Demand for local bus boost

REGULAR bus services and improved links between local towns are on South Gippslanders’ wish list for travel improvements.
South Gippsland Shire Council hosted six drop in sessions across the shire last week, discovering how public transport could be improved.
These forums were a result of council resolution in March to document community feedback and advocate for change to public transport authorities.
Council’s community strengthening coordinator Ned Dennis said the drop in forums – held in Nyora, Tarwin Lower, Leongatha, Foster, Mirboo North and Korumburra – revealed a range of public transport needs.
“We heard that it’s difficult for those travelling on the South Gippsland line to link to Cranbourne. It’s not just about linking our public transport directly to Melbourne; we need other reliable links,” he said.
“We also heard there needs to be much better linkage in the Leongatha, Korumburra, Wonthaggi and Inverloch loop. This is for two reasons. The first is the Wonthaggi hospital is being developed into a subregional hospital and it is important people have the means to get there, or they will continue going to Monash or Latrobe Valley.
“The second is young people work in these towns and can’t always get to their places of work.”
Mr Dennis said there had been some feedback about the train service. Whilst people said it would be nice to have, many people just wanted more services to be made available.
“The biggest thing overall is that people want a regular bus service in their towns,” Mr Dennis said.
For example, Poowong has one bus service running once a week on a Thursday to Warragul and Drouin.
This service came from a council program several years ago, but Poowong’s population is now pushing 800.
A bus stopping in Loch, Nyora and Poowong would give more people access to the Melbourne line, and including Poowong would only add 10 minutes to the journey.
In Tarwin Lower, the priority was to have a reliable service linking it and Venus Bay with Leongatha and Wonthaggi.
“They want to be able to get to the shops, or the doctors, or the movies. If there was a regular link to Leongatha a couple of times a week, people could commute,” Mr Dennis said.
An online discussion kicked off a week before the drop in sessions and feedback is still being collected.
By mid August, council will collate the information to provide a report to council in late August.
Following this, council will advocate its position to Public Transport Victoria.
“We want to see more access to services because it will give people greater capacity to stay local,” Mr Dennis said.
“It is certainly a factor for young families when they are choosing where to live. Older people also find it difficult to move to South Gippsland because they can access public transport and other facilities easier towards the city.
“We have received valuable advice from the community and will continue to advocate to (Public Transport Victoria).”

More services: Leongatha’s Drew Arnup and Rebecca Arnason, Dumbalk’s Stephen Suckling, and Leongatha’s Simon Mayo discussed improvements for public transport with South Gippsland Shire Council community strengthening coordinator Ned Dennis, second left, in Leongatha on Tuesday, July 31.

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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Aug 7 2018. Filed under Featured, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry