00:02Free public transport was a plan with a clear goal.
00:07We're making sure that we're giving Victorian families that option to leave the car at home.
00:12But in regional areas, the reality has proven to be very different.
00:17Not being able to get home in time does make it bloody hard.
00:21Virragurra resident David Obourne is ditching his Mikey for his car keys and driving to work in Melbourne.
00:27He wants to catch the train but trackworks on the Warrnambool line means replacement buses
00:33which can't get him to the city before 10.40am.
00:37Fuel prices are ridiculous at the moment and for me to fill up and drive to Melbourne and back three
00:41times a week,
00:42there's no real benefit in it.
00:44And if he does take the train, getting home involves a crowded Wyndham Vale service and then a bus.
00:52A gruelling four-hour journey.
00:54People are having to stand on a four-hour trip. It's not ideal.
00:58In Warrnambool, Zoe Britton has given up taking the V-Line altogether.
01:02She either drives to Melbourne or chooses to stay home.
01:07We couldn't really justify the drive and with the train being so unreliable and uncomfortable,
01:13we just missed out on a few family things.
01:15Adding to the frustration, the two weeks of planned works on the Warrnambool line have now been extended by a
01:21month.
01:22So while the rest of the state enjoys free train travel, residents in south-west Victoria are feeling stranded.
01:28We try and minimise disruption as much as possible and not do too much in one geographical area at a
01:34time,
01:34particularly when we're wanting to encourage more people to use public transport.
01:39That's why we've made it free.
01:40It's simply not fair forcing them back onto the roads at a time where diesel, where petrol and cost of
01:46living is getting out of control.
01:48Hitting the highway for the morning crawl to Melbourne.
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