by Cam Lucadou-Wells
South East Metropolitan MP Rachel Payne has vowed to continue fighting despite a proposal for free and more frequent public-transport buses being voted down in State Parliament last week.
Both the Government and Liberal-National Coalition opposed the Legalise Cannabis party’s motion, including a 12 month free-bus trial as well as a review of bus routes.
The Greens supported the proposal.
“Sadly, the government and opposition voted against this commonsense proposal,” Payne said.
“Both the government and opposition agreed that the bus networks need work yet did not support this proposal for a review of the networks as well as consideration for incentivising people to get on buses.”
Payne said the free travel plan had parallels to Queensland’s recently-introduced 50-cent fares.
“I haven’t given up. I will continue to fight for a fair go for everyone.”
She said too many in the outer South-East suburbs were in “public transport deserts with no trams, infrequent trains and substandard bus services”.
This led to entrenched disadvantage, isolation, cost of living pressures, pollution and road congestion.
In Parliament, Labor upper house MP Michael Gallea said eliminating fares only improved patronage to a “small degree” – “nowhere hear enough to justify the cost of making it free”.
Service frequency, connectivity and reliability were the “things that drive patronage”.
Gallea said Victoria’s Bus Plan was focused on network improvements, such as the extensions of 831, 798 and 928, as well as extra weekend services on the 800 Dandenong to Chadstone.
He conceded there were “pockets” of Melbourne that were “not optimal”.
“When you have slow, meandering bus routes, you actually drive down the potential patronage and you also of course require more resources to use it.
“Where we can have clear, direct, logical bus routes such as the extensions that we are doing in, for example, Clyde North, … that means that you can really maximise the benefit of those bus services.”
