HAVE you noticed that for the past few weeks the V/Line coach has been stopping not in Foster, but in “Forster”, as in as in Forster-Tuncurry on the central New South Wales coast?
An observant “Darcy from Cheltenham” contacted The Mirror last week to advise the “while visiting my grandmother in Foster, I was walking up Main Street and noticed the V/Line bus stop sign said ‘Forster’.”
This correspondent passes the V/Line stop in Foster umpteen times each week and not once did the anomaly in the spelling of the township’s name on the V/Line sign catch my attention.
An investigative hike from The Mirror office in Court Street around to the bus stop in Main Street soon revealed that Darcy of Cheltenham was absolutely right!
There at the highest point of the bus stop sign in the distinctive Public Transport Victoria colours of white lettering on a purple background was “Forster”!
The Foster bus stop is located near Pulhams Furniture and Carpet, and the stop itself is known as “Pulhams Store” in V/Line’s Yarram-Melbourne coach timetable.
Pulhams is also V/Line’s paper ticket outlet in Foster and when asked if she knew about Foster’s new identity according to the bus stop sign, proprietor Kate Pulham roared with laughter saying, “you’re joking!” before rushing outside the shop to look.
The Mirror sent an email to the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning’s media unit asking the complex question of “how come, what for, who did it, and when will the sign be fixed?”
The email noted that “Foster, the largest township closest to Wilsons Promontory National Park, is one of the stops along the route of the Yarram – Melbourne via Leongatha coach service, which runs several times each day in both directions.”
It also pointed out that “the bus stop in Foster displays an A4-sized copy of the current Yarram – Melbourne timetable, dated February 2022, in which Foster is spelled correctly, as it is in the pocket-sized, concertina-fold and online PDF versions of the timetable.”
And then, after the email, three telephone calls, and the elapsing of two business days, a reply from the Department was received.
Quoting a Victorian Department of Transport and Planning spokesperson, the response said “the Department … is taking steps to rectify the spelling error at this bus stop as soon as possible and we apologise for any confusion.
“The totem header at the Foster bus stop was installed on March 18 2024,” the spokesperson said.
“Contractors have ordered a new header for the totem at the bus stop in Foster and will endeavour to install it as soon as possible.”
Just as an interesting afterthought, the distance by road from Foster in Victoria to Forster – Tuncurry in New South Wales is about 1200 kilometres.
Those who are interested in travelling by public bus between the two places can expect the journey from Pulhams Store to Forster to take one day, two hours and 56 minutes via Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station and Sydney’s Central Station.
Foster.vic.au feed
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