Further Blacktown Council Candidates Supports Public Transport!

I have recently spoken to a candidate outside the (Ward 5) and a candidate's wife as well, to  lobby (from different sides of the political stream) for the returned of full bus services we need in Mount Druitt, free proposed bus shuttle, more accessible bus stops and fee bus shuttles to Rooty Hill fireworks as we have previously blogged.

The response was  great so far, so will try to reach to other Candidates within the Blacktown City Council and will provide you with their feedback.

We have Independent Candidate for (Ward 3) and strong contender Kathy Collins, that I know is a Blacktown City Councillor advocate for improvements in public transport. I remember one day, she told me that she would like to see buses take families and  young sports children to  sporting venues area Blacktown Local Government Area on weekends. This would take the burden away from families rushing to get to places and have a more relaxed atmosphere in enjoying this day.

I've spoken to George Nicolaidis Independent Candidate (Ward 4), former Councillor of Blacktown City Councillor agrees that public transport plays an important role in local government. He stated that after extensive discussions with improvements in public transport in Mount Druitt and Rooty Hill, if elected as a Councillor, he would like to have further discussions with myself and Mount Druitt Commuters Improvement Group. It was very pleasing to talk to a man that has been a backbone to  for decades to get Mount Druitt to where it is today.

The other day I spoke to Labor candidate Councillor Stephen Bali (Ward 4) and as I wasn't able to discuss with him directly, I am waiting for a response from him to get an understanding of  his and Labor's policies of local public transport. Once this is received will refer  on our blog. Yet the conversation wife his wife sounded promising.

Even we have Liberal  Candidate Karlo Siljeg (Ward 3) -  which I am providing with his insight into public transport, received from an e-mail from him on Monday.

From: karlosiljeg
To: mountdruitt_cig@hotmail.com
Subject: Council elections 2012 - Blacktown
Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2012 22:58:26 +0000

John,

Thank you for having some time to talk to me yesterday afternoon. I have heard about the Mt Druitt Commuters Improvement Group, and I have spent time in the past reading the posts on your blog page.

I would like to commend the activism your group has in promoting and reporting on public transport in the Mt Druitt Area. I agree that in the Blacktown LGA there needs to be a review of public transport in the area and there needs to be an effort in aligning the different modes of transport so that people can arrive to their destination in a less stressfull way.  

We also need to move from the hub and spoke designs of our cities and move jobs closer to residents. This will result in less time spent in commuting, it will reduce pollution and enable people to convert the time they spend commuting into something else. 

Our cities need to be made more accessable for people who decide to walk or to use a bicycle. Spending long times in commuting to a job, service (health, education, entertainment) or education should be a choice not a necessity.

Knowing the public transport system and the road system, it is possible to make improvements where commuters would be able to have a better experience and I will support any such initiative that will create such improvements. But saying this, it is a fact that many residents of the Greater West, spend 2 hours or more commuting to work each day, which equates to 10 hours every working week, which is equal to 480 hours a year  (if you take 4 weeks leave off) - this is 20 full days a year. 

For many of the people in the Greater West, day starts when it is dark and day ends when it is dark, Saturday and Sunday is the only day when you can sit down and talk to the family, but that is consumed by other activites such as sports and other functions or activites. 

We have 2 hours each day less to enjoying our life with the family, doing an activity. We, in Blacktown LGA are time poor, and pressed by pressures of paying a mortgage and raising a family in an environment with not many opportunities for us or for a children, with poor transport options, poor services. Many families have a car per adult member of the family, not because of pride or arrogance but because this is the only option we have to get around. 

I know a gentlemen that has worked for me, and he is in his 60's. He lives in Mascott and in his whole life he has never owned a car, because he never needed one. Every job he had was accessible via public transport, the shopping centre was a walk away from his house, any other place he went was within reach of public transport or a cab ride away. He never had to worry about spending the money on a car, maintaining it, registration, insurance, petrol,.....
 
 
Best wishes,
 
Karlo Siljeg