Ballarat service needs to be faster, survey respondent say. PICTURE: ADAM TRAFFORD
Hundreds of readers have voted in The Courier’s online survey on the performance of Ballarat’s rail service over the past month.
More than 70 per cent of those who voted said they were either not happy with the service, or said it could be improved.
One quarter of the 339 participants said they were happy with the rail service as it is now.
The survey was spawned following the Committee for Ballarat’s “Fast Track” campaign launch in September, designed to improve Ballarat’s often-maligned rail service.
“With the backing of 14 of Ballarat’s leading organisations, it will seek answers and immediate action from the state and federal governments.
Last month, Committee for Ballarat chief executive officer John Kilgour said it was now time for the city to make a stand.
He said the train service needed to be upgraded immediately, before it becomes a detriment to the city.
The FastTrack Ballarat campaign will also call for improved reliability and frequency, faster travel times and better mobile coverage.
As part of The Courier survey, most people described a faster travel time and more frequent services as their biggest priorities for the Ballarat line.
Others said duplicating the line (14.9 per cent), a WiFi connection (8.3 per cent) and more reliable mobile coverage for the entire journey (4.8 per cent) were the keys to fixing the service.
V/Line spokesman James Kelly said it was great so many people were passionate about their train service and wanted to see improvements made.
“We are continuing to see record growth in the number of people from Ballarat using the train and that is a testament to their belief in the service,” he said.
“However we know improvements can be made and it’s always our goal to try improve the service where we can.”
Minister for Public Transport Terry Mulder’s office did not respond to The Courier’s requests for comment yesterday.