Related: Moe bus stop rethink needed: resident
Latrobe City councillors have voted unanimously to form a working party to address concerns around Moe’s public transport network and perceived lack of car parking following a community meeting last month.
At Monday night’s ordinary council meeting, councillors supported a motion put forward by Cr Brad Law after the Committee for Moe and Moe Traders Association wrote to Cr Law requesting a working party be established to “work through” the issues.
The working party, which will be chaired by Cr Law, will comprise of representatives from Public Transport Victoria, Committee for Moe, Moe Traders Association and Moe Taxis.
Cr Law said the working party would evaluate current bus routes and the placement of bus stops.
“I think it’s just a matter of getting the best option available for Moe because the results of the initial consultation weren’t as good as they should have been,” Cr Law said.
“The whole idea is to come to a consensus where we can improve the delivery of bus services and parking for the community.”
Part of the motion put forward by Cr Law will see council halt work on the removal of any further car parks until the working party has examined the current issues raised at last month’s meeting.
“Until this review is complete, we don’t want to do any more parking alterations,” he said.
“PTV were the initial driver of the whole project, so any recommendations will have to go through them and the local government minister concerned to have the issues addressed.”
The motion to establish a working party follows a community meeting at the Moe RSL last month where about 75 people attended to voice their concerns over the town’s public transport system and a perceived lack of car parking.
Committee for Moe member Lisa Price welcomed the news, saying it was the “most sensible thing that’s happened” in the last six months in relation to the ongoing changes.
“Part of the issue I think is that PTV doesn’t recognise the impact that these timetable changes have had on people in Moe and Newborough,” Ms Price said.
“From that point of view, you would hope that once the impact is actually acknowledged that changes will be put in the place to rectify some of the poor decisions in relation to the timetables.
“Now that this committee has been established, PTV should understand and address the issues and Latrobe City should advocate on behalf of the community about these concerns.”
Moe-based Cr Sharon Gibson said she was happy to support the motion, saying “these are just a few of the problems” that have been raised by community members.
Ms Gibson said even though some of the concerns were discussed during the Moe Activity Centre Plan consultations dating “as far back as 2009”, she was pleased they were “finally being addressed”.
Latrobe City mayor Cr Kellie O’Callaghan said council was committed to no further reduction in car parking until the working party examined current concerns.
The working party will be required to prepare a list of recommendations and report the outcomes to council before Monday, 23 October.
