Bus service caution

By Shaun Inguanzo
GREATER Dandenong residents hoping for major public transport improvements should not be overly excited by recent extensions of existing routes, a Greater Dandenong councillor has said.
The State Government announced last week that local routes including the 811 and 812 from Dandenong to Brighton, the 813 from Dandenong to Waverley Gardens, and the 827 from Dandenong to Hampton Station, would be extended with funding from the 2006/07 budget.
But City of Greater Dandenong’s Keysborough Ward councillor Roz Blades said while the first draft map of the extended routes was pleasing, residents should not yet be excited.
Cr Blades said it wasn’t yet clear whether the extended routes would provide a solution for residents wanting to easily get around Greater Dandenong, similar to what the council’s now defunct Weekend Bus Service offered.
“I need to stress that I don’t know when the weekly timetable will start and residents need to be aware that it does not in the slightest resemble the Weekend Bus Service. It is simply using existing routes,” she said.
Cr Blades said she would continue to investigate the extended services before making any further comment.
Greater Dandenong council last week released a statement saying the extended routes would commence in the new financial year but did not state a specific date.