The Age: Bid to keep bonus transport in place

Published by Alex Makin on Saturday 11th of March, 2006

The public transport improvements that will be provided during the Commonwealth Games has demonstrated that the government has the capability to fund service improvements.

The Age has reported on the Public Transport Users Association’s call to ensure that these service improvements remain:

IMPROVED public transport services for the Commonwealth Games are proof that Melburnians can, and should, do much better out of their trains, trams and buses.

The Public Transport Users Association has welcomed the extra 30,000 services.

Bus routes in particular are receiving a significant boost. Many routes, such as the future Stud Road (Ringwood to Frankston) SmartBus and Maroondah Highway, will receive additional services so that they operate well into the late evenings and early morning.

“The Government has demonstrated that it can get its act together to deliver some substantial public transport improvements,” said spokesman Alex Makin. He said the Games-level of transport should be made permanent.

“With frequency improvements during off-peak times for Melbourne’s train, tram and bus network, the Government has shown it has both the capacity and the budget to deliver such improvements,” said Mr Makin.

Now that long promised public transport improvements have been delivered the onus is on the government to ensure that they remain. Maintaining the extended services for buses will ensure that the goal of increasing public transport modal share to 20% by 2020 remains achievable.

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