Fifteen residents will brave morning peak traffic next month to draw attention to their daily struggle to access Melbourne’s CBD from Wyndham by car, train, bus and bicycle.
The residents will set off from Manor Lakes, Point Cook and Truganina at 7.30am on April 2, racing each other to Federation Square as part of the council’s Race to the City.
Among those taking part is Point Cook’s Leone Brunato, who will cycle to highlight the lack of continuous bicycle tracks between Wyndham and Melbourne.
Councillors Marie Brittan and Peter Maynard have also signed on.
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Mayor Bob Fairclough hopes the race will highlight the limited travel options available to Wyndham residents.
“There is only one major road route [into the city], which is often congested, a train line which is the second-most-overcrowded on the metropolitan network, and five of our six bus routes in Wyndham don’t run past 9pm on weeknights,’’ he said. ‘‘Our cyclists also lack a safe, fast and continuous route.
“Every peak hour, thousands of our residents face the stress of racing to work by train, bike or car and spending valuable time away from their family.”
The race is part of the council’s Get Wyndham Moving campaign, which will be launched at the civic centre this Thursday night. The campaign urges the state government to provide more funding to improve roads and public transport in Wyndham.
The council has a ‘‘road solutions’’ wish- list, including state and federal funding for arterial road duplications, construction of the western end of the east-west link, the removal of level crossings, and more buses and trains.
Cr Fairclough said governments needed to boost funding before things got worse.
