Group takes up bus fight

By Shaun Inguanzo
A PUBLIC transport advocacy group is looking to establish a branch in Greater Dandenong after learning of the council’s plan to discontinue funding for its weekend bus service.
The bus service was introduced late 2004 to help socially isolated residents get to key areas such as shopping centres and libraries.
Last month the council voted to extend funding of the service until the end of February, and agreed to lobby the State Government to take over the funding.
But Dandenong MP John Pandazopoulos expressed doubts over State Government funding, citing low patronage for the service, which costs up to $20,000 each month to run.
Keysborough Ward councillor Roz Blades, who has been fighting for council to continue funding the service, said this week she had received a call from the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) outer-east branch convenor Alex Makin after he read about the bus’s fate.
Without State Government money, the council will not continue to fund the service until it has reviewed the summer period and reconsidered the matter in a subsequent meeting.
Cr Blades said many people, young and old, had approached her saying they found the bus service valuable.
Mr Makin told Star he would be shocked if the State Government did not decide to take over funding of the service.
He said a local PTUA branch was expected to be established and operational within three to six months.
Mr Makin said the decision to establish a south-east branch was to encourage local residents to take an active and long-term role in pushing for improved public transport in Greater Dandenong.
He urged the council to continue funding the weekend bus service until the middle of the year while the group lobbied the State Government to fund the service immediately after council ceased its funding.