By Alesha Capone
A DELAHEY resident has criticised the State Government for leaving parts of Brimbank and Wyndham out of a new SmartBus route.
The government has announced the 902 route from Chelsea to Airport West will begin next Monday (April 5).
However, secretary of the Delahey Action Group, David Anderson, said this was not good enough.
He was at last year’s St Albans Bus Region Review, where government consultants said route 902 would actually run from Werribee via Station Rd and Kings Rd to Watergardens, then across to Airport West.
But Mr Anderson said the new route announcement has cut off the promised Werribee to Watergardens part of the journey, which would have travelled through Delahey.
“When the Route 903 Smartbus from Mordialloc to Altona was launched, it commenced over the whole route. Why are we being denied our part of the Route 902 orbital?” Mr Anderson said.
“It is always residents of the north-western suburbs who suffer in public transport planning. We are treated as second-class citizens.”
Mr Anderson said if the 902 route was extended to Werribee, it would give elderly and disadvantaged people without cars the ability to travel to Watergardens, Brimbank Central shopping centre and Airport West Shoppingtown, without having to travel in and out of the Melbourne CBD first.
He said residents wanted to know if the 902 route would run where they were told it would at the St Albans Bus Region Review, or not.
Greens MP Colleen Hartland echoed Mr Anderson’s call in state parliament last week.
“When SmartBus routes were first announced in 2006 our outer western SmartBus route was proposed to commence in 2010-11- next financial year,” she said.
“The eastern suburbs will get a public transport link to the airport next year, but the West misses out yet again, despite being where all the growth is occurring. “
She called on the Public Transport minister “to ensure that the outer western SmartBus route is funded and implemented in the coming financial year.”
However, in response to Star’s queries, a State Government spokesman said, “The West is already served by the Red Orbital SmartBus from Altona to Mordialloc.”
“There is scope to expand the Green Orbital into the East, however its proposed route will duplicate the $4.3 billion Regional Rail Link,” he said.
“The Green Orbital, which is the 903, was announced in the Victorian Transport Plan to operate between Chelsea and Airport West.”
