Shoalhaven City Council staff want Transport for NSW to consider adjusting the draft Illawarra-Shoalhaven Regional Transport Plan to include the extension of Opal Cards throughout the Shoalhaven.
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At present, the Opal network does not extend beyond Bomaderry station.
Councillor and Parkinson's nurse Nina Digiglio, "totally agrees" with the expansion of the Opal Card system to cover the South Coast region.
"The patients that I see and the people I speak to in the community are keen for the Opal Card because it would be accessible, it would save on cost and they could use it in regional towns and cities. It makes perfect sense," she said.
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Cr Digiglio believes cities seem to get more expenditure than regional areas.
"It disappoints me that the plan is being called illawarra-Shoalhaven Regional Transport Plan. Historically, this is the same as the Shoalhaven hospital, Illawarra seems to get all the goods and the Shoalhaven don't seem to get scraps," she said.
"Yet we're getting all the tourists and we've got a higher number of people ageing and people with disabilities.
"It's time the regions were taken care of particularly since COVID and the pressure people moving to the regions are having on our infrastructure."
Council staff also want the Nowra Bypass to be included in the transport plan.
Council is calling for stronger commitment to projects like Opal Cards so that they are completed quicker than within a 10 year period.
"Given our government is going to be spending $17 billion on fighter jets for the military, couldn't we spend a little bit more on our regional infrastructure," Cr Digiglio said.
"These five and 10 year plans means we spend a lot of money in the short term and then we've got to spend a lot of money again. It's not sensible planning.
"We need planning with a bigger vision and in the end we will save money and provide jobs for people," she said.
Shoalhaven councillors will vote on the proposed changes at the development and environment committee meeting tonight (Tuesday, March 2). If the motion is successful, it will be passed onto Transport for NSW.