Wednesday, 5 February 2025

Northcote electorate transport infrastructure

Kat THEOPHANOUS (Northcote) (19:03): (982) My adjournment is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and the action I seek is for the minister to meet with me regarding road safety at the two bus stops on Station Street near the Collins Street intersection in Thornbury.

[NAMES AWAITING VERIFICATION]

Recently I met with Thornbury High School parents Jasmay and Nina, alongside the mayor and deputy mayor of Darebin, and Thornbury High assistant principal Paul Mameghan to discuss road safety priorities for students and the school community. Thornbury High is of course a major destination in my electorate, with around 1100 students travelling to and from the school every school day. The catchment is large, spanning around 7 kilometres from North Preston to South Alphington, through Northcote and Thornbury and across to Ivanhoe. With no walkable access to our inner north train and tram lines from the school, buses play a key role in getting students safely to and from the campus. The school facilitates this with some school buses that depart from the Dundas Street gate where a teacher is on duty to supervise, but I am told these buses fill up very quickly, and many students then must rely on the public buses on routes 552 and 567 which travel up and down Station Street a few blocks away from the school. Anyone who has travelled Station Street in this part of Thornbury knows how complex the traffic and pedestrian situation is here. The state route carries a heavy amount of north–south vehicles across its four lanes – around 33,000 per day, including many trucks. A median area in the middle of the road means cars idle there with their nose or tail out, waiting for a break in the traffic to make a right turn. The speed limit is 60 kilometres an hour, and there is a bend and a crest which can really limit visibility.

There is just a lot going on, and at the end of school day it can mean large groups of students navigating the intersection and waiting for buses on the footpaths along this major arterial. As you can imagine, students invariably jostle around and there is a real risk of them spilling out onto the roadway. The school has asked me to raise this concern and consider ways in which we can make the intersection safer. It could be something as simple as installing a low barrier near these bus stops or proper bus shelters.

The Victorian government has long supported Thornbury High School, including through the transformational investment to build their performing arts centre, gymnasium, netball courts and stunning STEAM centre in recent years. This means the school will only grow. I do welcome the recent steps taken by Darebin council under its new Labor majority to prioritise road safety upgrades near Thornbury High. At its most recent meeting, council passed a resolution committing to working with Thornbury High to construct a wombat crossing on Matisi Street on the other side of the school. This is a positive step forward, and I thank Cr Dimitriadis for championing that project and Cr Vasilios Tsalkos for seconding it.

I look forward to speaking with the minister in more detail about how we can work closely with Darebin council and Thornbury High to promote safer connections for the many local families that are part of this fantastic school community.