MILDURA Rural City Council has encouraged residents to get involved in a major State Government review of the city's bus network.

The announcement follows more than 12 months of advocacy work by council, with councillors endorsing a motion in July 2021 calling for a comprehensive review of the region’s bus network.

The advocacy campaign was unanimously endorsed by councillors and followed concerns around “inadequacies and anomalies in the current bus service network”.

The motion also noted at the time that a review of the region’s bus routes had not been undertaken for close to 20 years and was urgently needed.

The State Government review will take place over the next five weeks and will include face-to-face and online consultation with the community, including residents, businesses and bus operators to better understand current travel behaviours.

Consultation will include an online survey and face-face sessions in the local community.

The first face-to-face session will take place this Saturday 17 September at the Sunraysia Farmers Market at Jaycee Park.

Mayor Liam Wood encouraged community residents to take part and provide their feedback.

“Council has worked tirelessly in this space, including funding the North West Victoria Regional Passenger Transport Study and advocating strongly for a review of our bus routes,” he said.

“The Department of Transport’s Bus Review will help provide an understanding of how people currently use our bus services, what would encourage them to use buses more, and inform future planning for bus reform in our region.

“I congratulate the Victorian Government for heeding our call, and I look forward to working closely with our community while this important consultation work is carried out.”

Once consultation closes, the Department of Transport will consider feedback and provide a ‘What we heard’ Engagement report in late 2022.

More information about the review is available by visiting engage.vic.gov.au/busreform.