Chief executive Craig Niemann said the meeting with VicRoads, Public Transport Victoria, and Minister for Roads and Public Transport Terry Mulder had been valuable.

Mr Niemann said the hour-long talks had looked at the need to upgrade the interchange and issues with local roads and public transport.

“They’re aware of the importance of the Ravenswood interchange project and the need to improve the safety of that intersection,” he said.

“It’s a big regional project in the order of tens of millions of dollars.

“We’re wanting to make sure the state government supports it and is ready to contribute funding to it when federal contributions are made.

“If either government committed, we would hope the other would commit.”

Mr Niemann said the long-term Marong bypass project had been also been discussed along with improvements to rail services between Melbourne and Bendigo, and between Bendigo and Swan Hill.

He said the need to continually review public transport routes and timetables, particularly for buses, was also raised.

“There were short term and long term priorities we discussed,” he said.

“It was well worth the hour we spent with Mr Mulder to make him aware of the needs of Bendigo, particularly with the growth of the city and how that demand will be met in the future.

“He’s very much across the issues he’s got to deal with.”

The need to upgrade the Ravenswood interchange has been discussed by various levels of government for several years.