Friday, June 25, 2021

Building Melbourne's Useful Network Part 96: Spring clean for Night Bus Network


In the same media release that earlier this month announced Victoria's Bus Plan, was news that the bus portion of Night Network will be transformed from September 2021.  

Under the plan there will be more Night Network routes with some operating not as special routes but extra trips on regular routes to provide for 24 hour weekend service. The latter overcomes problems with the existing Night Bus network whose special routes were poorly understood and often poorly used. 

Running key routes 24 hours is the gold standard practice in big cities that treat buses seriously. It would make us more like Sydney which does this not only on weekends but also during the week on a few routes. Even Adelaide and Brisbane have extended service on some regular route corridors as discussed here. What was speculated about there is happening soon and to more routes than you might have thought.  

What is changing? Nothing specific has yet been released to the public. However Nine News on 13 June carried a report that mentioned the 24 hour running of some bus routes. These are mapped below.  


Some were incorrectly numbered so I annotated what I think are the correct route numbers. 

The map shows the entirety of all routes with the long 901 orbital between Melbourne Airport and Frankston especially conspicuous. Even if it only ran hourly it would be expensive relative to its benefits. So I really can't see it running in the north and south, though it could work in the east. Similar comments apply to the extremities of routes like 693 and 788 which either overlap train lines or are in low density areas. Hence I wouldn't take the full lengths of all the lines you see above seriously. When services are only hourly getting the route length right is essential for buses to both connect with trains and be efficient to run. 'Sweet spot' times  to the terminus are 25 minutes for a one-bus route and about 55 minutes for a two-bus route. 


To summarise, it looks like that the five regular CBD routes that will be part of Night Network include: 

207 
250 
905
907
908 (Note: usually commences at Doncaster Park & Ride with connections from 907)

All serve north or north-eastern suburbs. The last three are Doncaster Area Rapid Transit SmartBuses. 906 is the only one of these not included but because it has a large freeway portion it doesn't have as much unique coverage as other routes. All routes already operate long hours on their regular timetable so conversion to 24 hours on weekends won't be expensive given that Night Bus routes like 961 and 966 won't be needed anymore. Their frequency will be known when the timetables come out. 


The sixteen regular non CBD routes (and likely CBD connections) that will run include: 

150 (Werribee line train)
180 (Werribee line train)
190 (Werribee line train)
357 (Mernda line train) 
386 (86 tram and/or Mernda line train) 
406 (Werribee or Sunbury line train) 
410 (Werribee or Sunbury line train) 
420 (Sunbury line train)
630 (Sandringham, Frankston and/or Pakenham/Cranbourne line train) 
670 (Belgrave/Lilydale line train)
693 (Pakenham/Cranbourne line train) 
703 (Sandringham, Frankston, Pakenham/Cranbourne, Glen Waverley or Belgrave/Lilydale line trains)
788 (Frankston line train)
833 (Frankston line train) 
900 (Frankston and/or Pakenham/Cranbourne train) 
901 (Belgrave/Lilydale and/or Pakenham Cranbourne line train - assuming eastern portion only) 

In some of these cases passengers that had a one seat ride from the CBD with the current Night Network will need to take a train and change to a bus. That could be seen as unattractive. However the trade off is improved simplicity since users of these buses will be used to doing this during the day on these same routes. These will likely run hourly given the release's mention about them connecting to hourly trains. 


More detail by area

City of Wyndham

The City of Wyndham north of the Werribee line will have service provided by regular bus routes 150, 180 and 190. The Tarneit terminus of 150 is the start of 180 and the Werribee end of 180 is the start of 190 so it will be interesting if all these are run by the one bus. These should replace at least the outer portion of the existing 945 from the CBD. Route 180 and Route 190 already operate long hours so again these changes would not have been expensive to implement. 


The Point Cook and Newport areas don't feature on the map Nine News presented. However they currently have Night Bus coverage provided by Route 944. This means that they will continue to be served with 'bespoke' Night Bus routes with tenders called for them last year. These will also need to start in September. 

Maribyrnong and Brimbank 

Again three upgraded regular routes are involved. These include the very popular 406 from Footscray to Keilor East, 410 from Footscray to Sunshine and 420 from Sunshine to Watergardens serving a catchment quite similar to the current 942 Night Bus. 

Interestingly all routes selected operate only standard local bus hours with service finishing around 9pm. Of the three possibilities between Footscray and Sunshine (216, 220 and 410) the selection of the latter was interesting, possibly due to it being the most consistently distant route from the Sunbury line. This is even though 410 has shorter operating hours than the 216 and 220. However as it's shorter and doesn't run into the CBD it's a cheaper route to run. 

Darebin, Banyule and Whittlesea

Routes involved are the 250, 357 and 386. All are key routes for their area. 250 serves a low income catchment at Heidelberg West and also La Trobe University. 357 serves a part of Thomastown and new low income areas in Epping North. 386 goes along the alignment you'd expect any 86 tram extension to run to South Morang then serves residential areas to the north. They are not particularly direct routes but they have a lot of coverage. Their presence would substitute for the northern section of the 955.


Outer East

This area will gain extra trips on four regular routes including 670, 693, 900 and (likely) 901. The regular 670 is very similar to the current 963 Night Bus from Ringwood to Lilydale so this would have been an easy reform. The existing 969 through the Knox area is however very different to any daytime route with it looping from Caulfield around to Ringwood via Knox City. The revised network, featuring the 900 and (at least) a section of the 901 will make catching Night Network in the area the same as during the day. The 693 will also be of assistance. 

South

This area will get regular east-west routes in the form of the very popular 900 and 630, both of which run to Monash University Clayton. It will be interesting to see whether both connect with the same train at Huntingdale or whether they have been offset so that the 900 connects with a Frankston train at Caulfield and there is some spacing between the trips. Also notable is the 703 which would serve Centre Rd. These upgraded regular routes will require deletion or rerouting for the 969, 978 and 979 Night Bus services to avoid overlap. 

Outer south

Night Network's 970 is almost the same as the regular 788 from Frankston down the Mornington Peninsula. So it's not surprising that the 788 is joining Night Network. Provided coordination is maintained this should improve legibility especially for early Sunday morning travel where people no longer need to think about two routes. 

The main area where 970 did vary was in the portion between Carrum and Frankston where it went via Frankston North (with quite good patronage). To retain this a decision was made to include the 833 in the Night Network. This will expand Night Network coverage to Patterson Lakes and Carrum Downs while also improving Frankston North coverage. 


Conclusion 

The above has discussed the 20-odd regular bus routes that will become part of Night Network with extra trips. These will make 'small hours' travel much easier in the areas in which they operate and contribute to the usability of the bus network. This should be the case not only for late night travellers but even more so on early weekend mornings whose passengers expect a regular network to be running. The presence of a 24 hour bus, especially if daytime service is frequent like the 907, might affect where some choose to live, a decision that may lead to increased patronage at all times, not just at night. 

It will also be interesting to see what happens to the 13-odd routes that will comprise those services that will remain dedicated Night Network only routes. More details here when information comes to hand. 


See other Building Melbourne's Useful Network items here

4 comments:

Craig Halsall said...

The tender documents from last year give a good hint as to what scraps of #NightBus should exist alongside the 24 hr bus network

https://t.co/dMzMzF7jMp

Legibility in some areas will remain a challenge, especially in the south-east suburbs

Steve Gelsi said...

I would've thought for coverage through West Footscray in particular the 216 would've been better alongside the 406, rather than the 410. But I imagine there's a preference for a route from Footscray rather than the CBD.

Even though the 410 drops off at the stop across the road from Footscray station on the way in, the actual terminus is well away in Paisley St so that would need to change for a seamless connection - unlike the 406, which stops right outside the station.

Heihachi_73 said...

This will be a lot better than the current setup, where Night Bus stops are few and far between unlike regular bus stops along the same route.

I can only see one potential issue however, the possibility of a four hour gap between the last regular bus at 9PM (if not earlier) and the first Night Bus at 1AM or so - this isn't an issue with trains and trams which run until midnight.

Hopefully common sense prevails and bus services will be extended until the first proper Night Network service, especially on Friday nights where the shopping centres are often open later than the last bus, especially when the bus company cheats with the timetable e.g. having the "wrong" end of the route finish at 8:10 so the bus stop closes to the depot says 9PM, or short running like the last 742 which terminates at Glen Waverley instead of Chadstone, missing a major connection at Oakleigh station.

Paul said...

Looks like route 955 is going to be closed:

https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/route/timetable/8959/night-bus-city-brunswick-ivanhoe-bundoora-mill-park-south-morang-mernda/

What replacement is there going to be for people in East Brunswick? Tram 1 and 6 at night?