The Mornington Peninsula’s transport system is severely lacking and in desperate need of funding.
The Mornington Peninsula is home to some of Australia’s best beaches, wineries, shopping precincts and natural wonders.
And yet, anyone who has used public transport across the Mornington Peninsula knows that our transport system is severely lacking. Whether you’re a local travelling to work or a day-tripper visiting the area, public transport on the Mornington Peninsula is cumbersome, time-consuming and desperately in need of funding.
The reality is, the Mornington Peninsula does not receive the transport and infrastructure funding that it so desperately needs. This is why you can’t easily get to university, work, or the shops on public transport. Even travelling across the Peninsula by car can be challenging thanks to poor infrastructure.
Here are some powerful statistics from the Mornington Peninsula Economic Disadvantage Report that highlights the distributions we face every single day:
- 82 percent of the Peninsula is not serviced by public transport.
- Two out of three major activity centres are not serviced by rail.
- Only three percent of us use our limited public transport compared to 15 percent of Greater Melbourne.
We also don’t enjoy the high quality of transport or frequency of services you’d expect in our area.
In other words, we fall through the cracks when it comes to having our transport needs addressed. Public transport is key to a thriving community — transport and infrastructure are essential to a local economy that’s productive and prosperous. It would also considerably alleviate congestion on our roads.
In an area where industries such as retail and hospitality are in desperate need of staff, it’s imperative that potential employees from across the Peninsula — including those who are under the driving age or unable to drive for other reasons — are able to easily access these workplaces.
Our young people should be able to travel to TAFES and universities with the same ease enjoyed by those living in regional areas.
In addition to this, those wanting to visit the region from Melbourne and venture between local tourist locations while here shouldn’t have their plans hampered by an under-resourced public transport system. In 2019, the vast majority (71 percent) of visitors to the Mornington Peninsula were day trippers. It’s reasonable to suggest that the number of day trippers would swell if the Mornington Peninsula were easier to access.
As an economy that relies heavily on the custom of tourists from far and wide, we’re missing out on a potentially large portion of visitors because our transport and infrastructure are letting us down. It’s time to recognise that we deserve more significant funding to boost our transport and infrastructure sectors.
It’s time to stop being limited by a poor public transport system.
When addressed, our beautiful Mornington Peninsula will become more meaningfully connected, and our local economy would thrive. This election, we deserve more from our elected representatives.
