North-Eastern Metropolitan Region
Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (13:01): (1720) My constituency question is to the Minister for Public and Active Transport. A constituent of mine has raised with me the continued lack of off-peak services on the Belgrave and Lilydale lines as an issue that makes life harder for many people in my region who rely on using the train, be it on parts of the line or right across these lines that I have mentioned. The off-peak frequency at many stations along these lines is, frankly, just not good enough. In a big city like Melbourne people should not have to be waiting for, say, 30 minutes for a train outside of peak times. In many other cities around the world this would be, frankly, unimaginable. We need to improve this train frequency. As the constituent rightly pointed out, this particularly affects young people getting to jobs or heading to events, but it also impacts those who do not drive. Minister, people in my region need to be able to rely on fast and frequent public transport to travel. Will you increase off-peak train services on the Belgrave and Lilydale lines?