City of Belmont Chief executive Stuart Cole said the city was seeking increased public transport options to and throughout both the mixed business area and the Kewdale industrial area.
‘The current bus system is insufficient from both a frequency and timing viewpoint,’ he said.
‘In addition to this, there is very limited reticulation of bus services through the city’s primary places of employment.
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READ NOW‘As a result, employees in either of these areas are compelled to drive to work, adding to traffic pressures and demands for parking.’
The city met with the Public Transport Authority (PTA) to raise concerns of business owners.
A PTA spokeswoman told the Gazette that Belmont was already very well serviced by public transport. ‘Residents have access to some of the most extensive direct-connection bus routes on the Transperth network, including Route 37, one of Perth’s highest-frequency services,’ she said.
‘This level of service will continue to grow in the future, with the proposed new Route 930 between Perth Esplanade and Perth Airport expected to run along Belmont Avenue (through the council’s area of concern, between Belmont Forum and Great Eastern Highway) every 30 minutes.’
The bus would begin when Virgin Australia relocates its domestic operation to T1.
A train station and accompanying bus feeder network is planned to service the City of Belmont and surrounding areas, as part of the Forrestfield-Airport Link project (due for completion in 2020).
The City’s budget allocation was included after a survey, conducted in February, attracted 651 responses from 208 businesses.
Belmont Business Enterprise Centre’s Carol Hanlon said there were not enough buses for staff and workers in the mixed use zone.
‘I’d like smaller shuttle buses around the business mixed use zone especially during peak times.’