Did you know there are train lines between many of our regional cities? But the Geelong-Ballarat and the Castlemaine-Maryborough lines have been closed to passenger services for decades, and the Ballarat-Maryborough line only has two services a day.
Meanwhile, these areas have experienced a massive population boom. There are now 600,000 people living along the route and around 280,000 jobs. With such large numbers living and moving to this part of regional Victoria, the absence of frequent and reliable public transport connections linking them is unacceptable.
We can do better.
The Greens are calling on the Victorian Government to improve inter-regional transport in the West.
This could include:
- Re-opening the Goldfields Rail Line, to link Geelong, Ballarat and Maryborough with regular cross-state passenger services.
- Increasing the frequency of bus services between Maryborough and Castlemaine, to better link with the Bendigo/Melbourne rail services.
- Including express bus services from Ballarat to Castlemaine to link with train services heading to and from Bendigo.
We know people will travel for work, education, health, and recreation between regional centres if we have reliable and frequent transport services. The Greens want all Victorians, including in our regions, to have access to public transport that is fast, frequent, affordable and reliable.
Join us in calling on the state government to support a better Geelong-Bendigo public transport service.
