Wednesday, 8 June 2022

 Ms TERPSTRA (Eastern Metropolitan) (09:51): I am excited to rise today to talk about the exciting Bulleen park-and-ride, which is part of the North East Link Program and is now scheduled to be completed four years ahead of schedule. I was very happy to go and visit the site of the Bulleen park-and-ride with Minister Jacinta Allan the other day so we could see firsthand how well the works are progressing, and it is looking fantastic.

The North East Link Program’s $69 million Bulleen park-and-ride, as I said, will be finished by the end of this year. It will have parking for up to 370 cars. It will have bike storage and pick-up and drop-off bays. This will make it easier for people to use the fast and frequent bus services that they need to get to and from the city. The new bus station is the first part of Melbourne’s first dedicated busway, which will allow buses to travel uninterrupted along an overhauled Eastern Freeway, cutting commute times for the 17 000 passengers that use the Eastern Freeway buses each weekday. Also, new bike and walking paths will connect the park-and-ride with the Koonung Creek Trail and Thompsons Road.

More than 1000 bus services will use this facility each week, providing direct access for passengers from Bulleen, Doncaster, Doncaster East and Templestowe. As I said earlier, the new park-and-ride will open by the end of 2022, which is four years ahead of schedule, and will be used by Eastern Freeway bus services operating along Thompsons Road before the dedicated busway along the Eastern Freeway opens in 2028.