History
The idea for a north-south loop service arose in the late 1990s when the City of Melbourne proposed a tram service that would complement the City Circle tram service which operates on an east-west loop. By 2000, the idea had evolved to a free shuttle bus service and a fully detailed proposal was presented in November 2005 to the council's Planning and Development Committee. The service, commenced operation in March 2006, to coincide with the staging of the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
The concept and funding of the shuttle service has received some criticism. In a submission to the Melbourne Transport Strategy from the Bus Association Victoria in September 2005, prior to the establishment of the service, concerns were raised including the duplication of existing bus and tram services, encouragement of commuters to park just outside the levy zone, failure of previous tourist bus services and additional complications to the bus network. In June 2007, City of Melbourne Lord Mayor, John So, responded to criticism of the council using money generated by the car parking levy to fund the service commenting: "The tourist shuttle bus is funded through the parking levy because the levy is used to fund sustainable transport-related initiatives".
In mid-2007, the contract for operation of the service came up for renewal, but it was instead retendered. Driver Bus Lines was subsequently awarded the contract, in favour of Ventura Bus Lines/National Bus Company, (the original operators of the service) and several others. Driver commenced operating the service with a somewhat-modified route on September 1 2007, using four buses borrowed from other operators until new units could be delivered. These new units, Denning chassis with Custom Coaches bodies, entered service on October 20.
The bus has been recontracted to operate until June 2011.
Read more about this topic: Melbourne City Tourist Shuttle
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