Central Victorian stakeholders met with representatives of Public Transport Victoria and Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan to discuss the development of the state government’s Regional Network Development Plan on Friday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Public Transport Victoria’s Stuart Johns said one of the biggest challenges the strategy faced locally was the “massive” growth of Bendigo’s population by 43 per cent between 2011 and 2021.
“To put that in context, think of 43 per cent more people on the roads, on the buses and around the schools and shopping centres,” he said.
“You start to get a sense of where Bendigo’s going and how important land use planning and transport planning will be for this city going forward.”
City of Greater Bendigo mayor Peter Cox agreed growth was a major issue.
“We’ve just developed a new regional development strategy which will be for a compact city rather than a sprawling city so public transport will play a very important role in moving people around,” he said.
“We’ve got a long way to go, it’s all about behavioural change and I think it’s achievable.”
Buloke Shire CEO John Hicks nominated community transport as the most pressing transport issue facing the shire’s aging population.
Mr Hicks said he would like to see community taxi services supported.
“We haven’t been able to continue to fund the community transport we’ve previously provided,” he said.
“So you get people who are in their 60s getting older and requiring assistance, needing to get to doctors, needing to get to other services, and there isn’t any (transport) available.”