A DONNYBROOK mother of three is calling for weekend bus services to give teenagers the option of taking day trips to Bunbury rather than relying on their parents to drive them.
Two of Helen Moulton’s three children are teenagers.
“Until they’re old enough to drive they’re stuck relying on their parents and other people to go to the cinema,” she said.
“I encouraged my daughter to look into the local bus services, but they only go one way. Most of the parents I know spend most of their weekends taking their kids to and from Bunbury.
“We moan when our youngsters cause trouble, but they’re bored.”
Tourist Centre co-ordinator Gemma Baldisseri said a better public transport system was definitely needed from rural and regional areas to city centres, especially on weekends and school holidays.
“It is not good enough, you’ve got a service on weekends that will take you into the city centre, yet you cannot get home until the next day,” she said.
“We need better services that can cater for rural people so we don’t have to rely on cars. Public transport is meant to be convenient, yet Donnybrook misses out.”
A number of community members would benefit from more regular bus services, including year 12 students during half-days and exams, TAFE students, workers and senior citizens, Ms Baldisseri said.
“It’s expensive to run a vehicle and detrimental to the environment,” she said.
The Tourist Centre receives 20 to 25 complaints about the lack of bus services each week.
“The lack of services restricts, confines and isolates the town,” she said.
South West Coachlines general manager Lisa Shreve said the business would be happy to put on services where there was enough demand to make them viable.
“If we knew 40 people were working in Bunbury, we’d put on a service,” she said.
If Donnybrook and Balingup people wanted a bus service, there were a number of steps they could take, Ms Shreve said.
They could contact Main Roads and ask for traffic counters to document the numbers of people leaving Donnybrook early in the morning and returning between 5 and 6pm.
They could also put together saying they would use the service.
People could also email kate.ryan@veoliatransport.com.au with “Donnybrook Park’n’Ride” in the header, she said.
Their emails should detai when they needed to be in Bunbury, where they needed to be dropped off, how often they would use the service and how much they would be willing to pay, so South West Coachlines could come up with a route.
If community members organised a public meeting on the issue, South West Coachlines would be happy to attend and talk about what they could do.
“We’re happy to put on services where the demand is, but people need to support it. As soon as the service became no longer viable, we’d have to close it,” she said. —
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