UN 208: Knox Transit Link turns 20

The Victorian Labor Party, led by Steve Bracks, made certain transport and infrastructure promises in its 1999 state election pitch. One of those was an extension of the Route 75 tram further east along Burwood Hwy to Knox City. 

These promises and what Labor called 'a new style of leadership' did the trick. People were fed up with the cuts and perceived arrogance of Jeff Kennett's coalition government. Sufficient time had elapsed and Bracks had successfully reassured people that a returned Labor government would not be a replay of Cain-Kirner's disastrous last years. So in an unexpected result, Bracks' Labor party won enough seats to defeat the Coalition and negotiate a minority government with rural independents.

Then, aware of the importance of winning more eastern suburban seats to achieve majority government, Bracks' pre-election 2002 state budget included funding for the Scoresby Freeway (which was not promised in 1999 but featured in the 2001 federal Aston by-election campaign), some bus upgrades and the part delivery of the Knox tram project. 

Note I said 'part delivery'. Instead of extending to Knox City, as promised in 1999, the funding only got it half way, to the medium-sized shopping centre at Vermont South. A bus (actually short trips on the much longer Route 732) would take passengers the remainder of the distance to Knox City. 

This service, known as the Knox Transit Link, commenced 20 years ago today, just over a year after the first sod was turned and two years after expressions of interests were called. The opening ceremony, featuring minister Peter Batchelor and local MPs, was the previous day, Saturday 23rd July 2005. 

The Route 75 extension was one of four in what was to be a brief revival of interest in tram extensions. The others being the Route 109 extension to Box Hill in 2003 and the Route 48 extension to Waterfront City Docklands in early 2005. A smaller Docklands extension (Collins St) followed in 2009. 

Project description

Information published at the time is here. 

Key ingredients included: 

* A 3km extension of Route 75 tram along the Burwood Hwy median with 10 new DDA compliant stops

* An integrated tram/bus interchange opposite the Vermont South Shopping Centre

* An upgraded Route 732 bus between Vermont South and Knox City timed to meet trams

The above link has maps for the tram and bus portions as below (click for a better view):

Achievements

The Knox Transit Link contributed to several improvements to public transport connectivity in Melbourne's east.  

The tram extension extended relatively frequent 7 day public transport to sections of Burwood East and Glen Waverley. This includes better connections to two shopping centres, the Tally Ho Business Park and the Burvale Hotel. This uplift was particularly significant given the notoriously low frequency and short operating hours of Melbourne suburban bus services, especially back in 2005. 

Access to Deakin University from the east benefited. As did Camberwell Junction.

What about Knox City, the major destination that was to get a tram but didn't? The 732 bus still delivered relatively frequent and long hours public transport from one direction (the west) as opposed to no directions previously. The 901 SmartBus added north and south to that some years later, providing benefits for Stud Rd and improving access to Ringwood and Dandenong. 

Springvale Rd was another connection point the tram extension benefited, especially after the 888/889 trial SmartBus got upgraded to become the 902 orbital. It meant that those in the Donvale, Nunawading, Glen Waverley and Springvale areas could get to Deakin University via a change to the tram. However  the physical interchange involved is not direct as the Springvale Rd bus stops were never brought very close to the tram stops on Burwood Hwy. 

Challenges

In theory the Knox Transit Link could have provided an alternative way to travel from Knox City to the CBD. This was certainly a major project objective with 'Linking Knox City to Melbourne' being the first heading on the project website.

However the 75 tram is excruciatingly slow over most of its path to the CBD. A potential alternative, of changing to an Alamein line train to complete the inner part of the trip, is limited by inconvenient station placement, low frequency and sometimes the forced change at Camberwell.

Thus, as demonstrated on the PTV journey planner, a bus and train itinerary not involving the Knox Transit Link is likely to be faster for CBD trips.     

The above PTV journey planner example is a weekday morning peak but similar results apply between the peaks. Knox Transit Link is best thought of as an improver of local connectivity for trips to Camberwell and Deakin University. For CBD travel it only really comes into its own late at night and on weekend mornings when the tram is faster and other options are either infrequent, not scheduled to connect or do not run.  

However even that role has atrophied somewhat. The original idea of every tram being met by a 732 bus got lost when the 75 tram gained 24 hour weekend service in 2016 under Night Network but the connecting 732 bus did not get matching hours extensions. Similarly when 75's Friday and Saturday evening frequency improved from 20 to 15 minutes in April 2025 there was no commensurate 732 bus boost (with its timetable still dated October 2023). Knox Transit Link usage was however understood to be low so few may have noticed this degradation in connectivity. 

Erosion of connections or harmonised frequencies is a real risk in a network with other examples being the 426/456 (previously evenly spaced to meet trains every 20 min) and, much longer ago, buses at Sandringham when the frequent 600 was split into three infrequent routes in 2002. For reasons of robustness in a city with a weak planning culture of minimising waits I therefore now generally recommend a preference towards single frequent routes rather than trying to be too clever with two or three offset routes on a major corridor.   

Another contributing factor to Knox Transit Link's quietness may have been the continued lack of public transport connectivity in the vast majority of Knox east of Stud Road. That's important because not many people are within easy walking distance of the Knox City terminus. Apart from 'minimum standards' service improvements on some local bus routes like the 664 and 737, Knox east of Stud Rd has lacked significant public transport network reform and service uplifts to this day. 

Legacy and inspiration

The tram extension and Knox Transit Link undoubtedly had benefits for the area it served and those with connections to it. But were there wider gains, such as it inspiring similar projects in other suburbs? The answer to date unfortunately has to be no, with it remaining 'one of a kind'. This is in contrast to other projects whose outstanding success drove a hunger to build more like them.  

Key interstate examples include heavy rail in Perth, trams on the Gold Coast and Metro in Sydney. Victorian examples include successive regional rail upgrades and level crossing removals. Also the cluster of small suburban bus upgrades in 2002 may have inspired the much bigger packages between 2006 and 2010. Similar lists compiled in the 1970s and 80s would have included the momentum that saw trams 59, 75 and 86 extended several times.  

Two potential future success trajectories for Melbourne include us being on the cusp of (i) a renewed round of weekend bus frequency upgrades (following the popularity of improvements on routes like 733, 767 and 800) and, more speculatively, (ii) boosted Metro train timetables (assuming success of the Metro Tunnel and the Craigieburn/Upfield frequency boosts).  

In contrast trams have less momentum now than in even the 1970s (which was otherwise a poor decade for Melbourne public transport) or the early 2000s. We tell tourists that we love our trams but rarely express this in budget documents or consider extensions. 

Hence the Metro Tunnel will have neither a tram connection to Arden nor a Park Street link when it opens later this year. Fishermans Bend got improved buses instead while Caulfield - Rowville appears as just the latest on a long list of transport hopes raised and dashed for the Knox area. Progress on tram priority and stop accessibility has been limited. 2023's Tram Plan has some good principles but lacks detail or funding to be really influential.  

Will trams ever get another time in the sun, like buses, V/Line trains and Metro trains have at various times in the last two decades? And if they do are they more likely to be inner, middle or outer suburban?

There may be some grounds for optimism. Many areas that the government has earmarked for denser housing need tram (as well as train and bus) network improvements if these areas are not to become gridlocked nightmares. And opportunities for extensions to improve connectivity still remain abundant in many inner and middle suburbs. 

Mounting debt and steeply rising construction costs has also meant that if the government wishes to still have a capital works agenda in transport it will need to get smarter in what it does to afford them. Instead of a small number of very big projects that struggle to get a BCR much exceeding 1, it may need to become more discerning. For example improve at doing large numbers of smaller scale high-benefit projects at low unit costs. That includes those that might have scoffed at in the Big Build era for being individually too small. 

Cost-effective frequency boosts and network simplification across all modes would need to feature prominently. Short extensions to nearby stations or to improve connections around the CBD fringe may also be in the mix for trams. If it attracts high numbers of people interchanging the Metro Tunnel/tram interchange at Anzac is a potential trigger for wider tram network reform and connectivity initiatives both to this station and others such as Arden. We shall see.    

See other Building Melbourne's Useful Network items here

UN 207: A few more clues about the new Wollert bus network

A notable bus funding commitment in the May 2025 state budget were some improved buses for Wollert - a fast growing suburb in Melbourne's northern suburbs north of Epping.

History

Before we talk about the good stuff that's happening, it's good to get some background. Wollert has had a difficult relationship with public transport with promises made and broken.

Residents moving in thought they were getting a train. It was not just some private subdivision spruiker saying this but the government-based development agency VicUrban (later Places Victoria) who sold the development as uniquely having sustainability features, including public transport.

The promise was believed because VicUrban was government, which Australians trust slightly more than real estate agents. Some bought and built in the then named Aurora Estate on the strength of a train coming 'soon'. The line would branch off the then Epping line at Lalor to head due north. There was even a rail reservation going through the heart of Wollert.

This was the early 2000s. The then Bracks government was breaking or downsizing many of its 1999 metropolitan transport promises in exchange for what it saw as being financially responsible. Whereas the current Andrews-Allan government has been the opposite. It kept more of its promises (Rowville tram excepted) but has difficulties controlling administration and project costs, likely leaving behind a bigger debt.  

Rowville at least got the Route 900 SmartBus after the Bracks government (again) raised and then dashed expectations of a rail line there. Also other mooted rail extensions such as South Morang and Cranbourne East got TrainLink buses operating over long hours and meeting every train (571 and 896 respectively).

Aurora Estate though got not even those. The media had a field day with pictures of bus shelters with no buses running past them. Aurora eventually did receive a bus but it was just one route - the 575 running only every 40 or 60 minutes. 

The 2016 and 2021 network breakthroughs

The 575 remained running for many years. But Wollert was rapidly expanding with new estates beyond the original Aurora. The big breakthrough for Wollert buses came in 2016 with three new routes (356, 357, 358) replacing the 575, which by then was trying to do too much. These new routes featured more coverage and were more direct.

Provided they weren't delayed all three new routes gave a usable peak service (Every 20 min being about the threshold that commuters start using buses as train feeders - longer than that is insufficient). However their off-peak 40 minute gaps and 9pm finishes are still well short of a train or even a good bus. 

Another issue with this network was that it was very Epping-centric. Trips to other than Epping station, Epping Plaza and the health precinct involved significant backtracking and waiting.

There has been no shortage of ideas to fix this. Transport for Melbourne proposed an ambitious network with Wollert routes extending to Craigieburn, Campbellfield, South Morang and Bundoora in 2016. In 2019 I suggested a Wollert - Craigieburn connection by extending Route 357 there. That was followed by concepts for more consistently frequent service on Epping Rd, more stops to reduce large gaps and a potential connection to Bundoora in 2020. I also flagged the need for more and better access to stops on Route 577 in Epping North which was underperforming on usage.   

The government and the department around this time were also interested in improved buses for Wollert. Their responsiveness has been faster than in some other growth areas (like Pakenham) where nothing can happen for a decade or so. 

The best evidence of this is the commencement of the new route 390 in 2021 with at least two service upgrades in short succession since and more to come. The 390 provides a west-east connection from Craigieburn to Mernda. But all three of the north-south Wollert routes come close but do not meet it, making trips to anywhere but Epping inconvenient. 

2025's funded upgrades

The above discussion sets an agenda for potential future bus upgrades. These include (a) increased coverage to keep up with housing growth, (b) increased connectivity to the 390 and preferably also (c) improved frequency and hours.

If you were going to introduce a Wyndham-style two-tier network where the main routes operate every 20 minutes or better Monday to Sunday with service until midnight then the two corridors with the strongest claims for this  improved service might be Edgars Rd and Epping Rd. Government interest in this style of service has been high recently with this year's state budget funding upgrades in Wyndham (already implemented) and Craigieburn (yet to come). Prior to that there were upgrades to Craigieburn  local routes and last year's 475 in Diggers Rest, both of which feature 20 minute weekday service. 

The bus network slightly to the south around Epping / Reservoir is a hot mess unreformed for decades. The most notorious example of this is the 556 dogleg that makes trips to Epping Plaza unnecessarily long. The irregular interpeak frequency on the 577 also deserves a mention. The latter may be in scope for these upgrades. 

All the above is speculation. We don't yet know exactly what Wollert will be getting. But this video from Lily D'Abrosio MP with minister Gabrielle Williams MP gives some clues.  Especially its written description (below). 

 

Note that there is network reform as well as new routes and route extensions. And mention of improved service frequency. Based on the above, here is my rough guess on what a concept network might look like (click for a better view).  

If the above is anything like what we'll get there will be at least (a) coverage gains and (b) increased connectivity to the 390 (provided bus stops are located right at intersections which is sometimes unfortunately neglected). We don't yet know about frequency, though it has been advised that there will be at least some increases. 

Given the importance of Epping Plaza and the health precinct as a destination it is hoped that routes like 355 and 356 will through-route to 357 and/or 358 so that passengers can get a one seat ride. This would not have been possible had the 357 retained its current starting location of Thomastown. That instead  (I am guessing) gets served by the new 337 which may also take in the current 577. 

As for potential higher frequency routes, 357 has good geometry and links major destinations. 355 also has good geometry and services complexes of lower priced apartments (which are good for bus usage). Through-routing the two may provide a legible service every 20 minutes. And, subject to connectivity with trains, offsetting Route 356 departures may be able to provide close to a 10 minute combined service on Epping Rd, at least in peak times. 

The existing Route 357 features 24 hour service on weekends as it is a Night Network route. Any reconfiguring may mean that some areas gain extra operating hours while others may lose it. Possibilities may include two routes getting Night Network service and/or some offsetting benefits such as 9pm to midnight Monday to Thursday trips on some routes. That could be worth discussing as you can catch a Route 357 from Epping at 2am on a Sunday but not 10pm on a Thursday and there may well be higher interest in longer weeknight span like done on some Werribee routes. 

It needs to be again emphasised that the above is a guess. But from what has been said the revised network should deliver some worthwhile improvements in an area that needs them.

There will be consultation to determine actual alignments. Residents and other parties can sign up to email updates on these here. 

  

See other Building Melbourne's Useful Network items here

TT 208: How 1920s churches still influence today's Sunday timetables

Do churches that were prominent in the 1920s still influence Melbourne's Sunday public transport timetables a whole century later?

The answer is yes. Even if the successor to the churches involved is much less heard from today.   

A hundred years ago various interests staked claims on what Sundays should be about. Articles about this were then common in newspapers. Most notably in Melbourne, the varying political influence of those making these claims determined whether public transport operated on Sunday mornings, and, later, how frequently it ran. 

It's an interesting history so, aided by a Melbourne Tram Museum article and Trove newspaper archives, it's worth asking why this is. 

Unions

First the unions. Australian unions were the first in the world to win an eight hour day. However, until 1939, this typically involved a full day's work on Saturday. That is a 48 hour week with Sunday off. 

Sunday was seen as a day of rest, and, as wages grew, recreation also included picnics and excursions. Between the wars, before most families owned cars, pressure mounted on the railways and tramways to operate Sunday trips.

A reasonable-length day in the Dandenongs or at an outlying beach required a departure before noon. Especially in the summer for people wishing to have some time before it got very hot.  

The problem was that suburban trains and trams didn't run Sunday mornings for much of the early 1900s.

Churches

The protestant churches, notably Presbyterian, Methodist and Wesleyan denominations, wanted to keep it that way. Thus ensuring that the Sabbath remained free of trams grinding around corners and ringing bells. Sunday morning public transport was not seen as useful to churchgoers as it was assumed that most people would walk to their nearest suburban church. 

Having said that other less politically influential denominations supported Sunday morning public transport. There were also differences between CBD and suburban churches, with the former seeing it not as a vice but as a means to enlarge their congregations. 

Railways

Trains actually did operate on Sunday mornings at the turn of last century, albeit with significant gaps in timetables. However they were opposed by churches, did not recover their costs and railway workers did not like giving up their Sunday mornings.

Essendon lost its Sunday train in 1903, despite local opposition. More dramatically state cabinet agreed to discontinue trains on all lines before 1pm in 1905. The decision was described as 'a stage of virtue not been matched by any other Australian city, not even Adelaide, the city of churches'.  

Cancelling Sunday morning trains pleased the 'wowsers' but did not end debate, which only intensified after WW1. A decisive factor was the spread of cars in the 1920s, aided by the RACV popularising country motor touring. This led to perceived 'double standards' where the rich, with greater control of their time and funds to buy a car, could leave whenever they wanted on a Sunday but the workingman and family, without a car, were limited where they could go on their only shared day off because of restrictive tram and train timetables. Thus working class people (and their 'social improvement' champions, interested in popularising nature studies and physical health) kept requesting Sunday morning transport. 

The difference between what workers wanted to do and what churches thought they ought to do was partly resolved in the 1920s in favour of the former when the railways commenced Sunday morning excursion trains in 1928. These proved popular, reviving travel to beachside locations. Despite a less favourable climate Melbourne was luckier than other cities in that several lines, such as Altona, Williamstown, Sandringham and Frankston, had virtually beachside stations. 

By 1939 Sunday morning suburban train services had improved such that they were roughly every 40 to 60 minutes from 8am, with a 15 to 20 minute service in the afternoons (latter being better than 2025 on some lines). At the other end of the day, after 11pm Sunday evening trains were added in 1936, as a plan to extend service until midnight. 

It may have been significant that the railways had a working class skewed often Catholic workforce. The video below, on the 1955 Labor split, had the Australian Railways Union as one of the 'Groupers', after a period of communist leadership. Catholics in the unions may have been less worried than Protestants about working Sundays provided they got good penalty rates. If they were concerned it might have been more about family leisure time than attending church, especially as the latter's attendance rate fell. 

Melbourne has rarely had one metropolitan public transport mode that can be considered head and shoulders above the others. For example trains were typically faster than trams but came less frequently. Residents of suburbs like Northcote and Brunswick with closely parallel lines must typically choose between speed and frequency - they have no mode that delivers both (although they used to when trains were more frequent and trams faster). 

Another train/tram trade-off is span of hours versus frequency on Sunday mornings. Since Night Network started in 2016 trains on weekends do not have the later Sunday starts that still afflict most tram routes. However trains are often less frequent, with this distinction most prominent on the Craigieburn, Upfield, Mernda, Hurstbridge, Sandringham and Pakenham lines where 40 (and occasionally 70) minute Sunday morning intervals exist. This compares unfavourably with Sydney and Perth, which typically operate a 15 minute Sunday morning frequency on most if not all lines. 

Timetable upgrades are rarely completely 'greenfields', even if doing so might add less than 1% cost. Where a train timetable does get greatly upgraded in Melbourne, and of all the lines Frankston's has had the most improvement in the last thirty years, there is almost always a remnant of a past service pattern left.  

This can be seen on the Good Friday and Christmas Day (most years) schedule which uses the old pre Night Network Sunday timetable complete with its late morning starts. The result is that on these holidays the first train (9:24am) arrives at Frankston about 10 to 20 minutes after key longer distance bus routes 781, 782 and 887 leave. 

On those two days this represents a significant service span reduction on previous years. For evidence go back to 2009 and note the first train arrival at Frankston was 25 minutes earlier at 8:59am. Although as this was before Night Network this was the case on all Sundays as well as the abovementioned public holidays. 

Unlike (say) Sydney, whose train service levels look thoroughly modern every day of the week, the way that Melbourne schedules its trains may make an improvement but still retains, and in some cases exacerbates, decades-old historical quirks.

Melbourne's atavistic rail service funding and planning culture meant that the option to add two or three early morning trips to the holiday Sunday timetable when Night Network was added so that there would be wide spans 365 days of the year was never taken up. This is despite the trivial cost involved (a handful of extra trains per year per line as the wide span already exists on the other 363 days).

This culture of leaving the basic Sunday morning timetable alone even when service at other times improves remains in 2025. We know this because despite despite other aspects of its service improving (in this case interpeak going from every 15 to every 10 minutes) the Sandringham line's Sunday service (which includes 40 minute morning gaps) will remain unchanged according to the government.    

As for the Metro Tunnel timetables, we don't yet know as the government hasn't released even basic  frequency specifications for timetables. The official line is that 'timetables are still under development'. Sunday mornings on the Craigieburn and Upfield line will however improve from every 40 to 20 minutes, in a win for More Trains Melbourne's North and other campaigns. What is not yet known is how early the transition time from the 60 minute Night Network to the 20 minute regular service will be and whether the Good Friday and Christmas Day start issue as noted for the Frankston line will be fixed on these and other lines. 

The 'stickiness' of certain features of Sunday morning timetables doesn't just affect Metro lines. V/Line timetables have similar issues in its retention of late weekend starts for Geelong and Melton even after other parts of those weekend timetables got upgraded. Though in this case you can't entirely blame 1920s Sabbatarianism because the late starts exist (to a lesser extent) on Saturdays as well as Sundays and the Geelong line actually has a better 7 - 9am Sunday frequency than major Melbourne lines like to Ringwood, Mernda, Greensborough, Sandringham and more.   

Do decades-old historic remnants survive in our Sunday tram timetables too? Keep reading! 

Tramways

Ballarat trams ran on Sunday mornings, though the service was discontinued in 1906, with low patronage given as the reason. Melbourne trams in 1905 did not operate on Sunday mornings, though as noted above some of its trains still did. 

Trams had never run on Sunday mornings and were not about to start. A proposal accepted as technically feasible got voted down in 1915 after church objections. Note that this vote was taken when trams were run under groups of councils, ie before the formation of the MMTB.

Sunday morning service came up numerous times under the MMTB but kept getting rejected for different reasons, even though Sydney trams ran without incident. Claims were made that Sunday morning trams would be poorly used. However when trams were replaced by buses, which did run Sunday mornings, usage was high. But the now electric trams continued not to run Sunday mornings with controversy remaining, especially given that trains were now operating. 

The impasse was broken when MMTB Chairman Alex Cameron was forcibly retired in 1935 to be replaced by his deputy HH Bell (who supported Sunday morning service).

In 1936 Bell proposed a 6 month trial of Sunday morning trams on all but the Footscray network. Trams would operate every 30 minutes from 8am until the regular afternoon timetable started at 1pm. Families could buy discount tickets for trips beaches or Wattle Park, a move fiercely opposed by churches and the Womens Christian Temperance Union. But the people had spoken, with patronage exceeding expectations and Sunday morning trams becoming permanent. The profits on them even offset the losses incurred by running all night trams, which also started in 1936. 

After WWII 30 minutes continued to be the standard Sunday morning tram frequency. By this time patronage was declining. All night trams were replaced with all night buses. The latter ended in 1968 with some additional trips added to regular services. From the table below it can be seen that Sunday morning service started around 8am give or take about 30 minutes.  

Decades later...

Though hard to read, this 1984 tram timetable for Route 72 in Camberwell had approximately an 8am start and then two trams per hour on Sunday mornings until about 1pm. 

Some quieter tram routes were replaced by buses on Sundays in the 1960s. They remained that way until the mid 1990s. An example was Route 3 from Malvern East which ran as bus route 377 on Sundays. 

Two years later, as a dividend of Kennett minister Alan Brown's efficiency gains, Sunday service was restored on all tram routes. The basic service level remained similar to the 1936 Sunday morning trial nearly 60 years previously - that is a start of around 8am and a 30 minute frequency until 1pm. 

The biggest subsequent tram service boosts were the 1999 upgrades which saw Sunday service levels match Saturdays across both tram and train between 11am and 7pm. This was essentially a reinvestment for some of the savings obtained from removing conductors. 

Recent timetables indicate further, albeit minor, improvements to Sunday morning tram services since.  The biggest recent example (from nearly a decade ago in 2016) was all night service restored on six tram routes on weekends as part of Night Network.

Route 3 (which for a while operated as Route 3a via St Kilda on weekends) got a slightly earlier Sunday start. Also the time that a 20 minute or better service operated was made earlier. 

As can be seen from the typical 2025 example below, most Melbourne tram routes still start late on Sundays and 30 minute gaps often remain until after 9am. These offer inconsistent connectivity to Sunday morning train services, especially those on the majority of lines which are every every 20 or every 40 minutes. 

The Network Development Plan (Metropolitan Rail) from 2012 had a coordination framework based on 10 and 20 minute maximum waits on all main routes but this has yet to be implemented on most train, tram and major bus lines. This record demonstrates that Melbourne tram timetables are set in concrete almost as firm as that Sir Robert Risson insisted be used for their tracks.  

Modern opinion

Where would working class people and churches (the main protagonists in the 1920s regarding Sunday  morning public transport) stand these days regarding Sunday morning tram and train services?

The 'Continental Sunday' so dreaded by Methodists last century has become a reality in Melbourne. It is made possible by a massive casual and part-time student and foreign-born labour force who toil so that middle to upper income tourists and local Monday to Friday workers can enjoy being fed and entertained away from home. 

These workers need frequent and connected public transport over wide hours but too rarely get it, especially on Sunday mornings. Thus 2025's new working class needs Sunday morning public transport for their livelihood, not just for leisure excursions as more the case a century before.

Unlike in the 1920s when union coverage was higher, Melbourne's diverse service-sector proletariat who are more likely to work nights and weekends (when public transport is scarcest) is highly casualised and non-unionised. This bias might be why you rarely hear unions, whose advocacy priorities are shaped by members, call for better public transport services (though you might sometimes hear them demanding free parking). 

Then there is the matter of the relative influence of various unions in the current Labor government. Aided by cheap credit, construction unions like the CFMEU have undoubtedly been most successful, winning billions worth of work for members from Project 10 000, known today as the 'Big Build' of massive road and rail projects. Had the TWU and RTBU been similarly influential in winning work we would have trains, trams and buses running every 5 to 10 minutes across the network all week. But they haven't been and we don't.     

As for the established Christian churches, their influence dropped in both major political parties and the general community.

Jeff Kennett's 'work hard play hard' free-market Liberals were not the same party as the disparate but effective coalition (which included socially conservative womens' groups who won what we would today call quotas in organisational party positions) that Robert Menzies assembled in the 1940s.

Religious influence in Victorian Labor waned when the party split in the 1950s, and again in the 1970s when secular 'new left' voices within it became louder. There was some revival of Catholic influence when ex-Grouper unions (like the SDA) were readmitted to Labor in the '80s. But electorally and in the composition of the parliamentary parties, secularism continued its march through the Labor ranks in the 1990s while Catholics (eg Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull) and evangelicals (eg Scott Morrison) were replacing previously dominant mainline Protestants and Anglicans in the Liberals. 

Meanwhile falling and ageing congregations caused many neighbourhood churches to close or merge. The Methodists and Presbyterians who most opposed Sunday morning transport were not immune, with these amalgamating into the Uniting Church in 1977. 

The rise of mega-churches and religious diversity has made it decreasingly probable that adherents walk to their chosen place of faith. Church, mosque and temple car parks are huge, sometimes getting government grants to expand. Also buying more land than the building strictly needs, with the balance used for parking, may also assist land-banking, contributing to the church's long-term asset base. 

It is now much more likely that faith communities would support rather than oppose better public transport on Sunday mornings, although their use of sites in often unserviced fringe or industrial areas can make providing this harder. 

Conclusion

There have been some Sunday morning service improvements on some tram and train routes. However their roll-out has been snails' pace, with per capita service still generally in decline, especially for trams. This decline comprised actual cuts to frequencies in the 1950s and 60s as the MMTB battled falling usage and rising wages, then a general stagnation in service for most decades since. 

No Sunday timetable improvement this century has matched Kennett's big 1999 service boosts for network reach across metropolitan train and tram. The only rival were the 2013 Metro upgrades which doubled Sunday (and for that matter Saturday also) train frequencies from 20 to 10 minutes to Ringwood, Dandenong and Frankston. However, like the 1999 changes these were only in the 11am to 7pm timeslot, leaving service outside those times infrequent. This is unlike the 2017 Sydney train timetable upgrade which delivered all-week 15 minute frequencies between 4am and midnight at most stations. 

The long-running bugbear of late Sunday morning starts was partly addressed in 2016 when Night Network started, especially for the train network. However early trains still skipped Southern Cross (essential for Skybus and other connections) and frequencies were still atrociously low with up to 70 minute gaps. All Good Friday and most Christmas Day timetables were not improved, with some made worse. As for trams, most routes did not gain Night Network service so their late Sunday starts and 30 minute gaps remained. 

It is unlikely that Commissioner Bell, who designed the basic Melbourne Sunday morning tram service pattern of an 8am start with 30 minute frequencies, would have envisaged that his six month trial in 1936 would still be determining tram times nearly 90 years later. Many buildings have had shorter lives than service frequencies on a timetable, even though (in theory) it should be possible to more easily adjust the latter based on community needs. 

With there now no organised opposition to improved Sunday morning public transport service, the only barrier to this is the government's political priorities. Which in public transport has been to value large infrastructure builds more highly than working it harder to provide a useful service all week, particularly evenings and weekends.

Some tram routes do now operate every 20 minutes from first tram on Sundays. But at the current rate of progress it is possible, even probable, that some 30 minute Sunday morning tram frequencies might remain in 2036, marking a century of a trial frequency only intended to be for six months.    

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