In a final and scathing rebuke of the Keneally government's handling of public transport, the NSW Auditor-General says the government wasted more than $350 million on the abandoned underground Metro project.
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Peter Achterstraat says in his report on transport projects: "Of the $412 million spent on the Sydney Metro, $356 million represents expenditure with no apparent benefit to the people of NSW."
His comments directly contradict the premier, Krstina Keneally, who, when she dumped the Metro in February, insisted the money had not been wasted.
She said at the time: "In fact, the work we have done on CBD Metro has been very useful and it will continue to be so."
Mr Achterstraat, who is respected widely for his independence, also said the Metro debacle should serve as a lesson.
"I recommend the NSW Government identify lessons learnt from the Sydney Metro experience and ensure the State never again expends such a large amount of scarce transport dollars and valuable time on a project that does not proceed."
The Metro - a seven-kilometre underground line between Rozelle and Central, with a budget of $5.3 billion -- came to symbolise the transport failures of the Carr, Iemma, Rees and Keneally Labor governments.
Mrs Keneally also promised to reserve the corridors for the Metro, including a corridor under Pitt Street in the CBD, which experts have identified as vital for the expansion of CityRail services, not metros.
Despite the Keneally government's repeated claims that CityRail is meeting its benchmark targets, the auditor-general's report also found complaints about CityRail had soared by 20 per cent.
The complaints were mostly about the quality of the overall service, operations and reliability, and not about staff. In the past, some senior Railcorp managers have tried to shift blame to frontline staff.
Mr Achterstraat said: "Complaints about service replaced complaints about staff as the major area of complaint."
In another sign of the limited effect motorways have on relieving congestion, the auditor-general also found that traffic speeds in the morning peak hour on the M5 and Eastern Distributor, fell from 41 km/h to 35 km/h.
Andrew West is the Herald's Transport correspondent
