Gippsland’s public transport woes have come under fire again in state parliament today.
The Nationals Member for Eastern Victoria Melina Bath said Gippsland’s is disappointing Gippsland passengers have to put up with a substandard service.
“Frankly Gippslander’s are treated like second class citizens.
“My constituents have had enough and deserve more respect from the Andrews Labor Government.
“It is bad enough that Gippsland commuters are regularly forced to catch replacement coaches while metropolitan lines are upgraded, but the replacement services are not meeting the public’s needs.”
Ms Bath outlined a recent example of the ongoing frustrations Gippsland commuters endured following an AFL game held on April 20th at Docklands stadium.
“There were sufficient coaches traveling to Melbourne, however the return journey was a completely different story,” said Ms Bath.
“A lack of coaches and poor information created a shambolic and highly stressful situation for passengers.
“While coaches to Geelong, Ballarat and other country lines had services leaving at regular intervals, passengers traveling back to Latrobe Valley had to scramble to catch too few coaches.
“Some passengers were even told the next departure time only to miss the bus because it left prior to the time indicated.
“In the end my constituent eventually arrived home after 2am.
“While metropolitan services continue to receive upgrades, Gippsland is treated like Labor’s poor and forgotten cousin.
“The Minister must provide a proper explanation and apology as to why the Gippsland service was so poorly managed and my constituent was left with an inadequate service on a known busy commuter night”.
