Public Transport: DoncasterWednesday, February 03, 2010 AdjournmentI rise to call on the new Minister for Public Transport to commit to new public transport services for Doncaster. Doncaster residents are fed up with their public transport options which are limited to bus services. I recently conducted a Doncaster-wide survey asking residents what were their major issues of concern.
Overwhelmingly public transport and roads topped the poll. Residents want alternatives, such as light or heavy rail facilities. They want more bus services so they can travel where they want to go when they want to go there. Residents also want the extension of the no. 48 tram route to Doncaster. This government has summarily dismissed the idea with little detailed investigation, despite the Manningham City Council thinking the proposal had enough merit to commit ratepayers funds to the undertaking of a feasibility assessment. Despite the government's grand promises of more buses and extended operating hours, little has changed for Doncaster commuters for years. One resident told me, 'I'm a professional working in the central business district and I love Doncaster, but Doncaster will lose me if there are not more regular options to get home.' Also of major concern is the need to reduce congestion on the Eastern Freeway, especially at the city end.
Sadly this is an issue I hear about too often and experience myself as I travel to Parliament and sit in the early morning car park which is the Eastern Freeway. I ask the new Minister for Public Transport and his parliamentary secretary, a member in the other place who represents Doncaster and the eastern suburbs, to breathe new life into the public transport policy for Doncaster. I also hope, unlike his predecessors, he will be more receptive to Doncaster residents having more transport options than just limited bus services. I have already invited the minister to visit Doncaster to discuss these matters with community leaders and, like other Doncaster residents, I am awaiting his positive response. He could begin by releasing the long overdue review of the city's bus services. There is no reason why we are all still waiting for the results of this review, which is more than a year overdue. I would like to summarise what was said by a few residents about their needs. One fellow said, 'We need further integration of public transport links between other transport hubs, like Box Hill and Heidelberg'. Another said, 'Please try to get the tram to Doncaster shopping centre'. A third said, 'We need public transport that actually goes through Donvale, not just to the edges of it'. Another gentleman said, 'Melbourne would be a great city if we were to have a state-of-the-art public transport system with frequent integrated and well-maintained buses, trams and trains reaching into all corners of the city'. The minister's priority should be to ensure that all Melburnians have affordable and accessible public transport. I believe in this respect Doncaster residents are being seriously disadvantaged. This government has had a decade to improve our public transport, but it has not been prepared to invest in the necessary infrastructure to ensure that Doncaster residents have the public transport they need and deserve.
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