{"id":577630,"date":"2026-04-01T02:57:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T02:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/577630\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T02:57:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T02:57:17","slug":"fuel-crisis-driving-calls-for-better-public-transport-in-regional-western-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/577630\/","title":{"rendered":"Fuel crisis driving calls for better public transport in regional Western Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

It takes Jan Whelan about an hour to travel from her home in suburban Yalyalup, in WA’s South West, to the centre of Busselton on her mobility scooter.<\/p>\n

Without a driver’s licence, it’s her only means of transport, as there are no bus services in the suburb.<\/p>\n

“I cross the highway two or three times, and of course, you’ve got to be patient on the highway, it’s busy,” she said.<\/p>\n

While she has become accustomed to the hour-long trip, Ms Whalan is one of a number of Yalyalup locals who have spent years campaigning for better transport options.<\/p>\n

While boasting a population of more than 40,000 people, Busselton has just three regular bus services, chiefly linking Busselton’s town centre to neighbouring Dunsborough.<\/p>\n

And with governments nominating increased public transport use as a way to manage the ongoing fuel crisis, locals say those services need to be improved.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

While used to the trip, Jan Whalan has joined fellow Yalyalup residents in advocating for better bus services. (ABC South West WA: Georgia Loney)<\/p>\n

Growing populations<\/p>\n

Yalyalup residents this week met with local MP and deputy Liberal leader Libby Mettam to push for more transport services.<\/p>\n

Brian Carroll said a local bus service was overdue.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Brian Carroll says the lack of public transport in Busselton is of serious concern. (ABC News: Georgia Loney)<\/p>\n

“It should have been here 10 years ago,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got an airport two minutes up the road, and we haven’t got a bus service.”<\/p>\n

Current City of Busselton projections suggest the local population could reach 100,000 by 2050.<\/p>\n

Ms Mettam said transport services had not kept pace with growing populations.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Libby Mettam is meeting with residents in Yalyallup to discuss bus services in regional areas. (ABC News: Georgia Loney)<\/p>\n

“The City of Busselton is one example of a regional area that is in desperate need for the expansion of public transport,” she said.<\/p>\n

“To support seniors, to support single people and obviously to support people with those cost-of-living pressures.”<\/p>\n

Non-car travel from outlying communities to regional hubs like Bunbury and Busselton also remains a challenge.<\/p>\n

The government is yet to set a return date for the Australind train service, the only rail link between the South West and Perth, which has been out of action since 2023 while it is being upgraded.<\/p>\n

It was due to return this week, but that deadline has passed, with no indication of when it might restart.<\/p>\n

Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said the government was regularly assessing its public transport network to meet community needs.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Rita Saffioti says the government is delivering initiatives to make public transport cheaper. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)<\/p>\n

“We’re committed to supporting Western Australians to manage the impacts of rising fuel prices, and providing reliable and affordable public transport is a key part of that,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This year we delivered a range of initiatives to make public transport cheaper for Western Australians, including permanently halving fares for TransWA regional train and coach services.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Calls for free transport<\/p>\n

WA Greens leader Brad Pettitt wants public transport to be made free during the fuel crisis \u2014 a move that Victoria and Tasmania have adopted.<\/p>\n

When asked if WA would do the same, the state government pointed to its historically low fares already in place.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Brad Pettit wants public transport to be free during the fuel crisis. (ABC News: Courtney Withers)<\/p>\n

“When you’ve got a fuel crisis and a cost of living crisis, and you want to get as much fuel as you can into trucks and tractors, this surely is the time to do it,” Dr Pettitt said.<\/p>\n

On top of free public transport, Dr Pettitt wants more increased transport services for those commuting from satellite towns to major regional centres.<\/p>\n

“It’s all about transport choice, so you don’t have to take the car, and then in doing so, you can save people time, save them money and also save fuel, which the state desperately needs,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Close-up<\/p>\n

Victoria Sorrell started a group for people to carpool in the South West. (ABC News: Keana Naughton)<\/p>\n

Others have pivoted to different methods to combat fuel costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Busselton Chamber of Commerce chief executive Victoria Sorrell started a Facebook group for locals to carpool in the region, which has attracted 180 members in its first week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said it was a short-term practical solution that could help to support the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It takes Jan Whelan about an hour to travel from her home in suburban Yalyalup, in WA’s South…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,283367,99,283368,283373,283374,281428,283376,283375,27313,130870,283370,283371,130869,38238,270393,41844,283369,45,234784,283372],"class_list":["post-577630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bunbury-bus","tag-business","tag-busselton-bus","tag-car-pool","tag-car-pooling","tag-free-public-transport","tag-fuel-australia","tag-fuel-cost","tag-fuel-excise","tag-fuel-prices","tag-perth-to-bunbury-travel","tag-perth-to-busselton-travel","tag-petrol-prices","tag-public-transport","tag-saving-fuel","tag-south-west-news","tag-south-west-public-transport","tag-wa-news","tag-wa-south-west","tag-yalyalup-bus-service"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}