By Stephen Linnell
WYNDHAM’S bus service is inefficient, indirect and in dire need of a major overhaul.
That is the conclusion of a Wyndham Council review of the local bus network that will form part of a submission to State Government. The report, by the council’s transport planner Dean Ellis, identified a number of shortcomings in the present network, including the need to provide a more direct service with increased hours of operation.
The report highlighted the need for additional routes in growth areas including Truganina and an expansion of services to Werribee South and Point Cook.
The submission is based on community feedback and will be forwarded to the Department of Infrastructure, which is reviewing bus services across Melbourne, taking into account location, performance and effectiveness of routes.
The review found a need to: restructure bus routes to provide shorter, direct routes; improve frequency and hours of operation; extend services into growth areas and adopt new services and provide regional links.
The submission was adopted by the council at its meeting last week.
The report took into account the views of residents who took part in two workshops in February. There will be more community consultation in April.
Wyndham mayor Kim McAliney said the review was important to ensure bus services were meeting the needs of the local community.
“Wyndham is experiencing rapid growth and we need to ensure that services, including public transport, keep up with this growth,” she said.
“Public transport is one of the biggest issues for Wyndham residents and is something that is regularly raised by the community in correspondence to council. Many residents in Wyndham rely on bus services to get them from home to work, shopping centres, school and other venues. On weekdays, most services operate at 40 minute intervals and on one route services operate every 90 minutes.”
Councillor Leigh Barrett described the network as the “bane of residents”. “Build it and they will come – provide a service and people will use it,” he said.
Councillor Rob Fairclough said residents had put up with an inefficient service for too long.
The review of the 14 bus routes throughout the municipality found there was no bus route servicing the entire Truganina area east of Skeleton Creek, nor to the west of Tarneit Rd.
Most of Sanctuary Lakes and a broad band of new growth in the south-west of Point Cook between Sneydes and Dunnings roads also have no service.
The review also found that along many routes, the frequency of service was 40 minutes. This needed to be improved to 20 minutes.
The review is expected to take six months to complete.
