The Andrews Labor Government has delivered 10 extra weekday train services for Ballarat and a bigger, better bus network for local passengers.
Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan joined Member for Buninyong Geoff Howard and Member for Wendouree Sharon Knight in Ballarat today to mark the start of the new V/Line timetable and greet the first new service to Maryborough since the former Labor Government reopened the line in 2010.
The visit to Ballarat Station coincided with the arrival of the first new service to Maryborough since the former Labor Government reopened the line in 2010. Maryborough, like Ballarat, will get 10 extra services every week through the new timetable.
The new Ballarat bus network also began operation yesterday – part of the Labor Government’s $100 million investment in better bus services across Victoria.
The new network replaces the 19 existing local bus routes with 15 simpler, more direct routes, with more frequent, reliable services.
Many of the routes cover the same area as two or more former routes, meaning better coverage and bus connections to key locations where buses don’t currently run, like Federation University Mount Helen campus, developing areas of Alfredton and Delacombe and north of the freeway at Brown Hill.
There will be more services on the weekend, and almost all the routes converge at Ballarat Station, making it quicker and easier to get the train and get home at the end of the day.
The 80 extra regional train services are the first of more than 170 announced as part of the Victorian Budget 2016-17, and are on top of the more than 340 new regional services already introduced by the Labor Government.
The Budget included $1.3 billion for better regional public transport, including $198 million to rebuild V/Line, $257 million for new train carriages and $518 million for the Ballarat Line Upgrade.
Quotes attributable to the Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan
“We’re delivering more trains and more buses right now, and investing more than half-a-billion to run even more frequent, reliable services in the future.”
Quotes attributable to Member for Wendouree Sharon Knight
“We’re doing what the Liberals and Nationals never did and never will do – delivering the tracks, trains and services Ballarat needs as it grows.”
Quotes attributable to Member for Buninyong Geoff Howard
“We promised these new services and we’re delivering – giving local passengers more reason than ever to want to use our even better train and bus services.”
Reviewed 19 August 2020