By ALANA MITCHELSON
Most Geelong commuters will continue riding buses despite the State Government announcing that more than 90 per cent of disrupted regional V/Line services will return to normal in the next fortnight.
Fifty-nine per cent of current Geelong replacement services will continue to run as buses from 21 March, including all but one peak-hour service.
South Barwon MP Andrew Katos accused the government of “smoke and mirrors” when it announced the 90 per cent return figure this week.
The government’s priority should be returning peak-hour services, he said.
“They’re fixing Geelong services at times of the day that aren’t really useful to most people.
“I would’ve thought that fixing peak hour services would be the most important because that’s where frustration and demand is at its highest.
“If you have to run replacement buses while the wheel wear issue is fixed why not run them off-peak times?”
Seven Geelong services will return as VLocity trains on weekdays from 21 March, according to V/Line spokesperson Ebony Jordan.
“What it means for the Geelong line is that more services will be running as trains with fewer coach replacements,” Ms Jordan said.
“In two weeks’ time, 98 services will be trains and 10 will operate as coaches on weekdays as we continue our wheel replacement program.
“Alongside our wheel replacement program, we’ve introduced a number of measures to reduce the rate of wheel wear. These include increasing rail greasing to reduce friction, replacing short sections of track and speed restrictions on some line sections.
“Everyone at V/Line is working to return all services to normal as quickly as possible and this is still on track for mid-year.”
The services returning to normal later this month include: 4.32am Waurn Ponds (WP) to Southern Cross (SC); 8.55am WP to SC; 12.01pm South Geelong (SG) to SC; 4.12pm WP to SC; 6.49am SC to WP; 10.30am SC to SG; and 2.50pm SC to WP.
Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said 43 of the 64 coach replacement services across the regional rail network would run as trains by late March.
“Travel will continue to be free for passengers on the remaining coach replacement services, with full restoration of services still on track for the middle of the year,” she said.
