Wednesday, 19 February 2025

 John PESUTTO (Hawthorn) (14:53): (998) My question is to the Minister for Public and Active Transport and is regarding the frequency of the 624 bus route along Auburn Road and the lack of bus services generally to serve local school communities in that precinct. On Monday I met with Ross Pritchard, the principal of Auburn High School. Mr Pritchard has suggested that adding additional buses in the morning and at the end of the school day – 8:15 am and 3:40 pm respectively – would see congestion around the school precinct ease and that his students would find it easier to get to and from school. This is a highly populated school precinct, and the benefits of any extension of bus services would be gratefully received by other schools in the precinct, Bialik College, Alia College and Auburn South Primary School. I ask the minister to advise whether this is possible and, if so, what changes to the bus timetable would be required to put this into effect.