Advocacy in Willmot

Participants gather outside the Transport Forum.

For many people, it is already hard enough to juggle work responsibilities, childcare and life’s numerous engagements. But lacking access to adequate public transportation tips the scales.

For this reason, members of the Willmot Community Hub organised a ‘Transport Forum’ to advocate for improved bus routes, more school buses, an expansion of the Community Transport Program and an increased investment in public transport for the suburbs that sit within the 2770 Mount Druitt postcode.

The event brought together 124 people. Local organisations, decision-makers in the transportation sector, Members of Parliament and local council members were all represented. Many people in the community also made their voices heard. They included eight year-six students from Willmot Public School who gave voice to their peers’ feelings about the school bus routes. Many of them shared that they worry about getting to school safely.

Many speakers insisted that the current transport system doesn’t adequately meet the community’s needs. One mother said that the lack of regular buses affects her four children’s ability to get to school safely and reliably.

There’s no direct bus route to get to school using public transport. My children need to walk, catch one bus, changeover to another and then get off and walk further to the school grounds. At times my girls don’t want to get off the bus because they don’t feel safe. This results in them being late, missing days, and not wanting to travel on buses to school.

Local Willmot parent

Another Willmot resident said that the current state of the public transport system is costing her time and deprives her of opportunities for much-needed sleep after her night shifts at work.

“I have missed important doctor’s appointments because the bus schedule had other plans. It’s not easy juggling work, childcare and medical needs when you’re at the mercy of unreliable transport.”

Every minute spent waiting for the bus or walking is a minute I could be spending time with my family.

Willmot community member

These circumstances do not exist in a vacuum. The suburbs, including Willmot, that sit in the 2770 postcode, are among the top two to three percent most disadvantaged suburbs in Australia. Their unemployment rates are four times higher than the national average. The median weekly household income is also considerably below the NSW average, creating a significant wealth gap between 2770 residents and the wider Western Sydney community.

Following the event, strategic meetings have been arranged to discuss what support can be given to Western Sydney to make the public transport system work better. Most importantly, members of the community are giving priority to a system that is designed by community, for community.