City of Newcastle has advertised for someone to keep running the Broadmeadow park and ride service for another year.
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A spokesperson said on Monday that the council had asked bus operators to tender for the service but had not yet decided if it would proceed.
The council stepped in to keep the park-and-ride alive when the state government stopped funding it a week after the NSW election.
The service allows commuters to park for free at Hunter Stadium and take a return bus into the city centre for $2.20.
The council initially planned to continue funding the service for one month, but that has now turned into two.
It is understood the council is poised to extend the shuttle buses again until the end of June to give it time to work out if it can afford to pay for them long-term.
"City of Newcastle is seeking expressions of interest from bus operators to determine how much it would cost if we agreed to take over the funding of the park and ride," the spokesperson said in a written statement.
"This decision can't be made however until tenders have been received and evaluated.
"If the service is cost prohibitive, then sadly City of Newcastle won't continue the service."
The council's chief executive officer, Jeremy Bath, has been critical of the government decision to stop funding the service.
"The best outcome of course is that Transport for NSW continues to fund the park and ride given that public transport is a responsibility of the NSW Government," the spokesperson said.
"The park and ride has proved an outstanding success in terms of releasing up to 200 car spaces each day from the CBD.
"We have surveyed users who overwhelmingly told us that they want the park and ride to continue.
"In fact 77 per cent of users said they would pay $4.60 (inc gst) for a return trip to the City."
The service now operates every 15 minutes between 7am and 9am and from 3pm to 6.30pm.
The council spokesperson said it could not comment on what times of day the buses might run if they continued long-term.
"That would be determined based on the cost of the service, which is information we won't have until mid-June.
"As a result, a final decision will be made on the park and ride service toward the end of June.
"The provision of convenient and well connected transport networks and services, including public transport integrated with safe footpaths and cycle ways, is a major objective in the City's community-informed strategic plan."