Thursday, 23 March 2023

Western Metropolitan Region bus services

Trung LUU (Western Metropolitan) (16:11): (142) My adjournment matter today is for the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. The action I seek is for the Andrews Labor government to increase bus services by means of volume and frequency with buses that cater for the expanding population in my electorate, the Western Metropolitan Region. Minister, please tell me: how do you expect people in the west of Melbourne to continue waiting 40 minutes between bus services while people living in the inner suburbs of Melbourne have the luxury of using trains, trams and buses – and multiple services of buses. The population in the west is at the point of explosion, yet the Labor government continues to turn a blind eye to the everyday struggles of my constituents. I am asking for an indication as to when this major infrastructure debacle will be fixed. No more bandaids but solutions, please.

Data from a research report at Melbourne University, Better Buses for Melbourne’s West, confirms that across Melbourne’s west, my electorate, the average public transport travel times are significantly higher than the metropolitan average, particularly in the greater local government areas of Melton and Wyndham Vale. In the Melton and Wyndham Vale areas the forecast is for population growth to hit 380,000 new residents by the year 2036, and in the Brimbank and Maribyrnong areas forecasts indicate that population growth will be a significant 90,000. Once again the neglect of the west is unmistakable. Does it not worry you that when young people rely on buses to attend school or part-time jobs they sometimes wait 40 minutes for a bus to attend, and feel unsafe while doing so? Not to mention the more mature and disadvantaged and those with special needs who rely on the buses to conduct their daily activities. What happens to them if they miss the bus, or alternatively will they wait in the rain, the hail and the winds? Does this Labor government really care? Well, the lack of action certainly paints a very different picture.

Can the minister please inform me how and when the number of buses will be increased? The average trip on public transport in my constituency – that is, in Brimbank – is 62 minutes, in Hobsons Bay it is 55 minutes, in Maribyrnong it is 52 minutes, in Melton it is 71 minutes and in Wyndham Vale it is 71.4 minutes. So my question is: please, can the minister inform me as to what number of buses the Labor government will provide to eliminate the problem, as a proper service of buses is essential to my constituents?