Liam McNally
A Deanside apprentice has voiced his frustration with access to public transport in Melton’s new estates.
For Hayden Ellis, public transport access to his Taylors Road home made his last year of high school “hard”.
He said in the mornings he could either be dropped off by his parents 2.5 hours before school begins, walk more than 30 minutes to the bus along a road with no footpath, or get an expensive Uber.
And now the issues are persisting in his working life.
“Now I’ve got an apprenticeship, my boss was dropping me off at the local station, but the buses couldn’t get me from the station to the estate that I live in,” he said.
“I had to get an Uber from the local station or the shopping centre … which was about $35, which as a first year apprentice that money is a lot, it’s just lucky that I live at home.”
Melton council data shows that Mr Ellis’ situation is not uncommon. There are over 5000 new residential properties south of the railway line unserved by buses, according to council.
Deanside, Fraser Rise, Truganina (Mt Atkinson), and Rockbank have no access to bus services, and no plans to introduce bus services in the near future, the data shows.
New estates in Brookfield, Melton West, Harkness, Kurunjang and Diggers Rest have infrequent, indirect bus routes.
Melton mayor Lara Carli said current bus networks “aren’t meeting the communities growing needs”.
“Whole suburbs and many other areas in our community have no access to bus services. Frequency is low and unreliable, services are indirect, and travel times are close to twice that of travelling by car,” she said.
“Our community is walking away from the bus service. We are seeking a review of the bus network in Melbourne’s outer-west as part of Victoria’s Bus Reform Plan to refine existing routes to create more frequent and direct routes.
“We are calling for an additional $10 million per annum to improve connections into the growth areas that currently have no or little services and to create east-west and north-south connections.”
Mr Ellis said he would “to see if they’ve even thought about adding buses for the new estates, I believe it’s only fair for the people that live here”.
The state government has committed to a new bus service for Eynesbury but is yet to commit to a review of the network.
A spokesperson said the state government is “always looking at ways to improve our public transport network across the state – including in Melbourne’s western suburbs.”
