Maintenance costs for the ageing fleet are forecast to skyrocket - according to the business case of the project the Government pulled support from.
It's estimated maintenance costs could rise to 65-million dollars a year - twice as much as it was two years ago.
Public Transport Users' Association National Coordinator Jon Reeves says the ships were a 'steal'.
He says we cannot even get a used Corolla, fit for Cook Strait, for those prices.
