Tuesday, 18 February 2020

Gembrook electorate bus services

Mr BATTIN (Gembrook) (13:34): The Labor government are failing a wide cross-section of the Gembrook community by leaving retirees and school students on the side of the road with no public bus system. Officer Secondary College has 1100 students and has no school bus management system (SBMS) service and no other bus service at all. With no proper footpaths leading to the school from the surrounding suburbs, many students are being forced to cross Princes Highway and walk kilometres to school with no other options.

Students in Upper Beaconsfield who attend their closest government school, Berwick College, are denied the conveyance allowance despite living in the required distance from the college and being in the metropolitan zone. When they go on the Public Transport Victoria website to find out how to get to the school, as suggested by the minister’s office, it tells them to get a taxi. The government is paying for a free bus for students who live in Narre Warren North, an area outside the school’s zone, but it ignores Upper Beaconsfield families’ requests.

New year 7 Emerald Secondary College students living in Cockatoo were denied access to the SBMS service despite some of their older siblings being approved. Instead they are expected to walk past other students catching the bus and catch the bus from the main street, which gets them to the school as classes begin.

The government are still refusing to provide a bus stop on Toomuc Valley Road to service the Goldcare retirement village and surrounding estates. The government’s new excuse for this is that the intersection at Toomuc Valley Road and Princes Highway is too unsafe to have a bus crossing. Well, maybe if they upgrade the intersection like we have been calling for it will solve two major issues for students and residents.

For the fastest growing area in Victoria, the government is failing to provide vital services and is turning its back on the Gembrook electorate.