Axeing of regional bus services angers small communities

Updated September 20, 2013 17:41:52

"It's just another nail in the coffin for a lot of these small towns."

That's Mike Jose, the chief executive of the Wheatbelt West Small Business Centre, speaking after the State Government decided to axe six regional bus routes in the state's south.

It has caused significant anger among the communities affected.

From the end of this year, regular routes linking Albany to Ravensthorpe, Northam to Mukinbudin and Bunbury to Boyup Brook, via Collie, will cease.

In addition, charter services which were operated on-demand from Boxwood Hill to Bremer Bay, Hopetoun to Ravensthorpe and Quairading to Narembeen also go.

The Government says the routes simply can't be maintained given low patronage and the extremely high subsidy required to maintain them.

It says the state will save $500,000 by cutting the services but it's caused alarm in parts of the communities that've already seen services diminish in recent years.

Dying towns

Mr Jose says he's already seen an alarming decline in small, inland country towns.

He is particularly concerned at the end of the Northam to Mukinbudin route which is a continuation of the bus that links Perth and Northam.

It includes stops at tiny towns such as Wyalkatchem, Bencubbin and Trayning, which is where Mr Jose says there could be a significant impact.

"People who have their own transport and don't need to travel around that much, it probably won't make a lot of difference to them, but for those people who rely on it, it's very big," he said.

"Over the past 10 years, most of these towns have almost completely shut down - I genuinely believe that they're gradually dying."

Mr Jose says it becomes even harder for those towns to retain their population when they lose vital services.

"The businesses in the town have lost their market, they're all struggling and eventually they get to the point where they can't struggle anymore and they close down," he said.

"You go have a look at Wyalkatchem; it won the tidiest town about 10 years ago and the main street was all businesses. It's not now, most of them are shut down."

Mr Jose says it's a particularly bitter pill to swallow for that part of the Wheatbelt as the Government announced the AvonLink train service - between Perth and Northam - was also shutting down.

Felt all over

It's a similar feeling in smaller towns further south, such as the tiny town of Wellstead, 100 kilometres east of Albany.

Previously, the Albany to Ravensthorpe bus, which met the service from Perth to Esperance, would stop at the town's general store.

But, the loss of that route has cut any public transport access linking Wellstead to Albany.

"It'll certainly create a gap in the services we've got here and be a big loss to the town," Krystle Gorman, a Wellstead resident, said.

She says the bus was particularly important for seasonal workers on nearby farms, who would fly to Albany from Perth and then get the bus to Wellstead.

Ms Gorman now fears that'll make it harder to attract those workers and bring people to the town for other reasons.

While the South West town of Boyup Brook has a much bigger population, its shire president, Michael Giles, also has deep concerns.

Mr Giles says losing its service to Bunbury, while many other South West towns have public transport links, will have major ramifications.

"Withdrawal of services is going to make it harder for small communities to attract the population to those areas," he said.

"It's something that'll put us behind the eight-ball for sure.

"Whilst it's probably small numbers, it's sad to see the services lost from the smaller regional towns."

The South Coastal town of Ravensthorpe, about 540 kilometres south-east of Perth, is equally angry about the loss of its bus to Albany.

"The only way to get to Albany Hospital, which is our major hospital, is to go via Perth," Ravensthorpe shire president Ian Goldfinch said.

"The local people just say 'here we go again, we're in the middle of nowhere and we're expected to stay in the middle of nowhere'.

"It is a fairly substantial subsidy but there could be a cheaper bus run. Why didn't we have a slightly smaller bus?"

No longer feasible

The Public Transport Authority has cited low passenger numbers and the high subsidy required as reasons to axe the services.

The twice-weekly Northam to Mukinbudin service carried just 645 passengers in the 2012-13 financial year, running at a per-passenger subsidy of $152.96.

The subsidy was even higher for the Albany to Ravensthorpe route - at $163.75 - even though it carried more passengers.

The PTA's David Hynes says that meant it just couldn't continue.

"It's perhaps overdue, it's just something we couldn't sustain," he said.

"Over our whole network of road coach services, of which there's about 280 destinations, the average subsidy per passenger is a little bit over $19.

"Governments are prepared to subsidise but of course there has to be a limit. Subsidies like the one for Albany for Ravensthorpe are just not sustainable.

"All the services are on the website, they're advertised through the normal channels, there just aren't enough people who want to use it."

Upper House Liberal MP and Parliamentary Secretary to the Transport Minister, Jim Chown, says it's a 'responsible decision'.

"The state is no different to any other business and this is just unsustainable," he said.

"We have to be responsible about how public money is spent."

But, Labor's transport spokesman Ken Travers says the Government has a responsibility to retain important services, even if they do need to be heavily subsidised.

"We've always subsidised public transport," he said.

"In Perth, it's a bus service through the suburbs, in regional WA it's got to be about bus services that connect and support towns, support tourism and assist people if they need to go to medical appointments and can't drive.

"It's the luxury items that need to be cut, not the basic services that underpin our regional centres."

Mr Travers says he expects significant consequences.

"For places like Ravensthorpe and Hopetoun it'll be devastating," he said.

"Even for Albany, the fact that you can no longer connect with Esperance will have an impact on tourism in both those towns."

Topics: road-transport, government-and-politics, albany-6330, northam-6401

First posted September 18, 2013 20:21:32