Bus services: motions

The question put

That this house: (1) notes that: (a) Melbourne is experiencing a surge in growth with the population expected to exceed 6.5 million people by 2036 and the majority of new residents are settling in outer suburban growth areas; (b) public transport infrastructure has not kept abreast with population growth in growth areas, leaving residents with limited or no access to reliable public transport; (c) the lack of transport: (i) forces people to rely on costly private transport alternatives, exacerbating cost-of-living pressures for families and young people; (ii) prevents people from getting to work, school, medical appointments and participating fully in their community; (d) the government’s plans to build train infrastructure in growth areas will take decades to complete and require huge investment; (e) Infrastructure Victoria’s 2023 report titled Fast, Frequent, Fair recognised the critical role buses could play in servicing outer suburbs and new growth areas and recommended the government: (i) increase the frequency of bus services beginning with outer suburbs and growth areas; (ii) update the principal public transport network to accurately align it with mass transit bus routes; (