Hume City mayor Naim Kurt says there needs to be a change in the public’s perception around the use of buses.
“The perception we have is that they’re infrequent, indirect, and inaccessible. So, they become unattractive to use in hot or bad weather,” he says. “The buses that we’ve got here, they’re generally not very direct routes and they’re pretty irregular in the way they run.”
As one of Victoria’s fastest growing municipalities, Cllr Kurt says an improved bus route to the northern growth areas would be an important addition.
“There’s really one train line that exists to access our northern area,” he says. “All the new train routes that are being built, they’re being designed in the south eastern suburbs. If we get bus routes happening, it can be done quicker, cheaper, and we can get people moving faster.”
This time last year, Infrastructure Victoria called for more buses and more exclusive bus lanes on major roads. It’s a suggestion Kurt supports, so long as the state government provides the infrastructure.
“Hume residents are paying a ‘car tax’ because we don’t have access to better public transport, and we don’t have the options other Melburnians have,” says Kurt.
In June 2023, following a council debate in May, then mayor Cllr Joseph Haweil wrote to MP Josh Bull asking for a review the bus network in Hume.
