Thursday, 4 August 2022

Tarneit electorate bus services

Ms CONNOLLY (Tarneit) (17:22): (6471) My adjournment is for the Minister for Public Transport, and the action I seek is that the minister update me on the rollout of the new FlexiRide service for Tarneit North residents. As the minister very well knows, we absolutely love our buses out in Melbourne’s west. In last year’s budget just over $12 million in funding was allocated towards planning and implementing two new bus routes to service these estates. After planning and analysis was conducted, it became clear that these residents would benefit a lot more from something that we are calling a FlexiRide service, which we announced in December last year.

In many ways FlexiRide can do many of the things that a regular, run-of-the-mill bus service cannot do. It is more reliable and convenient, with smaller buses that can traverse our local streets with greater ease and more regular services to pick up residents and take them to some of our major destinations. I am talking about places like Tarneit train station, nearby schools even, and our fabulous major shopping centres within the catchment zone. All residents will need to do is book and track their service via the FlexiRide app or by telephoning the bus operator directly. The average wait time—and this is really important for people to know—for a FlexiRide bus service is only 15 minutes. That is why I know it is going to service people in Tarneit a whole lot better than just a normal bus service. That wait time compares very favourably with taxis and other timetabled bus services.

I know that once our FlexiRide is up and running this service will greatly benefit families living in new and developing estates in Tarneit and Truganina, which is why I know they would very much appreciate an update from the minister on the progress in setting up this very important service.