Victoria’s public transport minister has spoken about the need to invest in the state’s bus industry at a conference this week, calling buses the “poor cousin” in Victoria’s public transport network.
“Buses have always been the poor cousin in our public transport network, particularly when compared to trams, and it’s not fair,” Gabrielle Williams told the PTAANZ ‘Moving People, Transforming Cities’ symposium yesterday in Melbourne.
“They’re much loved and well utilised in other jurisdictions in Australia, but in the broader Victorian community, people don’t feel like bus services meet their needs.”
Williams says the time for bus in Victoria is now, labelling various ways the state can improve its bus network to make it more appealing to passengers.
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The first point is to provide more direct and frequent services – while this may mean routes will be altered, the goal is to reform bus routes so that they can travel more often and get people to their destinations quicker.
This may mean passengers have to compromise with not always having a bus stop 100 or 200m from their houses. Instead, a little bit of a further walk may result in more buses, more often and at a faster speed.
“We know that when we deliver what people tell us they want, they’ll use the services and vote with their feet,” Williams says.
“We have an exciting opportunity ahead to deliver a more modern bus service that integrates well with other projects in the state.”
Williams was then followed by secretary of Victoria’s Department of Transport and Planning, Jeroen Weimar, who admitted that he wants the state’s zero-emissions bus transition to be completed quicker than its current pace.
“The first 89 buses are here, but I’d like to see us do more a bit quicker,” he says.
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