route 694 questioned in parliament

It was good to hear Greens MLC and spokesperson for Public Transport, Greg Barber, raise the issue of Route 694 in parliament this week.

Mr Barber asked a question without notice to the Minister for Public Transport, Martin Pakula.

Regular readers will know there’s been a question mark over the future of Route 694 as it has been recommended for removal in the Yarra Ranges Bus Review.

Mr Barber directly asked the Minister “Can the minister confirm that the recommendation of the bus review that route 694 be removed is not going to be followed?”

The Minister’s response, “ I am advised -- and I will advise Mr Barber further if this is not the case, but I imagine that he would not expect me to have encyclopaedic knowledge of every bus route in Melbourne -- and my advice to him and to the Parliament is that despite that recommendation there are no changes envisaged to bus route 694 at the current time.”

No changes envisaged...at the current time....What does this mean, not before the election? How long is “the current time” and can residents truly feel reassured?

Of concern is another part of the Minister’s response “Equally there are other recommendations in the bus reviews that are not now or in the future ultimately accepted by the department.” This leads to more questions, what other recommendations outlined in the bus review might not be “ultimately accepted by the department”?

The bus reviews set a lot of expectations in our community that we would get improved services throughout the shire, it’s up to us to make sure those expectations are fulfilled.

If you’d like to read the entire transcript of the question without notice click here.

where is our transport policy?

the monster petition finds itself of the steps of parliament

Thursday was the day the Eastern Transport Coalition's Monster Petition was delivered to parliament. As the Chairperson of the ETC I had the job of presenting the petition to Minister for Public Transport, Martin Pakula.

Me handing the monster petition over to Minister Pakula, I was pleased to see the Minister accepting the petition on behalf of the one million residents in the East.

I was joined by Mayors, Councillors and officers from the seven ETC member councils which represent over 1 million Melburnians, around a quarter of Melbourne's population.

The petition, spanning some 60 metres, is the longest petition presented to government for some time and certainly the longest this century.

It was good to see all political parties meet the ETC on the steps of parliament. It is a recognition of the importance of the issue.

In speaking on the day I talked about the neglect of one million residents in the east, I asked the government to start doing their homework into sustainable transport solutions, like the Rowville and Doncaster rail.

I asked the Minister to focus the efforts of government across all of Melbourne, and not just a few key electorates.

This election year provides a perfect opportunity for this government to show that it is listening to the million or so residents east of Warrigal road who are forced to drive their cars to work because they have few viable alternatives

The monster petition, 60 metres long and signed by over 13,500 eastern residents, is a message to government to end the neglect. I was pleased to be able to present the petition to Minister Pakula on behalf of our communities.

It is important that we see some action from government on this issue, we don't want to see the petition condemned to the bowels of parliament house to gather dust, it is time to act on behalf of those million residents in the East who are crying out for sustainable transport solutions.

It was pleasing to see that all sides of Parliament met the ETC on the steps of parliament, Minister Martin Pakula, Terry Mulder – Opposition Spokesperson on Transport and Greg Barber – Greens Spokesperson on Public Transport were all there. It's clearly an issue that is important, now let's make sure that we see action.

The petition seeks commitments from the Government to modify the Victorian Transport Plan to include:

1. A full and public feasibility study for a heavy rail line to Rowville,
2. A full and public feasibility study for a heavy rail line to Doncaster
3. A greater commitment to the extension of the Metro rail tunnel from Domain to Caulfield,
4. A full and public feasibility study for an increase in capacity on the Belgrave/Lilydale and Glen Waverly lines,
5. Improved facilities for passengers, particularly at interchanges located in central activity districts – Ringwood, Dandenong and Box Hill,
6. Fully accessible public transport facilities and vehicles

new minister for public transport

It’s been an interesting week for public transport with the resignation of the former Minister Lynne Kosky. As chairwoman of the Eastern Transport Coalition I welcome the appointment of Minister Pakula to the Public Transport portfolio. The ETC looks forward to meeting with Minister Pakula in the coming days to discuss his plans for improving train, tram and bus access in the outer east.

It is good to see Minister Pakula on board Melbourne’s public transport, as he travels around the network I hope he takes the time to travel on the Belgrave and Lilydale lines. The Belgrave line, Melbourne’s longest line, with an off peak travel time of 1hr and 12mins to Flinders Street Station could certainly do with day time express services, first hand experience by Minister Pakula would give some valuable insight.

With the high number of cancellations on the Belgrave/Lilydale lines, train failures in hot weather, lack of integration with connecting services, commuters continue to lose faith in our public transport system. I look forward to highlighting the public transport needs of the east to Minister Pakula.

The Eastern Transport Coalition represents seven municipalities and over one million people in eastern Melbourne. It advocates for accessible and integrated transport in the eastern region of Melbourne to improve liveability and reduce car dependency.