"The biggest bus service upgrade package in at least 10 years"
Last week it was trains, this week it's buses. Today the state government released early details of bus service upgrades to be included in next week's State Budget. The package, worth $100 million over 4 years, will see new routes, more 7 day service and higher weekend frequencies on buses across Melbourne.
The media release is here.
Recovering from lean years in 2023 and 2024, budget funding for better buses is back.
Labor MPs who did surveys or sponsored petitions for improved bus services will be pleased the budget heeded their requests. Community campaigns will likewise be celebrating successes for route and service upgrades in areas like Melton, Coburg, Brunswick, Northcote and Dandenong.
Let's whip around Melbourne, starting in the west, to see which areas will get improved bus services funded under this budget.
NOTE: Details are still limited - following will be updated when more come to hand.
West
Previous budgets have been quite good for Wyndham but parsimonious to Melton. This budget gives a bit more love to Melton. And it boosts service on some popular routes in established areas that had missed out in many previous budgets. Here's the key upgrades (higher patronage potential routes first).
* Route 408 between St Albans and Highpoint boosted from every 60 to every 30 min on Sundays. The current 60 minute Sunday service is a poor match for the existing 20 minute Monday - Saturday service and sometimes leaves people behind at Highpoint in the afternoons. Operating hours will be extended to approximately midnight Monday - Saturday and 10pm Sunday. The 408 is the only bus that goes right past Sunshine Hospital so these hours and frequency upgrades will be very welcome. Indeed I wouldn't be surprised if the 30 minute service is so popular that it needs to go to every 20 minutes in due course. A 408 service boost was foreshadowed in a survey done by MPs Natalie Suleyman, Sarah Connolly and Katie Hall (St Albans, Sunshine and Footscray respectively).
* Extension of Route 454 to Woodgrove Shopping Centre and a frequency boost to every 20 minutes 7 days will make it Melton's first and only bus route to operate at this frequency. This upgrade will mean that the now under construction Melton Hospital will have a useful bus route from Day 1 of opening.
* Also in Melton there will be two new routes for Weir Views, Strathtulloh and Thornhill Park. Again it was foreshadowed in MP Steve McGhie's bus survey. It is not yet known whether these will replace the areas's FlexiRide (which was never a good idea to put in).
* Route 476 frequency boosted to run every 15 minutes peak and 20 minutes off-peak weekdays. This is a major improvement from every 40 minutes off-peak as current. This route serves many schools. Natalie Hutchins MP did a bus survey on this.
* Routes 411 and 412 to be merged in a single route, though this has implications for Altona North where the routes split.
* Routes 496 and 498 will be more direct to enable people to change to trains at Aircraft Station. This takes those routes off Central Avenue but will need some network reform to retain a bus service along it. Mathew Hilakari MP (Point Cook) has been championing this.
North
* The Moonee Ponds - Brunswick - Alphington Route 508 will get a major boost as is deserved for such an important route across the inner north. On weekdays it will run every 15 minutes midday instead of just in the peaks. And weekend service will improve from every 30-40 to every 20 minutes. There may also be some longer operating hours too. This serves Northcote held by Kat Theophanous and Danny Pearson's Moonee Ponds with Tim Read's Green Brunswick in the middle.
* A LaTrobe University bus package. Later trips on the Route 301 shuttle, new weekend service for the currently limited service Route 551 from Heidelberg and, most exciting of all Route 561 upgraded to run every 20 minutes on weekends with operating hours extended to later at night.
* Route 526 to Coburg North will get Sunday service plus a frequency boost to every 20 min. It will also be straightened. This has been the subject of strong local advocacy including not just a survey but a petition sponsored by Anthony Cianflone MP and a visit from the premier last week.
* The Route 386/387 corridor in the South Morang area has late Night Network trips but an early finish on other evenings. A new timetable will extend evening service on other nights of the week. This route is effectively an extension of the 86 tram.
* Route 542 unusually runs 7 day for its northern half only. The budgeted upgrade brings Sunday service to the entire route with frequencies lifted to Saturday levels.
East
* Route 273 in the Nunawading/Donvale area will gain Sunday service and longer operating hours. Hopefully its huge mid-route kink, which makes travel on it slow, will be straightened.
* Route 766 will get an extra school trip.
South-East
* Routes 802 and 804 will finally get a revamp, understood to include 7 day service. But not immediately. This is because there will be a review of the Dandenong North network in conjunction with Route 862 with the result not just Sunday service but also higher weekday frequencies in the area. This will mean that major destinations like Chadstone, Monash University, Oasis Leisure Centre, Dandenong Hospital and Dandenong Market will finally get 7 day service on all their bus routes.
* An even larger network review will take place in the Casey area. This will incorporate areas such as Cranbourne, Clyde, Botanic Ridge, Casey Fields, Junction Village, Devon Meadows and Warneet (where bus routes are very convoluted). This will be funded by GAIC (developer charges) and will require public consultation.
* Route 885 between Glen Waverley and Springvale via Mulgrave will run 7 days. This is another high usage but limited service City of Greater Dandenong bus route and the subject of a Bus Advocacy Mentorship. 828 (also in Dandenong) did not get upgrade funding but, cutting across several state seats, is the sort of route that would be attractive for parties to promise in the coming election campaign.
* Route 928 between Pakenham and Berwick will gain longer operating hours.
* Those in a pocket south of Dandenong will gain bus coverage with the 890 being rerouted through a residential area. Currently this area has just the twice per weekday 857 deviation.
South
* Route 833 will be straightened in the Carrum Downs area, removing an unnecessary back-tracking. This reduced run time will speed travel from Carrum and enable weekend service to be boosted from 60 to 40 minutes. This is a very popular route especially in the Frankston North area.
* There will be a new connection from Carrum Downs to Karingal Hub Shopping Centre. This appears to be by merging the limited service 778 with the even more limited 777. Again the topic of an MP survey by the Finance Minister no less.
* Route 236 in Port Melbourne will gain Sunday service. Oddly the busier and frequent on weekdays 237 does not. Neither has local council advocacy for an upgraded 606 succeeded.
Regional Victoria
* Better Inverloch and Cowes - Dandenong connections (also advocated by the local MP)
* Castlemaine - Harcourt
* A Drysdale - Ocean Grove route will be added
Note again the above represents what I've gleaned - will be updated as more details come to hand
What doesn't gain
Some popular routes that one would have thought would be in the front row for Sunday service missed out. Examples include the popular 404, 503 and 506 in the Moonee Ponds/Essendon/Brunswick area, 281 in Box Hill plus 814 and 844 in Dandenong.
Their omission seems to be due to a desire to spread these upgrades around and not concentrate them in one area, despite these routes above average patronage performance or high social needs catchments. Maybe this explains why high bus-using Craigieburn, which by rights should have got at least three and probably six routes upgraded from every 40 to every 20 minutes on weekends, missed out.
Also some isolated and low income areas like Campbellfield got no extra trips on their limited service routes 531 and 538. Though truth be told this area and Broadmeadows would be a prime location for a small bus network review as routes haven't substantially changed for decades.
Does this budget replace the promised northern and north-eastern suburbs bus review that the government dumped just two budgets ago? Last year's and this do quite a lot for buses (and for that matter trains) in the north but shy away from established area reform such as is required to untangle hideously confusing routes like 552, 553, 556, 558 and 566. Neither do they tidy up newer sins like the recently created 513/514 mess on Bell Street (which leaves parts of this busy road with weekend service only every 40 minutes, like the back streets of Moe).
The 408, 454. 508, 561 and other upgrades demonstrate an appetite for routes that run a more consistent frequency across the week. There's a large number of other routes that justify similar upgrades like 390, 472, 513/514, 527, 670, 737, 828, 841, 900 etc, not to mention much-overdue overhauls of the SmartBus orbitals and new connections like SRL SmartBus and a Sunshine - Melbourne Airport link. A continued future emphasis on these types of routes would make the most of the bus network's still large untapped potential.
This budget's package of bus (and Metro rail) service upgrades is very welcome.
They will make hundreds of thousands of journeys per year better or possible. That's important because, as I've often said, the most expensive trips are those that cannot reasonably be made by public transport. With limited bus coverage, operating hours and frequencies that's a lot of trips for too much of the week. Unlike free or reduced fares (which this budget will put ~$400m towards), these service upgrades make public transport a practical option for more trips.
In contrast to many previous budgets this one recognises that investments in public transport service is no less important than infrastructure to make the network useful. This 'shift to service' is much needed and well overdue. Especially since there remains multi decade-long backlogs in bus network development across wide belts of established suburbs including Broadmeadows, Campbellfield, Reservoir, Epping, Croydon, Rowville, Noble Park, Frankston and more and even main road routes may only run every 30 to 60 minutes on weekends.
The routes selected for upgrade set a good balance between inner, middle and outer suburbs. Government MPs in maybe half Melbourne's metropolitan seats will have a good news story to tell their constituents. That's the beauty of bus upgrades - a lot of announceables for little money.
Be prepared for messaging from politicians on improved bus services, just like we saw last week with the Clifton Hill and Burnley group rail upgrades. Which I don't begrudge them for as some have genuinely worked hard to get improved services funded. Especially as these measures are budget funded rather than promised (as was the case with the previous northern area bus reviews which didn't end up happening).
In summary, this is the best state budget for metropolitan bus services in about 10 years. But it's also important to note that decades of fragmented planning and years of underinvestment in public transport service cannot be fixed in a single budget.
This is why this budget should be regarded as a start rather than an end. And that we should still be seeking more investment in service from all sides in the upcoming election campaign.
See other Timetable Tuesday items here
