2020-03-31
The Victorian Greens are calling on the Andrews Government to make sure that any public transport operator bailout guarantees jobs and gives taxpayers an equity stake in the operators.
The Greens also want the Government to start planning now for a future boost to train and tram services, along with more investment in the maintenance and renewal of critical infrastructure to assist with economic recovery and to make our public transport network more frequent and more reliable.
Quotes attributable to Victorian Greens spokesperson for transport, Sam Hibbins MP:
“A bailout of privatised public transport operators shouldn’t mean socialising losses and continuing to privatise the profits.
“Any bailout should guarantee jobs and have the State Government take an equity stake in the private operators, so that the community gets a return on their investment.
“Once this crisis is over, the sooner more train and tram drivers are trained up and on the tracks and the sooner workers are out there fixing or replacing tracks, signalling and overhead wires, the better off we’ll be.”