Residents of a fast-growing suburb in Melbourne’s west have come up with a novel solution to cut their daily commute time and beat parking woes at the train station.
Point Cook residents have launched a shuttle service for estates not served by Public Transport Victoria. WynBus has started operating from Monday under a six-week trial that the Point Cook Action Group is hoping to get further extended.
Under the project, four mini-buses run between different estates in Point Cook and Hoppers Crossing station during the morning and afternoon peak. Rides cost between $2 and $4 and are available through a mobile phone app.
“This project aims to cut congestion on the roads during morning and afternoon peak hours and provide quality service to daily commuters who would normally spend an enormous amount of time in their cars, just to get to train station,” Senthill Sundaram of Point Cook Action Group told SBS Punjabi.
Currently, most Point Cook residents catch trains to Melbourne from Williams Landing station.
“It's such a big suburb and growing even bigger. But if you look at the two major roads in the morning, they resemble a carpark. That’s why we decided to run the service to Hoppers’ instead. WynBus has already taken dozens of cars off the roads and has the potential to take that number to 100 within the trial period,” he said.
The idea that was first proposed to the local council and won the ‘GovHack Wyndham Contest’ in 2018, has taken over a year to take shape. It has received $31,500 in funding from the Victorian State Government’s Pick My Project initiative.
Apart from the shuttle service, a mobility-aid enabled mini-bus operates during off-peak hours, for residents who experience mobility constraints.
“There are disabled people or elderly parents of migrants, who would otherwise have to remain confined to their homes because there’s no one to take them to where they want to go within the suburb or to the nearest recreation or shopping centre,” Mr Sundaram said.
The group is now looking to rope in sponsors to advertise on the mini-buses and the revenue will be used to subsidise the rides.
At the end of the trial, the data will be shared with the state government, in the hope of making the service permanent. Mr Sundaram says the group will endeavour to get PTV to install MyKi in WynBus vehicles and expand the projects to the entire Wyndham area- which is Melbourne’s high growth corridor.
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