Concern at bus change

Earlier this month, the Circle Route in Murdoch was redirected down the new Barry Marshall Drive with a view of better servicing Murdoch University and in preparation for the opening of the new Fiona Stanley Hospital.

PTA spokesman David Hynes said it consulted with the university and the Health Department before making the changes.

‘Passengers were notified via our Travel Easy updates, signage and flyers on the buses and our website,’ he said.

But Murdoch resident Lorna Munns, who is legally blind and requires her guide dog at all times, said she only knew about the changes when she was waiting at the bus stop.

‘I asked a young gentleman if he could tell me if that was the 99 bus coming,’ she said.

‘He said the 99 bus no longer stopped there.’

Ms Munns said buses 503, 504 or 513, which were the only buses that now stopped at her local bus stop, were less frequent.

‘The 99 circle route bus came every 15 minutes but I could be waiting up to 30-40 minutes for one of these buses and hourly on the weekend,’ she said.

Ms Munns, who has used the bus at least five times a week for more than 10 years, said she could handle waiting if she knew the buses would have ACROD seating. ‘I need to take Rinty (her guide dog) on the bus with me and a lot of the 500 buses are not the new ones with ACROD seating which means Rinty and I block other passengers,’ she said.

The PTA said as a result of Ms Munns’ feedback, it would have more accessible buses added to the routes on South Street as they arrived later this year.

‘We understand this passenger prefers accessible buses because they have more room for her dog, though guide dogs are allowed on all our buses irrespective of whether they are accessible,’ he said.