A Mill Park resident has slammed the state government for expanding Melbourne’s suburbs before infrastructure is in place.
The comments by public transport advocate Helen Said follows last week’s report by the Auditor-General outlining a severe lack of infrastructure in Melbourne’s metropolitan fringe.
The report, tabled in State Parliament on August 21, states that
Melbourne’s rapid population growth in Cardinia, Casey, Hume, Melton,
Mitchell, Whittlesea and Wyndham has created a major challenge for the
government “to provide the transport infrastructure and services needed
to sustainably support these communities”.
It recommended a statewide framework for prioritising transport
infrastructure in these growth areas and an implementation and funding
strategy to address the transport backlog.
Last year Ms Said protested against the removal of bus services
563 and 571 in Epping, Mill Park and Bundoora, and the route 561 bus
stops in East Reservoir and Westfield Plenty Valley.
But now Ms Said said it was “too little, too late” for the
government to rely on buses in the northern growth areas of Whittlesea
and Hume. She called for the extension of the South Morang railway to
Mernda.
“I don’t think abandoning a train in favour of a bus is a good
idea,” she said. “We need a train that goes all the way to the
Whittlesea township.”
Victorian Greens leader Greg Barber said the report confirmed “years of public transport neglect have damaged growing suburbs”.
He said there had been “decades of neglect” in public transport in Melbourne’s growth suburbs.
A government spokeswoman said the bus routes 563 and 571 that Ms
Said wanted reinstated were replaced by the route 901 SmartBus or routes
562, 564 and 520 and the 561 was introduced as a temporary service
until the South Morang rail extension was completed.
She said Public Transport Victoria was developing a plan for
Melbourne’s tram and bus networks “that will provide a blueprint for the
future”.
