STOP THE STOP: Some residents oppose Beach Road bus route

SOME residents are calling for a proposed bus route and stop on Torquay’s Beach Road to be built elsewhere, but the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) says the routes have been carefully chosen.

The Victorian government funded changes to bus routes in Torquay and Armstrong Creek in its 2022-23 budget, and developed the plan from September 2022 to mid-2023, including two stages of community consultation.

Under the proposal, two new routes will be created and two others modified, with the changes to take place next year.

One of the modified routes is Route 53, which will be western Torquay’s first bus route and connect people living there to the town’s centre as well as Armstrong Creek, Charlemont and Marshall Station.

According to the map on the Engage Victoria website set up by the DTP, the route will travel along Beach Road, Eton Road and Grossmans Road before looping through Kithbrooke Park Boulevard and returning the same way.

One Beach Road resident is particularly unhappy with the stretch of route and its bus stop on Beach Road between Attunga Drive to the east and Eton Road to the west, and the manner in which this was decided.

He said residents on Beach Road were only made aware of the proposed Route 53 second-hand in early December “and we have not had any official communication from PTV [Public Transport Victoria]/DTP”.

“I have made an enquiry via PTV’s formal process, although I have been advised that it will take seven business days to receive a reply, which exceeds PTV cut-off date of December 13.

“The local neighbourhood and in particular the residents will be directly impacted by this bus route/bus stop, and we have not been consulted about this project by PTV/DTP.”

He said he was heavily opposed to the bus stop at 126 Beach Road “due to a myriad of operation issues and safety concerns”.

These include that the bus stop will change the functionality of the street as residents cannot park within 20m on the approach side or 10m on the departure side, the stop is on a hill and goes against design principles, and the bus will block driveways and affect residents wanting to reverse their vehicles.

“This is a narrow local suburban street where two cars cannot pass each other as it is, let alone a passing bus. This is a risk of property damage and sight distance for kids crossing the road.

“It is a thoroughfare to two local schools and the street is already heavily impacted by the increased traffic, let alone introducing a bus route/bus stop, which will further impact the traffic flow.”

On the Engage Victoria website, the DTP notes its consultation resulted in more than 5,700 people visiting the page, 693 surveys being sent in and more than 50 conversations with people at in-person information sessions.

A DTP spokesperson said the Torquay and Armstrong Creek bus network was being improved “with more services and better routes to connect the community and visitors to schools, shops and other public transport services”.

“We’ve carefully selected the new routes with input from the community to better reflect local public transport needs.”

The DTP says the location of each of the new bus stops was selected following an on-site inspection by a DTP infrastructure engineer, in consultation with the local council and the bus operator.