From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 2 April

It is time for Public Transport Victoria, or PTV, to stop ignoring the City of Ballarat. It is the elected voice of the people. It must be heard, and respected.

THE Ballarat bus service is one of the worst – if not the worst, in Victoria, which is no reflection on any Ballarat staff. They are drowning under the weight of PTV’s incompetence and implacability.

It is cold comfort, but at the time of its implementation in 2016 many said the revised bus service structure was the worst possible outcome for travellers. The PTV ignored the advice, which has since proven to be warranted, and correct.

The subsequent litany of problems is the direct consequence of a system which is not fit for purpose. The challenges are significant and must be remedied. The most egregious anomaly being buses which do not travel across the city. That it takes an hour-plus to travel from Sebastopol to Wendouree, changing in Little Bridge Street, is too ridiculous! Patently, decisions were taken from desktops in Melbourne. Such was the hubris, it seems unlikely the route was walked by the transport planning department before implementation.

Never was a lack of local knowledge more glaring. A bus-stop was proposed for the Lake Wendouree caravan park, which, as it happens, had not been in situ for 25-years.

Gallingly, the erstwhile then Labor member for Ballarat East/Buninyong, Geoff Howard, stridently argued the system’s merits at a senior citizens’ meeting in Little Bridge Street. The shortcomings were obvious to all, but travellers’ concerns were summarily dismissed as scaremongering. Those most affected by the absurd changes were ignored.

Much of the propaganda supporting the new system was phantasmagorical! While the PTV contended to the contrary, routes were reduced, creating chaos for many. Disingenuously, they conflated increased services with more routes. It was a deliberately engineered slight-of-hand!

I recall with clarity, meeting with PTV representatives in a caravan in Little Bridge Street. Not only were they unable to answer several questions, those answers they were able to provide were clumsy, by any standard of deeming. Again, the deplorable absence local of knowledge was glaring.

I do not own a car. I travel, regularly, on public transport along routes 11, 12, 23 and 26. To paraphrase Mr Dickens, “I speak from experience – from experience!”

It is time for the Members for Wendouree and Eureka to hear the voice of the bus travelling public; for them take-up their political cudgels and to engage with the PTV, which, reputedly, is thwarting the council and their attempts to rectify the appalling system.

In simple parlance: the current, disastrous arrangement is not good enough!

At the same time it is being revamped, public transport in Ballarat should be made free-of-charge. Certainly, on routes 11 and 12, many of non-paying customers are seemingly economically stressed.

The Victorian Liberal party proposal to expel Moira Deeming, Member for Western Metropolitan Region, is exactly as it ought be.

It is not because neo-Nazis turned-up at the infamous Melbourne Let Women Speak rally; rather, because it was headlined by the odious, British, anti-transgender activist, Kellie-Jay Keen. Ms Deeming was, by her presence, lending support, unequivocally!

Ms Deeming is an elected representative. Her views should be reflective of her supportive majority. Her incumbency is not leave to espouse personal, misguided, hateful ideologies, however deep-seated.

Given her views were known, it is difficult to imagine how Ms Deeming came to be preselected. A cursory internet search reveals the most alarming catalogue of her ugly views which have no place in our society.

Roland can be heard with Brett Macdonald at 10.45am Mondays on 3BA and contacted via [email protected].