MEMBER for Mildura Ali Cupper has called for a long-overdue review of the city’s public bus network as some services struggle to attract passengers.
A recent report by the Institute for Sensible Transport revealed it had been more than 20 years since there was a review into Mildura’s bus services.
It found several holes in the system, including a lack of services at night for young people, and said buses to La Trobe University and SuniTAFE were “very limited”.
A Sunraysia Daily query about the performance of local services this week found there was an average of less than two passengers on three weekday bus routes, which run from Mildura Central to Kmart.
Sources say the Mildura service – operated by CDC Victoria – is one of the most heavily subsided in the state.
However, the Department of Transport refused to say how much it was paying CDC to operate the local service for “commercial-in-confidence” reasons.
It also deflected a question on why the government had not done a review of the Mildura bus system since last century.
“We periodically review bus networks across the state to ensure services are appropriate for the area,” a department spokeswoman said.
Ms Cupper said it was high time for a review of the local system, where cash is king and cards are rejected.
“If it’s been 20 years and there’s issues in terms of usage, obviously that should prompt a review and there have been conversations about a review with the State Government throughout this term,” she said.
“Certainly, we can refresh those conversations in order to get some action.”
Asked if she thought the local bus service was fit for purpose, Ms Cupper said: “Probably not.
“I know bus services are particularly important for more vulnerable members of the community and it’s a more environmentally friendly option.
“(But) it’s probably not so environmentally friendly when you’re just carting around two people because it’s a big piece of machinery.
“Those sorts of figures suggest we do need another review.”
The Institute for Sensible Transport said an on-demand bus service was “something that may provide better mobility options for those unable to walk longer distances”.
The NSW Government is trialling an on-demand system at several locations designed to improve connections to transport hubs and popular destinations such as shopping centres or hospitals.
This service can pick up passengers from home or an easy-to-access location in mini-buses and cars, and take them where they need to go.
Fares are at standard rates.
Ms Cupper said public transport had “long been a problematic area for us” after passenger train services to Mildura were axed in 1993.
“I don’t want to be speculating on what needs to be done, but what I’d be suggesting is for the government to run a review (into the local bus system),” she said.
“The review might find people want a cashless system, or it might not, and it might find people want stops around certain parts of the town, or it might not, and those are the things we’d lobby for.”
Local bus driver Paul Avers said he was concerned the government was not taking the Mildura bus service seriously.
“To be honest with you, two years ago I took (Transport Department) executives on a little run around the whole district and at that time they were talking about introducing routes to Nichols Point and that sort of thing but nothing ever came out of it,” he said yesterday.
“I just don’t think they take it seriously.”
By the numbers
Passengers by bus route
January-May 2019
- 600, 601, 602 bus services (Mildura Central): 5367 total (average two per bus)
- 400, 401, 500, 501 (City east-west): 20,128 (average 4.3 per bus)
- 250, 300, 211, 311, 312 (Merbein): 27,489 (average seven per bus)
- 100, 200 (Red Cliffs): 46,363 (average 25 per bus)
January-May 2021
- 600, 601, 602: 4234 total (average 1.55 per bus)
- 400, 401, 500, 501: 17,056 (average 3.64 per bus)
- 250, 300, 211, 311, 312: 21,725 (average 5.5 per bus)
- 100, 200: 36,881 (average 20.13 per bus)
Ticket to ride reveals a mixed picture
Sunraysia bus driver Paul Avers sums up the current Sunraysia public transport system as a vicious cycle. Picture: Tamara Clark
WHAT started off as tip-off from a Mildura businessman evolved into a fact-finding mission this week.
The more questions Sunraysia Daily asked the Victorian Government about public transport in Sunraysia, the more questions it raised.
The Transport Department provided data showing before COVID-19, two passengers, on average, were riding each Mildura city bus, 4.3 were taking the east-west service, seven people on average were on Merbein buses and 25 travelling between Mildura and Red Cliffs on the region’s most popular route.
After finding there hadn’t been a review of the Sunraysia bus network in more than two decades, the Daily set out on a mission to find out things looked on board a bus.
First, I paid $2.40 for a two-hour full fare and took the route least travelled in Sunraysia, the Mildura city loop route 500, from Kmart to Mildura Central on Tuesday.
Riding with me was another young woman, a teenage girl and two middle-aged men.
Through the journey another man and a primary school student got on board, taking the tally to seven passengers.
That was three times the 2019 average for that route – but the vehicle still felt eerily empty, although the ride was punctual, smooth and comfortable.
Second, I took the route most travelled in Sunraysia – the Red Cliffs-Mildura service – along with five students, four women and two men.
Several other passengers boarded along the way including a pair of pensioners: 24 passengers in total, one less than the 2019 average.
Sunraysia bus driver of five years Paul Avers said the passenger count was significantly higher on that route for three reasons.
First, buses ran every hour. Second, other buses had several routes, whereas the Red Cliffs bus ran back and forth. Last, there were several schools along the Red Cliffs route.
Mr Avers said many more people would ride the bus if there were more routes reaching places such as Nichols Point.
“The drivers think we need more routes,” he said. “There’s nothing further-reaching, there’s nothing past Sixteenth Street.
“Public Transport Victoria have supposedly been thinking about it, but they’ve been thinking about it for 10 years so we don’t think that’s going to change.”
A Mildura passenger, Arcade Bucumi, shared Mr Avers’ concern.
It takes the 60-year-old farm worker an hour to ride his bike to work in Trentham Cliffs.
He said while his life was hard without a driver’s licence, it would be impossible without the bus.
“The bus is very important for people like me,” he said. “The government needs to help.
“How the buses run is bad for the farmers because they don’t go out to the farms.”
And 17-year-old apprentice printer Blake Sutton, who rides from his home in Irymple to work in Mildura, said that no matter how few people caught the bus, it was an essential service.
“Sometimes it’s a last resort,” he said.
“(If it weren’t for buses) a lot of people wouldn’t be able to get around. Some people just rely on it, some people can’t drive, some people can’t afford a taxi.”
Blake’s only concern with the service was the lack of reliability of night buses.
But to Mr Avers, no public transport issues in Sunraysia exist in a vacuum.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sunraysia buses couldn’t accept cash for months on end.
But, because the only possible payment method was cash, passengers rode free.
“It’d be good if they introduced the Myki system,” Mr Avers said. “A lot of people come here from Melbourne carrying Mykis and they don’t carry cash.
“The income that would come in from the passengers would be a lot more … at the moment we aren’t taking cash because of the pandemic but Melbourne is using the Myki still, bringing in money.”
Mr Avers summed up the current Sunraysia public transport system as a vicious cycle.
“If we aren’t making money, it must be very hard to justify any kind of review or improvement to our services,” he said.
