Wednesday, 16 October 2024

 David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (09:57): The western suburbs are a political gem in the Labor crown, your own red wall. It is both the industrial and logistics heartland of Melbourne and home to the fastest growing residential areas in Australia. It is also a place residents increasingly feel taken for granted, where they are underserviced, unheard and underappreciated. Every day tens and tens of thousands of those residents are reminded of this as they crawl along in their cars to get to work. They would love this expensive and frustrating experience to be alleviated by access to decent public transport. Park-and-rides at stations reach capacity early in peak hour because residents cannot access a bus to simply get them to the station. Whole suburbs have no access to any public transport whatsoever. But they look to the eastern suburbs, and they see billions being poured into transport projects.

There is an old saying that the price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative, and happily for the west there is just such a constructive alternative. The Better Buses for Melbourne’s West study, done by Melbourne University, tells us that for around a hundred million dollars a year, more than a million westies could be provided with convenient, reliable and frequent bus services. A hundred million dollars a year for more than a million western suburbs commuters – that is barely a rounding error on the suburban rail link. It can be deployed quickly, with little disruption and without all the complexities a major infrastructure project brings, and with it are obvious environmental benefits and a reduction on the overall commuter roads to the western suburbs. What is not to like?