Local transport campaigns and council elections

Various campaigns have asked 2024 council candidates to commit to advocating for better public and active transport. Here's a quick summary of known campaigns, what they want and areas they're active in: 

Melbourne FOE Better Buses campaign 

Campaign seeks a radically reformed direct and frequent bus network across Melbourne's western suburbs. Also advocates for new bus routes in growth areas.  

Most active in Wyndham, Melton, Brimbank, Hobsons Bay, Maribyrnong with some candidates from other municipalities also signing up. 

See their candidate pledges here

Fix Dandy Buses 

Campaign seeks budget funding for 7 day service on all bus routes in Dandenong, with 2025 priorities being routes 802, 804 and 814. It follows from the #Fix800Bus campaign that got 7 day service on Route 800 funded in the 2024 state budget. 

Active in the City of Greater Dandenong, the campaign emailed candidates requesting support for council advocacy for better 7 day bus services. 

See news on their Facebook page

Streets People Love campaign

A broad campaign from nearly 40 local transport and environment advocacy groups to create safe and pleasant streets with good walkability and cycle access. 

Candidates from councils across Melbourne have been asked for their support. You can enter your address and the website will tell you which candidates have pledged for better streets. 

See candidate pledges in your area here.

More Trains Melbourne's North 

Seeks to boost all-week train frequencies on the Craigieburn, Upfield, Mernda and Hurstbridge line to match service levels on other lines. The campaign's first priority is to cut 40 min (Sunday morning) and 30 min (evening) waits to 20 minutes. Then a phased upgrade to every 10 minutes all week, starting with the busiest lines.  

Candidates in Hume, Moonee Valley, Whittlesea and Darebin in wards served by trains have been asked (via their Facebook pages) to support improved more frequent 7 day rail services.   

Candidates who responded positively are listed by council area on the More Trains Melbourne's North Facebook page. 

Combined 7 day bus campaigns of Merri-bek 

Seeks 7 day service on bus routes in Merri-bek, starting with important east-west routes 503, 506 and 536. Campaign has asked candidates in Merri-bek wards served by these routes for their position on advocating the better service needed. 

News on Facebook pages for Route 503, Route 506 and Route 536.

Any more? 

Let me know in the comments and I add your campaign if it's about local transport issues. 

Other reading

Public Transport priorities for each local government area

Local council elections 2024 - background

UN 188: How many people are near frequent public transport?

I've long maintained a set of interactive network frequency maps showing where Melbourne's frequent public transport goes. There are sets for various times of week and day and you can select layers by frequency threshold. But I have never quantified the population near frequent public transport at various times of week and day. 

But Philip Mallis has. And has presented figures and maps at last Friday's Transport Camp and earlier this week on his blog item here. 

I'm a big fan of this service/population based approach. More people in the industry should do it more often. And the expansion of the frequent network should be a leading KPI for the transport portfolio and the incoming DTP secretary with their pay depending on it. 

Public transport isn't just about building infrastructure as an end in itself. Instead it's more about serving people, making their lives better and connecting them to opportunity. Measuring access to frequent service is one great way to check the effectiveness (or otherwise) of investment choices.       

Below are a few of the maps presented. They show the extent how Melburnians' access to frequent public transport changes across the week and time of day. 

As you might expect, frequent service (defined as every 10 min or better) is most prevalent at peak times. It exists in all directions from Melbourne, thanks to frequent peak rail service on all the longer lines. The gaps increase further out as only a few suburban bus services run every 10 minutes or better, even in the peaks. 

M-F Peak: Overall about 50% of the population are within 800 metres of frequent service in peak times. Though note this will be an overestimate since the measurement method is based on services per hour and if there are multiple infrequent routes in an area this will count as a frequent service even though they may use different stops. Also even if (say) a route every 15 minutes and one every 20 minutes share a stop then you might still get 15 minute gaps even though 7 buses an hour means an average 9 minute headway. This effect is very pronounced in areas like Mornington, which show up on the map has having frequent service even though all routes are either every 30, 40 or 60 minutes in peaks.   

M-F interpeak: About half a million Melburnians who had frequent service in the peaks lose it in the weekday interpeak periods. It's a bit hard to see from the maps but the big losses come from the outer parts of the rail network (notably in the outer south-east, outer east and almost all of the north and west) dropping from every 10-15 min in peaks to every 20, 30 and even sometimes 40 minutes (identifying these line sections is where my interactive network frequency maps will come in handy). Buses also fall off. Again its hard to see but it is common for buses in areas like Brimbank, Wyndham and around South Morang to fall from 20 minutes peak to 40 minutes off-peak. The 'holes' in many middle distance suburbs also increase. 

Saturday: Compared to weekday interpeak, a further 700 000 people lose access to frequent service during the day on Saturday. Generally train and tram frequencies hold up but buses do not. In the south-east you can see the areas with frequent service are much more spindly around the railway lines on Saturday versus a more filled in look on weekdays. A large part of this is attributable to orbital SmartBus routes (meant to be a premium bus service) collapsing from every 15 to every 30 minutes on weekends. As well, particularly in eastern middle suburbs, it is common for local routes every 30 minutes on weekdays to fall to hourly on weekends. In contrast other areas have a flatter 40 or 60 minute frequency pattern all week on their buses.  Very roughly one-quarter of Melburnians have frequent service on Saturdays versus one-half during weekday peaks. On Sundays it's more like one-fifth (noting that the method overestimates all proportions).  

Sunday evenings: When Sydney upgraded its train frequencies in 2017 it made a point of ensuring its 15 minute service extended to midnight or later. Melbourne has also had off-peak train frequency upgrades in the past two or three decades but they were overwhelmingly confined to daylight hours and/or a few lines (notably in the south-east). The result is that Melbourne had (and still has) zero routes that could individually be considered frequency on Saturday and especially Sunday evenings. Typical train and tram frequencies then are 30 minutes while most SmartBuses join local buses in finishing at 9pm Sundays. Thus just 5% of the population has frequent Sunday evening service and it is only because they live near sufficient infrequent routes that the analysis includes them. Saturday evening fares better, but even with the generous method used is still under 10%. 

I've summarised the above (and a couple of extra time bands) below. This shows that the proportion of Melburnians with all week frequent public transport is a small minority. This is not due to infrastructure limitations or rolling stock shortages. Instead it is directly due to a political choice in the 12 or 13 years to avoid funding all-week service, with declining service per capita on our busiest metropolitan modes.  

The Australasian city that has made the fastest progress towards spreading all week frequent service from the few to the many is Auckland. They did upgrade their train network but most of the gain is due to bus network and service reform, with Auckland now operating 40 routes with 7 day service every 15 minutes or better. 

Climate Council analysis shows that Sydney has done quite well in making sure that its lower income people have as much access to frequent service as its higher income people (on average). And Perth, hampered by high growth and sprawl, has come off a low base, building its now significant frequent train and bus network from almost nothing, thanks to a sustained program of  incremental all week train frequency increases and reforming buses far quicker than us. 

The Increasing Melbourne's Service Frequency paper from the Victorian Transport Action Group proposes an approach for Melbourne to replicate the success in growing its frequent network of those  abovementioned other cities. 

See more Building Melbourne's Useful Network items here

UN 187: Doing it with frequency - Melbourne's path to world-class transport

Melbourne's got a great public transport infrastructure legacy. Unlike most US cities it kept substantial metropolitan and regional rail systems. And unlike most other western cities it kept a large, substantially intact, tram network. These factors give us a big advantage over other cities that need to make do with buses and/or rebuild their rail and tram systems (at great expense). 

With easy day trips possible to destinations like Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Traralgon and even Warrnambool, our regional trains compare well with those elsewhere, with substantial investments in both infrastructure and service in the last two decades. 

However the same balance hasn't occurred in Melbourne, with substantial infrastructure builds but declining service per capita on our busiest modes. The comparison with Sydney (which has boosted service) has been particularly stark with waits for their trains half ours at key times people travel. Even US cities with poor reputations for transit orientedness run more frequent trains than we do at night. 

Maybe its massive transit infrastructure inheritance made Melbourne complacent; less endowed cities like Auckland and Perth had to be smarter at working what they have harder. Brisbane, in contrast, provides a data point in the other direction, demonstrating how to run an extensive and expensive network that benefits fewer people than it should. 

With better 'bones' than most other cities, Melbourne's public transport needs just one main thing for it to really shine. Yet, it is far less spoken about than specific high profile projects like Airport Rail and the Suburban Rail Loop.    

Thus it was great to see an article this week in Australasian Bus and Coach discussing the potential for increased frequency to turn its service from underwhelming to world class. The item covered themes familiar to most readers here but which may be new to others. 

It draws on the paper Increasing Melbourne's Service Frequency: The cost-effective path to world-class public transport by the Victorian Transport Action Group (which I had a hand in writing). 

VTAG's paper notes that many timetables, especially for buses, reflect historical patterns such as old shop trading hours. More recently, reports from Melbourne CBD indicate increased evening activity. However metropolitan train timetables have been basically static, with many lines dropping back to half-hourly service after about 7 or 8 pm. And despite sometimes carrying standing loads, our main bus routes are often less frequent than trains or trams, especially on weekends. 

Within modes there is sometimes a mismatch between usage (or usage potential) and service levels provided. Thus sparsely populated Yarrambat gets a SmartBus every 15 minutes, while dense Highpoint, Tarneit and Brunswick have none. Sparsely populated Research, with its two buses per hour (even on Sundays), wins the bus lottery while residential Dandenong North and Campbellfield do not with most routes not even operating 7 days despite their higher social needs.   

The state government is aware of this with prominent mention in 2021's Victoria's Bus Plan. On Tuesday I demonstrated similar for rail, with high patronage but safe seated areas in Melbourne's north and west having double the waits for trains outside peak periods compared to well served lines like Frankston. Some welcome service reform has happened but the will and capacity to implement appears limited, even relative to smaller cities such as Perth. 

Fixing a multi-decade backlog takes time, not least with sourcing recurrent funding, driver recruitment and then driver training. This is why VTAG recommends a staged process starting with popular routes that can be boosted by working the existing fleet harder. That has the effect of benefiting the most people soonest and lessening the risk of services being added but just carrying 'fresh air'. 

Increasing Melbourne's service frequency suggests some priorities areas for all week bus frequency improvements. These include: Point Cook-Werribee-Tarneit, Springvale-Dandenong, Footscray-Sunshine and around Craigieburn. Most bus routes in these typically diverse areas have high boardings per hour productivity despite often dropping to every 40 minutes midday and weekends (as common in Wyndham) and/or not running 7 days (as common in Greater Dandenong). 

All week frequency is also essential given increased travel on weekends, much of which includes people getting to jobs. Priorities for better frequencies are especially high around major shopping centres like Highpoint, Northland, Box Hill and Chadstone. Some recent progress has been made but potential still exists for our key routes (including busier portions of our orbital SmartBuses) to continue their 15 minute weekday frequencies on weekends rather than drop to every 30 or even 40 minutes as now. This would provide a much more legible and saleable network that can be depended on every day.

Starting by shortening the longest waits is particularly cost-effective as not very many extra service kilometres need adding to cut maximum waits, especially for trains. As an example going from 40 minutes to 30 minute frequencies requires just one extra return trip per two hours improved. When the 40 minute service is only at a few times (eg Sunday mornings) then the number of extra weekly trips needed to cut maximum waits is very small indeed. 

Evening boosts from 30 to 20 minutes are also economical, in this case involving one extra return trip per hour of improved frequency. Boosts would lessen or eliminate Melbourne's severe evening service 'cliff' where service collapses to minimal (for trains) or nothing (for many buses) in the 7-9pm range. By running its trains every 15 minutes or better until midnight, boosting tram services and having generally more frequent service on its main bus routes, Sydney has surged ahead of us here. A worthwhile start can be made with 1 to 3% extra trains scheduled per week, as explained here and here, with a sustained program providing further gains.  

Just like with anything the better you make something the more people will use it. Including well-targeted frequency upgrades on public transport. That has benefits including addressing cost of living (public transport is cheaper than driving but a reasonably convenient service needs to exist), widening housing choices (as more homes are near the frequent network), easing traffic congestion (by providing driving alternatives) and maximising returns from the government's investments in infrastructure including level crossing removals and rebuilt stations.   

Another theme is promotion and information. As it stands passengers have little information about buses at train stations. Bus to bus interchanges often require walking around a large interchange to find the one you need with signage at only one or two points. There is also scope for more network maps on the network. Also those that are produced, such as the somewhat hard to find local area maps on the PTV website, insufficiently differentiate between frequent (and thus useful) and part-time routes. 

That's a quick summary of the Victorian Transport Action Group's Increasing Melbourne's Service Frequency paper. I've only scratched the surface so I suggest reading it here (pdf 38 pages). You can also follow the Victorian Transport Action Group on Facebook here. 

See more Building Melbourne's Useful Network items here