Budget train fails to stop

WITH Victorians climbing aboard the State Budget money train last week, early assessments suggest that foothills’ public transport users have again been left waiting at the platform.
Public Transport Users Association vice-president Alex Makin said the budget demonstrates that Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky does not have a vision for public transport in Knox and the Dandenong Ranges.
Absent from budgetary funding was an upgrade to Ferntree Gully railway station, a full-scale feasibility study into a heavy rail service to Rowville and the extension of tram services to Knox City.
Ferntree Gully MP Nick Wakeling, who last month pleaded the case for the Ferntree Gully station upgrade in State Parliament, was frustrated by the Government’s assertion that its budget had delivered on public transport.
Knox City Council’s Dobson Ward councillor and Public Transport Consultative Committee chairwoman Karin Orpen has campaigned to have the station upgraded to premium status. Cr Orpen said she was deflated by outcome but resolved to continue to raise the issue.
“All we can do is keep applying pressure and make sure the community chorus continues,” she said. “You never give up a good fight when you know the cause is just.”
While fellow councillor and Eastern Transport Coalition (ETC) chairman Mick Van de Vreede was buoyed by the announcement of a roll-out of further Smartbus services to the outer-east, he, too, said the Government was overlooking public transport initiatives as a method of combating traffic congestion.
“The ETC is of the view that the only way to deal with traffic congestion is to provide fast, efficient and frequent heavy rail extensions,” he said.
“We feel there is a severe imbalance in the infrastructure provided for private vehicles and the infrastructure provided for public transport.” – Paul Pickering