Wednesday, 8 June 2022

Morwell bus services

Mr NORTHE (Morwell) (19:17): (6412) My adjournment matter is directed to the Minister for Public Transport, and the action I seek is for the minister to review and expand town bus services in the township of Morwell. We are all acutely aware of the benefits of transport and public transport services in communities like mine, where there is high disadvantage. We do currently have reasonable bus services and a well-respected operator in Latrobe Valley Bus Lines, but there are some key parts of Morwell where connectivity is an issue. This includes the Baptcare Heritage Manor residential aged care facility and Maryvale Private Hospital, which are both located on Maryvale Road, Morwell. Local bus users have expressed to me that they would like to see stops at these two locations.

During a visit to Maryvale Private Hospital just last week I was able to view construction of two additional surgery theatres and more beds, meaning the hospital will have approximately 65 beds once the current project is completed. Obviously this will lead to more patients, more clinicians, more surgeries, more staff and more visitors. Lee Garwood, who is the chief executive officer of Maryvale, and his team have done a brilliant job in making these impressive improvements to Maryvale Private Hospital; however, it is imperative that visitors and family members, clinicians and employees have public transport options to attend this growing facility. On the other side, Baptcare Heritage Manor has 96 beds, and whilst there is a bus stop a few hundred metres away from the facility, it is not an easy walk for someone who might have a disability, who is aged or who is limited in their mobility.

In my view and that of others, route 21 could continue along Maryvale Road, stopping at Baptcare and Maryvale Private Hospital before turning back and reconnecting with the existing route into Hannah Street. This would potentially only add 2 or 3 minutes to the route, but importantly the bus would stop at places where there are high volumes of people. In addition, routes 21 and 22 could have additional span to better connect with the intertown service, route 1, which services towns from Moe through to Traralgon. If you use Friday evening as an example and the Morwell bus interchange at Commercial Road as the interchange location, the last stop for the route 1 Traralgon via Morwell service is at 9.32 pm. In comparison, the last stop at this location for the route 21 Morwell service is at 6.45 pm, and the route 22 Morwell service has its final stop on a Friday at 7.03. pm. So it would make sense to expand routes 21 and 22 to later in the day to better align with the existing route 1 services.

In closing, I seek the minister’s support in undertaking a review of Morwell’s bus services and in doing so request that he extend the route 21 service to pick up Baptcare Heritage Manor and the Maryvale Private Hospital along with increasing the span of the routes 21 and 22 Morwell services to link in and connect better with the route 1 intertown service.