By STEFAN BRADLEY
IN response to community outcry, the state government has committed to not make changes to the Yarram/Leongatha to Southern Cross V/Line coach service that would have instead seen the bus terminate at East Pakenham station.
The Koo Wee Rup Blackfish newsletter reported in its March issue the coach service, which begins either at Yarram or Leongatha and finishes at Southern Cross station in Melbourne, would instead run to East Pakenham Station after the Koo Wee Rup stop, and passengers would need to transfer to a train, under this change.
“South Gippsland is poorly serviced by public transport. This seems to be taking that poor service to another level,” the publication said.
The Koo Wee Rup Blackfish noted driving to the train station, transferring and waiting for the train would add additional time to the trip to Southern Cross, and make the Yarram/Leongatha coach “less viable as a commuter service”.
“There are people who regularly commute in and out on the bus, some from much further out in South Gippsland,” they said.
“By diverting to East Pakenham, we lose the easy airport transfer. Many locals stow their suitcases under the bus and walk them over to the SkyBus when they arrive at Southern Cross. Taking your luggage on a commuter train isn’t nearly as stress-free.”
A Change.org petition set up on March 2 opposing the change was signed by more than 2000 people within days.
The Yarram/Leongatha coach begins at Yarram, and stops at Alberton, Welshpool, Toora, Foster and so on. The other major stops include Leongatha, Korumburra, Koo Wee Rup, Cranbourne, Dandenong, Caulfield, and ending at either Southern Cross or Flinders Street Station. The 6.26am coach from Yarram on weekdays arrives at Southern Cross at around 10.21am, making the entire bus trip around four hours. After Koo Wee Rup, the coach skips Tooradin, Five Ways, Cranbourne, Dandenong and Caulfield, instead going straight to Southern Cross.
If you wanted to go to those other stops, another coach departs at the same 6.26am time but requires commuters to change to another coach at Koo Wee Rup, and then switch to a metropolitan train at Dandenong, and it arrives at Southern Cross at 11.02am, adding about 40 minutes extra to the trip.
The same two coaches run again from Yarram at 11.08am and 3.08pm on weekdays. There are five other times during the day you can catch the line, but they begin at Leongatha only. Similar options exist in the opposite direction from Southern Cross to Leongatha/Yarram, but some of the journeys begin on trains and depart at different times to the coaches.
There are fewer services on Saturdays and Sundays, but they are the same on both days.
The now-abandoned change would have seen the coach sometime after Koo Wee Rup terminate at East Pakenham and then passengers would switch to a train to go to Southern Cross or elsewhere. Presumably there would also be more train and bus transfers for those travelling from Southern Cross to Leongatha/Yarram.
State Member for Gippsland South Danny O’Brien said on March 3 he spoke to the Public Transport Minister’s office, which confirmed no final decision had been made.
“I have made clear to the minister’s office that I would fight any such proposal – and that likely it would be very poorly received by most travellers from South Gippsland (and Bass Coast for that matter),” Mr O’Brien said.
Member for Bass, Jordan Crugnale commented on the report and the “heaps of emails” she received about the matter.
Ms Crugnale said noted community consultation on the matter would start in June and encouraged those in the public to have their say on the matter.
Last year in the state budget, the government announced $30 million for improved bus and ferry services, including more frequent bus services for Leongatha and Yarram.
“Any changes to any timetables are expected to be made in early 2026,” Ms Crugnale said.
Ms Crugnale also acknowledged public transport options in the area were “not great”, and “current service timetabling does fail to provide good connections between routes and enough frequency, significantly impacting smaller towns and communities accessing larger centres”.
“With the V/Line currently (sic) timetables, what I have heard many times over is that regional students can’t get to and from their tertiary institutions in a timely manner, families have to drive to attend a footy match in the city, and the added cost or hindrance altogether for people wanting to go to a concert or major event on any given night because they need to factor in an overnight stay,” she said.
The state seat of Bass covers from the south-east Melbourne suburb of Clyde through to Inverloch and Phillip Island.
The next day, on March 4, the state government ruled out any plans to terminate the Yarram/Leongatha coaches at East Pakenham.
Regional spokesperson for the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA), Paul Westcott said they received a number of “annoyed correspondence” about the dumped proposal when it came up.
“The issue is connections, to and from the train stations. There’s uncertainty about continuation and going to the next service. It can be a hassle,” Mr Westcott said.
“We have complaints about the lack of frequency of the Yarram/Leongatha line. The coach is slow, goes a long way and gets stuck in peak hour traffic in Melbourne, but at least you’re on the bus.
“It does seem like a bus transfer to Pakenham or Dandenong is off the table because of the reaction to this, so they’ll have to go back to the drawing board.”
Based on what he’d heard from the community, Mr Westcott said the best thing to do in this instance may be to simply increase the number of services and keep the route the same.
“Make transfers as easy as possible, and the best way to have that is frequency of services,” he said.
Setting up new services on the Gippsland Line has proven challenging for a whole host of reasons, but adding more coaches to the Yarram/Leongatha line should be easier.
“There is nothing (stopping them). It’s just a question of buses and drivers,” Mr Westcott said.
Editor of the Yarram-based newspaper The Bridge, Deb Lucas told the Express that many locals in the area used the Yarram/Leongatha coach, including the elderly, students and those without cars.
“People who contacted me were quite upset (about the now-canned change). Uni students use it to go to Southern Cross, instead of going to the train station. Some use it to access medical services at Foster, or Leongatha,” Ms Lucas said.
“It’s fairly long and arduous. Some are better off going to Traralgon first (via bus). But for the elderly it’s very helpful.”
