Bus trail gassed up again

A TRIAL community bus service running in Golden Plains Shire has been extended until the end of the year.

Originally launched in late July, the service travels from Ballarat to Linton in the north, and from Geelong in a loop to Teesdale, Inverleigh, Shelford, Bannockburn and Batesford in the south.

The service is jointly funded by State Government and the Buninyong Community Bank and run by the municipality.

“Council is very pleased to extend the trial of the Golden Plains Community Bus,” said Shire mayor Cr Helena Kirby.

“We’ve had very positive feedback from the residents who have used the service, however the recent series of lockdowns in regional Victoria has stopped the bus from operating on many days over the past few months.”

The community bus was set up, in part, to help prove the case for increased public transport in the Shire.

Currently no urban buses from either Ballarat or Geelong stop anywhere in Golden Plains, with only infrequent inter-city services running along the Midland, Glenelg and Hamilton highways.

“Council developed this trial in response to community requests for more transport options and to gain information and feedback to inform future decision on local transport,” Cr Kirby said.

“The extended trial will allow us to meet this goal and we are able to achieve this with the existing funding secured for the service.

The bus is free to all Golden Plains Shire residents and more info things like timetables and stops can be found via goldenplains.vic.gov.au/community-bus or in hard copy format at locations across the municipality.

“We hope to see many local residents take advantage of this free transport trial through to Christmas and enjoy the Golden Plains Community Bus,” Cr Kirby said.