PUBLIC transport has become the top infrastructure concern for the City of Casey.
Casey chief executive Mike Tyler said during a media conference earlier this year that the tide had turned for Casey on road infrastructure, but not so for public transport.
He told journalists that roads had for a long time been the council’s biggest worry, but works at strategic points relieved some pressure for motorists.
We have to compare our new suburbs with inner city suburbs and come to terms with the fact that we are no longer semirural and we now have to wait our turn at some places in the road system or travel at lower speeds twixt and tween.
We need to allow extra time for what a few years ago was a five or 10minute trip.
But the government hasn’t come to terms with the fact that because of this many more bus services are needed.
We have enormous population growth and with it people living in developed areas who need transport.
The council has been calling for more services and this was provided in part by extension of a bus route to the Casey Hospital from Berwick and Beaconsfield railway stations.
However, this was mere tokenism and kept the baying dogs from the door during the lead up to the State election.
But thanks to the election it was a start.
Nevertheless, it frustrates people living in the coastal villages and places such as Cranbourne and Narre Warren South who need transport to the hospital.
The question is whether governments should initially lose money in providing a reasonable public transport service in these areas or whether residents who move there should wear it and walk.
Public transport, or lack of it, appears to be the one weak link in the southeast and this needs to be rectified.
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