By Brendan Rees
Being stuck in traffic-jams has become a daily ritual for Remy Singh.
The operator of Go-Go Cabs in Cranbourne West said he was fed up with traffic on the Monash Freeway, Thompsons Road and Hall Road, particularly when there was a collision.
He said it was also costing him customers. “They don’t ring because of traffic and taxis are more expensive than Ubers.
“If you want to go from Cranbourne West to the other side of Cranbourne North it would take half an hour,” he added.
“When you go through Lynbrook there’s a lot of traffic.”
Mr Singh, 33, said it wasn’t uncommon for him to be late in collecting customers due to traffic.
“There’s a lot of traffic on Hall Road and that’s a kilometre all the time,” he said.
Mr Singh said of the 12 hours he worked in a day, two hours were spent stuck in traffic.
Also affected by traffic was managing director of Cranbourne Pre-Mix Angelo Palermo who said it was taking a toll on his business.
“It is delaying us big time, especially if there’s an accident – it’s out of the question,” he said.
He said between 6.30am and 9.30am traffic congestion was at its worst from Thompsons Road to get to the Monash Freeway via Lynbrook.
He said it was important that his team delivered concrete on time “because you don’t want the concrete going off by the time it gets to the customer.”
Mr Palermo said travelling east bound on Thompsons Road between Westernport Highway and South Gippsland Highway was always a headache.
“Lucky I operate with a GPS system so I can radio the trucks and say listen don’t go that way, go this way,” he said.
“Also, there is a bit of congestion sometimes out the front here in our service lane.
“Sometimes we have been caught in an accident and you’ve got to try and do a U-turn somewhere illegally and then you’re putting other people’s lives in danger,” he said.
“Sometimes you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.
“These road works they’re doing they’re taking too long.”
Have your say on the state of local roads by visiting: https://starcommunity.com.au/competitions/14-08-2018/ublock-gridlock-reader-poll/#//
