Still no movement on Ballarat bus review despite repeated calls from leaders

In 2018, then-PTV chief executive Jeroen Weimar said Transport for Victoria would conduct a review "once construction on the new interchange and the broader Ballarat Station precinct is complete".

Five years later, and with that work now complete, public transport minister Ben Carroll said while visiting the city on Wednesday he would continue to work with the City of Ballarat on the bus system.

"We'll ... make sure that they have a modern, fit-for-purpose bus network," he said.

"I'm looking forward to continuing to work with (council)."

Mayor Des Hudson said residents were in need of changes now.

The 2021 census revealed Ballarat's population increased by about 2.3 per cent each year, and residents have repeatedly said the bus system did not work for them, with some focusing exclusively on car travel while others are left with no choice to seek out taxis.

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"We would like to at least have an opportunity to talk about what are some opportunities other than a full integrated bus transport review," Cr Hudson said.

"With just some tweaking of the current system, that (would) allow other work to be done, but would still alleviate some of the needs for Ballarat."

He said he had not had the opportunity to speak with Mr Carroll about the bus network but would welcome the opportunity to.

"We respect the state government but (we) certainly do want to take an opportunity to work in partnership and at least have a discussion about where to from here."

Committee for Ballarat chief executive Michael Poulton said public transport systems needed to keep up with the city's growth.

"It's been a long time since we've had a review," he said.

"We don't seem to have much opportunity to be able to respond in the same way that our growing population puts pressure on our network."

Cr Hudson acknowledged keeping up with growth was a challenging task.

"That is the nature of a service that people should have access to," he said.

Mr Carroll said he was looking forward to ongoing work with the City of Ballarat but there were other places in regional Victoria that needed their network reviewed.

"There are some places around Victoria that haven't had their bus routes looked at since Sunday trading came in," he said.

"We are trying to be as systematic as possible, some of the places that were identified - such as Mildura - have literally not been looked at in decades."

Mr Carroll said they were looking at the whole state's network.

"More broadly the nine-to-five working day has changed incredibly," he said.

"Right across our public transport network, we continue to monitor the data, see where we need to make improvements and try to be as agile as possible.

"I will work with the local members of parliament, they will obviously put their case forward."

Infrequent buses, a 'hub-and-spoke system' and a failure to address the outer suburbs and growth areas are among the current criticisms of the network.

Ballarat's last review was finalised in 2017.

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