Mount Gambier’s ‘grossly inadequate’ public transport service must be a priority: Mayor

The Premier and Transport Minister have been invited to Mount Gambier to board a bus – and if they need directions, residents have a hint, the city isn’t in Victoria.

Mount Gambier Mayor Lynette Martin has invited Premier Steven Marshall and Infrastructure and Transport Minister Corey Wingard to board a city bus and see the outdated service first-hand.

Paul Manfrin and his guide dog Bree regularly use the city bus system to get to work, catch up with friends and attend appointments.

Mount Gambier Mayor Lynette Martin (middle) with councillors Ben Hood, Sonya Mezinec and Frank Morello. Picture: Mount Gambier City Council

He is glad to see council advocating for the “frustrating” system which one day turned a 20-minute hospital appointment into a five-hour outing.

From Mr Manfrin’s Lorikeet St home he walked to Lake Terrace to catch the South Eastern bus, changed to the North Eastern route but when the appointment ran two minutes overtime, it derailed the trip home.

“From 9.40am until 2.15pm I was out for a 20-minute appointment,” he said.

“Ordinary people can just jump in the car, five minutes around to the hospital, do their appointment and then go home.

“Because I missed the bus by two minutes I had to wait another 48 minutes.”

For Mr Manfrin public transport is crucial for his independence with the half-an-hour walk into town not an option during wet weather and not safe for Bree when it hits 30 degrees.

“I almost don’t have any other alternative other than taxis if I need to get somewhere,” he said.

Anelia Blackie from the Mount Gambier Migrant Resource Centre is fed up with its cries for a workable system being ignored.

“I am extremely disappointed and angry,” Ms Blackie said.

Anelia Blackie from the Mount Gambier Migrant Resource Centre. Picture: Jessica Ball

“They would prefer to run empty buses than find an effective system to fix our problem, it’s embarrassing.

“Why is it so hard, why do we have to fight for everything?”

The organisation supports refugees settling in Mount Gambier. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic they would settle around 70 a year.

Ms Blackie says the body is constrained to finding private rentals in the city’s west, within reach of TAFE, to complete compulsory English classes.

With most employment opportunities at dairy farms and sawmills outside the city limits, she said the service added to the “immense pressure” on refugees finding work.

“It limits us to where we can look because they have to walk, there’s no proper public transport system,” she said.

“If they don’t have transport they can’t do the job, it is a massive barrier to employment.”

Ms Blackie said the solution was an on-demand service similar to Mount Barker.

“Because of the lifestyle in Mount Gambier and the size of Mount Gambier, I cannot see a better solution than the on-demand service which works with an app,” she said.

“If we can trial it for one year and services like us can get our clients to support that service, it will work.”

More than 400 homes at Hallmont and Woodlands Grove retirement estates have been waiting 12 years to be connected to the bus service.

Hallmont Residents Association chairman Terry Walters. Picture: Jessica Ball

Hallmont Residents Association chairman Terry Walters said the routes had failed to keep up with the growth of the city. The nearest stop is around 1km away, so too far for many residents to walk with walking frames and groceries in the South-East weather.

“Both places have had to purchase their own buses to run a bus service for residents,” Mr Walters said.

“There is a lot here that no longer have a licence, they need to be able to get picked up and go somewhere.

“If they take a taxi from here to town one way, it’s about $26, it’s ridiculous.”

Mr Walters is calling for the line to be extended by 1km, adding two stops with signs and shelters.

“As senior citizens, we’ve served our time, paid our taxes, we’ve worked our bums all these years, there should be something in return just a simple thing like a bus service,” he said.

“The biggest problem, from where we sit as far as Adelaide’s concerned, we’re in Victoria, we get nothing down here and it’s disappointing.”

After being advised by South Australian Public Transport Authority (SAPTA) a full service review is “highly unlikely” to occur in the 2021-22 financial year, the City of Mount Gambier council is calling on the state government to provide the funding and resources needed to make it a priority.

The contract with Mount Gambier Bus Lines will expire on June 30 and Cr Martin said the future of the service must be considered.

“I feel leaving any decision to improve the service until mid-next year is highly unsatisfactory,” she said.

Mayor Lynette Martin (second from left) and councillors Sonya Mezinec, Frank Morello and Ben Hood at the Ferrers Street bus stop. Picture: City of Mount Gambier Council

“The Mount Gambier public bus service desperately needs a complete overhaul and must be funded and resourced now.

“It was clear in the results presented in council’s submission to SAPTA that Mount Gambier has a public transport system which is grossly inadequate for a community of our size and demographic.

“I invite the Premier and Minister Infrastructure and Transport to join me on the bus to travel the route through the city, speak to some of the passengers who use the service to get a sense of the need for change.”

It’s not the first time the council has raised the inequitably between state government-funded country and metropolitan services, with Cr Frank Morello previously saying $234 was spent per capita in Adelaide compared $11 in regional SA.

In a statement Minister Wingard said he visited Mount Gambier in May.

“SAPTA is finalising the review of regional bus service contracts and has advised that the City of Mount Gambier’s submission was valuable in understanding the requirements of residents as the review was undertaken,” he said.