By Adele Vosper

While the Victorian State Government continues to drag its feet on bus reform, councils covering Melbourne’s high growth areas have recognised the importance of embracing sustainable and active modes of transport. 

Hume City Council has recently adopted a new Transport Strategy which prioritises providing more equitable and accessible transport choices to residents, workers, and visitors.

The strategy acknowledges that the current state of transport infrastructure creates a heavy burden for its residents with high road congestion and car dependency. 

“We know car dependency has an impact on health and wellbeing outcomes due to more sedentary lifestyle outcomes. Reliance on cars and time spent in congestion erodes time that can be spent with loved ones. We also know that, unless we act now, congestion and car dependency will continue to grow in line with Hume’s population, which is forecast to reach 390,000 by 204.” [Hume City Council Transport Strategy 2024-2034].

The City of Hume residents and councillors aren’t satisfied with the status quo and won’t be sitting back to watch as congestion and car dependency continues to increase in line with population growth. Instead, the Transport Strategy, which was informed by community consultation, “envisages a different future, where there are far greater transport choices available for our current and future residents.”

While acknowledging that car usage will remain important, the strategy will see the council taking actions to support a shift to other transport modes such as walking, cycling, train, and bus. 

Although the council wants to increase transport choices in order to help boost the local economy, enhance community wellbeing and reduce carbon emissions, it is limited in what it can do. Responsibility for local roads lies with councils, meaning that they have the authority to improve walking and cycling routes. However, it’s the Victorian Government that has responsibility for the public transport network. This means that councils can’t approve new bus routes or timetable changes, they can only advocate to the state government on behalf of their residents. 

“The long distances between schools, shops, and employment areas, coupled with limited public transport, force our reliance on cars. This leaves those without a driver’s license or unable to afford a car at a transport disadvantage. They may experience more challenges finding a job they can reliably get to or lengthy, unpredictable travel times and greater potential for social isolation” [Hume City Council Transport Strategy 2024-2034].

 The Transport Strategy highlights issues with the current bus services including lack of frequency, concerns around reliability, and many routes following convoluted paths leading to unnecessarily long journey times. In new residential areas, the provision of bus routes usually occurs long after residents have already moved in, and when they do, they also follow convoluted routes, are infrequent, and often do no run in the evenings and/or weekends.

“Public transport is key to improving transport equity and choices, alleviating traffic congestion and improving the efficiency of the road network. The expansion of train services, efficient bus routes and dedicated bus lanes can notably reduce travel times, making public transport a viable choice and positively impacting community well-being. The poor service and frequency of public transport is a very consistent theme raised by the community and an explicit area where the community support Council taking a strong and effective advocacy role” [Hume City Council Transport Strategy 2024-2034].

The Hume City Council knows exactly what needs to be done to address the transport challenges faced by its residents and expand the range of viable transport choices. Action needs to be taken now before the existing problems are further compounded by population growth. The Victorian Government needs to listen.