Newcastle's transport operator has been cancelling regular services while shuttling sports and music lovers to event days at Hunter Stadium.
The Newcastle Herald has seen an internal Keolis Downer report showing the company had to cancel 30 regular services on the day it ran shuttle buses to and from the Newcastle Knights' play-off game against Canberra on Sunday, September 10.
The cancelled buses covered 13 separate routes throughout Newcastle and Lake Macquarie.
The Knights played at 4pm that day, and 25 of the bus cancellations were between 3pm and 7pm.
A separate Keolis Downer report shows the company cancelled 16 services on the day it provided shuttle buses to an Elton John concert at Hunter Stadium on Tuesday, January 10.
The report attributed all 46 of the listed cancellations across both days to staff shortages.
On September 10, five route 14 buses between Swansea and Newcastle CBD were cancelled at 12.10pm, 3.40pm, 4.10pm, 5.27pm and 6.42pm.
Buses on route 42, from Wallsend to John Hunter Hospital, were cancelled at 3.57pm, 4.17pm. 4.57pm and 5.17pm.
The January 10 cancellations included three on route 11, from Charlestown to Newcastle via Jesmond, between 6.30pm and 7.15pm.
An invoice for the first Elton John show on January 8 shows Keolis Downer charged $17,000 to provide 15 buses for concert-goers.
The company has faced criticism this year for cancelling services amid widespread driver shortages.
A NSW government taskforce report published in August showed Keolis Downer had 14 driver vacancies in April, representing 4 per cent of its workforce.
The report raised the issue of special events affecting regular routes, primarily in Sydney.
"With a limited pool of drivers currently available, there are challenges with ensuring that special event buses are delivered to required levels while balancing driver shifts to ensure weekday route operations are not adversely impacted," the report said.
"Some operators have been unable to cover portions of the required shifts for special events due to this issue."
The next test of Keolis Downer's capabilities will come on Tuesday night when the company provides shuttle buses for the Paul McCartney concert.
The Herald understands Keolis Downer will partner with another bus operator to run the shuttle service.
McDonald Jones Stadium venue manager Dean Mantle told the Herald last week that extensive work had been done on traffic management including bus services for the McCartney show.
Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp said the cancellations were "deeply concerning".
"Although shuttle buses are beneficial for event-goers, they should not come at the expense of regular bus services," he said.
"Keolis Downer have prioritised turning a profit over serving the public.
"This is just another example of why privatisation doesn't work for our bus networks."
Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery said the previous Coalition government's privatisation of public transport had been an "utter failure".
"Public buses should be for the benefit of the public and not cancelled to shuttle concert-goers around town," she said.
"We need to ensure that public buses are used in a way that benefits the public, not cancelled to benefit the bus providers."
She said the government had started a recruitment campaign to find more drivers.
The Herald contacted Keolis Downer for comment.
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