Western suburbs residents have rejected suggestions a planned ferry service from Werribee South to Docklands will ease the transport woes.
Planning Minister Matthew Guy last week announced the service would be running within 12 months, with stops possible at Point Cook and Altona. The trip is expected to take about 50 minutes and cost $25 return.
Mr Guy said the ferry would ease congestion on the West Gate Bridge.
But residents fear the trip will be too expensive to attract commuters; $25 is more than double the cost of a train fare.
Point Cook’s Alice Osborne said the ferry service would most likely be only a tourist attraction for Wyndham.
“It’s not going to work as a solution to public transport for Wyndham,” she said. “It’s not something my family would use unless it was a tourist thing.”
Werribee South Ratepayers vice-president Joe Garra fears the service would not only be too expensive for commuters but also too difficult for people to access.
He said many of Werribee South’s roads were single-lane tracks that were regularly used by tractors and other farm machinery.
Dr Garra is calling for the state government to upgrade the suburb’s roads before the first ferry departs.
“We don’t want all the traffic going to the terminal along Duncans Road,” he said. “This is still a farming area and people will have to be tolerant of tractors.”
Dr Garra is also concerned that the government has no contingency plan for days when conditions are too rough for the ferry to sail.
A spokeswoman for Mr Guy did not answer questions about contingency plans or whether Werribee South’s roads would be upgraded. She said the Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure Department was negotiating with a private operator about the ferry service.
