Absurd and totally unacceptable\u201d: Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell has demanded action after learning 30 per cent of replacement services on the Warrnambool line do not have access to toilets, which has included suggestion passengers should request a stop to \u201cfind a bush to squat behind”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking in Parliament through an adjournment matter last week, Ms Britnell called on Minister for Public and Active Transport Gabrielle Williams \u201cto ensure passengers have access to appropriate toilet facilities on replacement coaches between Melbourne and Warrnambool\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor seven years my community has been waiting for the promised VLocity trains to be delivered for the Warrnambool\u2013Geelong rail line,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have been enduring replacement buses for several months while upgrades are underway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cBut this has been happening for a decade \u2013 every time there is a train fault, an issue with the track or an incident involving road traffic.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis journey typically takes around 4 hours, a considerable length of time for passengers to be on a coach without access to a rest room.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms Britnell said despite the 10-week period in which trains were cancelled due to ongoing works associated with state two of the Warrnambool Line Upgrade being over, and testing of VLocity trains on the line underway, she anticipated ongoing replacement services until the new trains arrive on the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said feedback from constituents, and subsequent correspondence with the minister, highlighted the urgent need for improvement with 30 per cent of replacement services not providing direct access to a toilet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy constituents have been complaining about the lack of toilets on the replacement buses from Geelong to Warrnambool,\u201d Ms Britnell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe department reassured my office that passengers would always have access to bathroom services on board for long journeys such as this, but after receiving many complaints that this was not the case and again approaching the minister, I received communication from the minister last week admitting that 30 per cent of the bus fleet would not have a toilet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cThe minister even suggested that passengers should approach the bus driver to request a stop when needed. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have also been made aware of instances where it has been suggested to passengers by the bus driver that they go behind a bush or they have been told by the bus driver that they will have to wait until the next scheduled stop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms Britnell said such suggestions put passengers in an uncomfortable position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is absurd and totally unacceptable in the 21st century to tell passengers to find a bush to squat behind,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is essential that all passengers, regardless of health and mobility, can travel with dignity and comfort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe current arrangement does not provide that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCommon sense would suggest that if a passenger would require a restroom when on board a train for such a long time, the same should surely apply when travelling on a replacement bus for the same journey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms Britnell said the minister needed to act to ensure Warrnambool line passengers had access to appropriate facilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cWe look forward to the seven-year promise of VLocity trains finally being delivered, but until we see that come to fruition it is unacceptable that replacement buses do not have bathroom access,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe minister must ensure that those travelling between Warrnambool and Melbourne are afforded the same dignity that other commuters are afforded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor effectively one in three coaches in service to not have appropriate facilities in this day and age is simply not good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Warrnambool Weekly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MEMBER for South West Coast Roma Britnell has called for adequate facilities to be made available on replacement services for long-distance V\/Line passengers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":60345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,186],"tags":[993,8,9949,12964],"class_list":["post-263268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rail-news","category-v-line","tag-melbourne","tag-victoria","tag-warrnambool","tag-warrnambool-line"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=263268"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":263276,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263268\/revisions\/263276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/60345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=263268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=263268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=263268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}