My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Public Transport in the other
place. On 30 January the minister announced the government’s Regional Bus
Improvement Program. Services in Colac will be boosted from 20 to 114 services a
week. The Colac bus service will now provide 21 services a day from 8.00 a.m.
till 6.00 p.m., Monday to Friday, and 9 services on a Saturday; and it will
operate throughout the school holiday period, which is a real first. The
minister also announced another 70 services a week for Portland residents as
part of the Brumby government’s plan to improve public transport for people, no
matter where they live.
I have listened to the concerns of local community members in
Colac and Portland about the frequency and the actual routes of the bus
services.
The changes that have now been made, for example in Colac, will
mean that the whole southern part of Colac will be connected for the first time.
It will then connect into the two other related routes. It essentially means
that the people of Colac now have connected transport services and that the
township itself will be connected. The new route takes the buses down past the
indoor swimming centre, past a number of sporting facilities but also down to
the newer housing areas of Colac.
I ask the minister to ensure that the government promotes these
new bus services both in Colac and Portland in ways such as advertising in the
local newspapers, holding free travel days and also making sure that there is
letterboxing of the bus timetable and bus routes to households, schools and
sporting clubs.