Thursday, 15 August 2019

 Mr ONDARCHIE (Northern Metropolitan) (18:08): My adjournment matter today is for the Minister for Roads and Minister for Road Safety and the TAC. I ask this question on behalf of some local constituents in Northern Metropolitan Region, specifically in Richmond, because they have asked this question directly of the Minister for Public Transport and have been referred back to the Minister for Roads and Minister for Road Safety and the TAC. It concerns tram stop 19 on Bridge Road, Richmond. This is quite an unusual tram stop because it is outside the Richmond town hall, and if you want to cross Bridge Road, you actually have to go halfway, wait for the trams to come past, then move another 15 metres further west and then, on an angle, get across to the other side of Bridge Road. It is quite a bizarre place to cross the road.

What happens is that trams do not have to stop for the pedestrians crossing the road, so many people who get halfway out there then have to have a quick look around to see if a tram is coming from either direction, make their way 15 metres further to the west and then use the angled crossing to cross back over to the southern side of Bridge Road. This has become particularly hazardous for people trying to contemplate getting across, particularly for people on motor scooters, for the elderly and for people with assistance dogs and particularly for mums with children in the morning trying to get them to and from school. It has been particularly hazardous.

Local residents have written to the Minister for Public Transport and have been referred to the Minister for Roads. Public Transport Victoria say, ‘It’s not our issue’. The City of Yarra is saying, ‘It’s not our issue’. Yarra Trams is saying, ‘It’s not our issue’. Everybody is dodging what is going to happen here, and I have to say that unless we do something about it there is going to be a tragedy on Bridge Road. I have myself seen people getting stuck out in the middle with trams coming from either direction—they cannot go backwards because they will step into a line of traffic and they cannot go forwards because they will walk into the path of a tram. It needs to be addressed.

So the adjournment matter I have for the Minister for Roads and Minister for Road Safety and the TAC is to provide me with what the solution is that can be done to save tram stop 19 and particularly the people using that tram stop—to provide the appropriate solution to me so that I can provide it to the residents of Richmond. We need to do this before a tragedy occurs.