Cade Lucas
The state government has been accused of again neglecting the western suburbs by not funding any new bus services for the area in its recent budget.
Better Buses for the West, a campaign group run by Friends of the Earth affiliate, Sustainable Cities, said it was disappointing the area had been overlooked despite the dire state of the west’s bus network being repeatedly highlighted in recent years.
“The west has been forgotten again, with unreliable services, convoluted routes – if they exist at all – and long waits set to persist for yet another year,” said a campaign statement.
While last week’s budget didn’t include funding for buses in the west, Laverton MP Sarah Connolly pointed out that the latest round of grants allocated by the Growth Areas Public Transport Fund, certainly did.
“Despite there being tough decisions made in this year’s state budget, the Allan Labor Government is continuing to deliver for Wyndham when it comes to public transport, with over $61 million in funding for two new bus routes as part of the Growth Areas Public Transport Fund, which was announced at the end of last month,” she said.
“This includes $39.4 million for a new fixed permanent bus route to replace the Tarneit North FlexiRide service currently catering to new and developing estates in Tarneit and Truganina North. This route will also connect Tarneit Station to the employment and industry precincts in Laverton North, making it easier for locals to get to work.”
A spokesperson for the government added that the growth areas funding also included
a new bus service linking the Harpley and Cornerstone Estate communities with Wyndham Vale Station and that since 2015 the government had added more than 20,000 new bus services per week across the state.
Sustainable Cities Coordinator, Elyse Cunningham welcomed these recent announcements but said a piecemeal approach of adding one bus route at a time was no longer good enough.
“A wider network transformation is the only solution to the worsening impacts of transport disadvantage that communities in the west are facing,” Ms Cunningham said.
“ The government needs to transform the long, winding, convoluted bus routes that are the current broken bus network. If our buses ran on a simpler grid then they could come every 10 minutes and align well with train timetables, and actually get us where we need to go. We need a bus network for the 21st century that the community can rely on.”
