The Kingborough Council and state government are trading blame over design flaws at the new Kingston bus interchange.
The interchange, built by the council under the Greater Hobart City Deal, has sat unused since its construction over eight months ago due to tight corners and curved roadway, which make it difficult for buses to manoeuvre and line up.
Transport Minister Eric Abetz says the Department of State Growth warned the council “on a number of occasions” that the plans “would not be appropriate”.
“There has been this attempt by the Kingborough Council to blame the Department of State Growth for the design faults that have led to what could be politely described as a sub-optimal outcome,” he said.
“The Kingborough Council was warned about this and I would just invite the council to acknowledge the warnings provided by the Department of State Growth.”
Abetz said as well as being inappropriate for buses, only allowing for two at a time, the stop does not properly cater to those with disabilities.
As previously reported by Pulse, Kingborough Council CEO Dave Stewart has acknowledged, that the council may have played a role in the delays and said he would not like to say that they bear no responsibility.
“However, it’s clear that there has been some difference of opinion about where, what has been agreed in the past,” he said.
Stewart claimed the designs that went through State Growth “were the designs that were delivered that they agreed to at the time”.
“However, how fully we consulted with all parties, including the operators through that process, obviously, if that had been as fulsome as potentially we could have done, we might have been able to mitigate some of the challenge here,” he said.
Both parties are currently working through a revised design to get the stop operational.
