NEW PUSH TO MOVE MOORABOOL ST BUS STOP:
THE man who has helped breath new life into the heart of Geelong says the troubled Moorabool St bus stop is holding back what should be the city’s premier strip.
Developer Bill Votsaris, who spearheaded the transformation of the west end of Little Malop St, said the bus interchange should be moved from Moorabool St and bus stops should then be scattered around the city.
“(Council and government) need to remove the handcuffs that have been applied to those spaces,” Mr Votsaris said. “You are never going to have a prominent retailer set up shop behind a bus shelter.
“The interchange should not be in the premier street of Geelong. By having the bus shelters there you basically eliminate the most valuable pieces of retail real estate in the (CBD).”
The bus interchange area has been the site of numerous violent exchanges, including the high-profile incident of a 23-year-old woman dragging and kicking an elderly woman on a walking frame.
It’s been six months since a plan to move the Moorabool St bus interchange into the middle of the street was canvassed by the state’s transport planning body. But the community is no closer to knowing if the interchange will be redesigned or moved.
Options for the future of the Moorabool St bus interchange — including building a super bus stop in the middle of the road — were presented to G21 stakeholders at a meeting at City Hall in April.
But the Department of Transport did not elaborate on its vision for the interchange when quizzed by the Geelong Advertiser.
Geelong MP Christine Couzens conceded amenity around the Moorabool St bus interchange needed to be improved but said her constituents don’t want it moved.
“The indication from public transport users is that (Moorabool St) is their preference,” she said.
“I think we can improve the amenity in the area and I am prepared to lobby to get some money to do that but I don’t believe the best possible response is to move the buses at all.”
She said a formal proposal to change the Moorabool St bus interchange was yet to be put directly to government.
“I don’t believe it has gone to government in any formal sense,” she said.
“The Department (of Transport) have been working on that.”
A department spokesman said: “Department of Transport is continuing to work with the City of Greater Geelong, the Geelong Authority, the local member and DELWP on ways to improve the bus network for our communities.”
The council referred the Addy’s questions to the Department of Transport.