CRITICS say five new bus routes into Williams Landing train station won’t ease Point Cook’s peak-hour traffic snarls unless arterial roads are duplicated.
But after announcing that the $110 million station will open on April 28, the state government says the new plans pave the way to make it an efficient transport hub for Wyndham’s booming growth corridor.
Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder on Monday announced bus links to the new station, including three routes through Point Cook, one from Hoppers Crossing via Wyndham Vale and Truganina and another from Hoppers Crossing via Point Cook.
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The new routes will operate on a 22-minute timetable and replace the 413 and 416 Hoppers Crossing-Laverton buses, which run at 40-minute intervals.
Mr Mulder said the new routes would increase the number of bus services from 697 to 2120 a week.
“Many passengers along streets where two bus routes converge, or within walking distance of two routes, will benefit from an even more frequent bus service,” he said.
But Point Cook Action Group president Nick Michaelides said while five new bus links “seems on the surface like a step forward,” four of the routes ran into the station via Point Cook and Palmers Roads – notorious bottlenecks that cause lengthy peak-hour delays for commuters trying to access the freeway.
He said without roads being duplicated buses wouldn’t be able to get through traffic to the station.
“I can’t see those buses running on time,” he said.
“They’ll be stuck in the traffic like everybody else in Point Cook is in the morning.”
Western Metropolitan Liberal MP Andrew Elsbury said duplications would not occur until after the Sneydes Road overpass was built. Construction of the $40 million interchange is expected to start this year.
“We can’t go ripping up any concrete on Point Cook Road or Palmers Road without doing anything on the Sneydes Road overpass, otherwise you’ll create an even worse bottleneck than what is already there.”
Mr Elsbury said the new bus routes would ease congestion in the short term.
“You’ll be able to move 30 times the number of people that you would with cars, most of which only have a single occupant going into the city,” he said.
“Buses will be able to move people across Point Cook and take them to the mass transit system that is our public transport network.”
Western Metropolitan Greens MP Colleen Hartland said buses would get jammed in traffic. She feared the new station’s 500-space car park would fall short of demand for a 75,000-strong population spanning Point Cook, Williams Landing and Truganina.
“Werribee is the most overcrowded train line on the network,” Ms Hartland said.
“Williams Landing will squash an extra 1000 people onto this line [in the morning peak] each day, without extra trains to cater for them.”
