Bus Services

Mr BOYER (Wright) (14:53): My question is to the Minister for Transport. Does the minister stand by the remarks made in this house by the member for King earlier this year regarding access to public transport in the north? With your leave and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr BOYER: On 18 February this year, the member for King said, 'People living in Salisbury East should be able to easily catch one bus to Golden Grove and Tea Tree Plaza.'

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:53): As part of these changes—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —we will see a massive increase in high-frequency routes in the member for King's electorate. At the moment, there are zero high-frequency corridors in the member for King's electorate—zero. There is a low-frequency service that very few people choose to use. As part of this, we are able to now deliver 53 Go Zone stops within the member for King's electorate. Each one of those people living around those stops is able to get a 15-minute frequency interpeak and a 10-minute or less frequency within peak.

One of the great improvements that we are also able to make is in relation to people living on Target Hill Road. At the moment, people along various parts of Target Hill Road are having to take some 25 minutes to get to the Golden Grove shopping centre. Under these changes, we will be able to reduce that to 15 minutes to get somebody up to Golden Grove to get to the Golden Grove shops.

We have also increased Go Zones down on the flats in various parts of Salisbury that, again, are going to provide people with greater opportunity to be able to get access to a high-frequency corridor. Again, what the old network provided was that, if you lived close to town—five, six or seven kilometres from town—you were able to get a high-frequency bus going past your main street, but for the people—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Settle!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —of the outer north-east, as well as along the coast and down south, there were a whole heap of people who did not get access to that same level of service. What we were able to achieve here is some 1,100 new Go Zone stops—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —that are going to provide people with the same equitable level of service as people living closer to town. We think that is a massive step forward, one that is going to benefit huge numbers of people within the electorate of King and one that we know is going to drive public transport usage right across our city, especially in those outer suburban areas.