, and especially seniors, on the new bus routes.

The following day Keolis Downer produced a new table of figures which included non-Opal trips under the heading “other” and claimed patronage on buses and ferries was, in fact, up 41,000 a month.

“I have reviewed the figures and note that the increase in the 2018 patronage numbers is being driven by figures included in the ‘other’ trip-type column,” Mr Crakanthorp said on Wednesday.

“I note that ‘other’ is not included in the 2017 comparative figures provided.

“When you minus the ‘other’ trips from the monthly 2018 totals, four out of five months have actually seen a decrease in patronage compared to 2017.”

Keolis Downer said last week that including the non-Opal data provided “full visibility of how the transport network is performing”.

The company said on Wednesday that the “other” category in its patronage figures for 2018 included the inner-city fare-free zone, free travel passes, the 110 rail-replacement service, Broadmeadow park-and-ride and special events.

Public transport advocate and analyst Darrell Harris said it appeared Keolis Downer was using incomparable sets of figures to justify the government’s decision to privatise Newcastle’s transport network. 

“All except the park-and-ride occurred under the State Transit Authority,” he said. “To not even attempt to include these in the [2017] STA data is more than disingenuous.” 

The park-and-ride accounts for about a quarter of the 252,245 passenger trips listed as “other” in 2018.

Mr Crakanthorp said it was wrong for Keolis Downer to claim an increase in 2018.

“They simply refuse to state the facts and need to stop smudging the figures so that they don’t look like a failed privatisation experiment,” he said.

Keolis Downer has already conceded that dividing longer routes into two or three trips since January has inflated passenger numbers by about 2.5 per cent.

The company’s figures also show a 10 per cent decline in school student travel this year, mainly due to a steep 23,000 fall in March and 13,000 drop in May. 

A 14 per cent rise in ferry passengers is good news for the private operator after it increased services to every 15 minutes in January, although the numbers dipped slightly year-on-year in May.

The new network has also attracted a year-on-year 1.7 per cent rise in full-fare adult Opal trips in the first five months of 2018 and its Lake Macquarie on-demand service has grown from 232 trips in January to 1782 in May.

It will introduce changes to the network next month after months of criticism from some customers.