Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan says the lack of bus shelters in Casey is a disgrace and has called on council to inject more funds into addressing the shortfall. He is pictured at a former bus shelter in Power Road, Endeavour Hills.By Rebecca Fraser
NARRE Warren North MP Luke Donnellan has branded the lack of bus shelters in Casey a disgrace.
His comments follow the disappearance of an old and frequently used bus shelter on Power Road Endeavour Hills near Amalfi Drive.
Mr Donnellan said residents had told him the bus shelter had been removed about three months ago and was still to be replaced.
He said the funding of bus shelters needed to increase with the rapid growth of Casey otherwise it would be decades before significant inroads could be made into the “shortfall”.
“The City of Casey spent a paltry amount of $50,000 this year for six bus shelters, even though the State Government subsidised 40 per cent of all bus shelter works.
“We are not talking about traffic lights and this is not expensive stuff.
“This issue needs to be addressed,” he said.
Mr Donnellan said of the 880 bus stops within Casey’s 400 square kilometre boundary only 180 had shelters of any kind.
As a result, there had been a number of requests for bus shelters in Endeavour Hills, Narre Warren, Narre Warren North, Hallam and Berwick.
Mr Donnellan said these requests had been made as long as a year ago.
“This is disgraceful when you consider Casey’s population growth of 65 families a week. It’s important to note that bus shelters are heavily utilised by the elderly, by students and the public in general,” he said.
Casey mayor Kevin Bradford said there was definitely a need for more bus shelters and buses.
“We need bus shelters but buses to go with it,” he said.
Cr Bradford also identified the coastal villages of Casey as being in dire need of shelters and increased bus services.
“There is a need in coastal villages such as Pearcedale and remote areas and the fringes of Cranbourne for bus shelters and I have no doubt that there are also shortages in Endeavour Hills and surrounding suburbs.
“It is a difficulty through the entire city and I will continue to push the need for increased public transport,” he said.
Casey Traffic manager, Paul Hamilton, said council was looking into other ways to provide more bus shelters in Casey such as advertising shelters.
He said Casey had a program to provide five new shelters a year but they were the public transport service’s responsibility.
“This is a state responsibility but we recognise that money is not being spent to provide bus shelters in Casey so we started our own program.
“We are looking at ways to increase shelters and have been in discussions about having shelters with advertising out in Casey.
“The players have indicated that outer metro areas are not suitable for this at the moment but we will keep looking into this to see if the market has changed,” he said.
Mr. Donnellan has now urged all residents to phone his office regarding the need for more shelters.
