The City of Manningham has what you could call a three category bus network. There's the four DART SmartBus routes (905, 906, 907, 908) plus the 305 that operate west towards the CBD mainly for commuters, the three orbital SmartBuses that run roughly north-south (901, 902 and 903) and a collection of limited hours local routes (mostly 200-series numbers) that connect to shopping and transport hubs in the area or just outside. As proof that things are never very tidy in bus land, there is the long-hours almost SmartBus 279 and a handful of 300-numbered peak express city routes defy categorisation.
The 295 is one of the area's local routes. It runs roughly south-west to north-east from Doncaster Shoppingtown to The Pines. The individual route map is below.
Timetable
Currently run by Transdev, it was formerly National Bus and before that Met Bus (who inherited routes from the Tramways Board). Its timetable remains many of these traits. For example ex-Met bus routes rarely got upgraded to the 9pm finish that many other routes gained in the 2006 - 2010 period. Hence you will still find that they are either long hours (more like trams) or very short hours, often daytime service only.
Weekday service is roughly from 7am to 6pm with a flat 30 minute frequency applying. This makes it basically a shopper service. It may have some use for those changing to a CBD SmartBus in the morning but the early finish, with service stopping partway through the evening peak, would be a limiting factor in the homeward direction.
Saturday and Sunday (unusually) have identical timetables with an hourly service between 8 am and 6pm. The 60 minute Sunday service is better than what ran prior to the 2014 Transdev network restructure, where it was 120 minutes between buses.
History
The 295 used to be longer. Before the 2014 network reforms it ran from Shoppingtown to Box Hill. It paralleled several other routes but provided a one-seat ride from eastern Doncaster to Box Hill. More on those changes at BCSV here.
Unlike most other parts of Melbourne the Manningham area has had several new bus networks and renumberings. The 295 route number has been in use on this (or a similar) route since at least the mid 1990s.
Usage
Route 295 is poorly used on all seven days it runs. In late 2018 it attracted 11 boardings per service hour on weekdays and 9 boardings per service hour on weekends. This is about 50% that of the average for buses in Melbourne. It can't all be attributed to poor catchment demographics; parts of it overlap the 279 which is an exceptionally strong patronage performer. Removing the Box Hill portion might also have not helped its numbers.
Conclusion
The 295 bus is a neighbourhood bus route uniquely serving quite a small area in a generally high income district with more frequent service provided by other nearby routes. What should its future be?
You might be able to make a case for 295 to be (a) removed in favour of boosts to more productive routes in the area, (b) reduced in service given its little unique coverage or (c) included in bus network reform such as operating to Templestowe Village (instead of The Pines) in conjunction with a simplification of Route 279 so that all its trips run to Doncaster Shoppingtown.
Comments are invited and can be left below.
Index to Timetable Tuesday items
2 comments:
The problem with the 295 is the northern sector, it just isn't direct enough.
I would suggest moving the 295 to service Church Rd between Doncaster Rd and George St instead of Victoria St, thus you get a high school catchment. From Church Rd a short section along George St east back to Victoria St then east along King St (a few retirement villages) and north up Tuckers Rd (serves a primary school) then east along Serpells Rd to Blackburn Rd and north up to The Pines.
Its best to retain The Pines as a terminus as Templestowe Village has nowhere near the patronage or hub/destination factor.
The 279 deviation to Templestowe should just be dropped as its useless and goes past a whole street of mansions.
The extension back to Box Hill is a worthy consideration if it helps alleviate pressure on the 903 (It was also the faster option along Station St between the two shopping centres).
Manningham is fairly straightforward to restructure if you know the area.
Thanks Anon - If you could get away with leaving the mansions unserved then I agree that The Pines is a better terminus. For the 'first cut' I tend to be fairly cautious, doing only the minimum needed to get the main routes (like 279) simple while tolerating indirectness on local routes (especially if that lessens any community opposition).
Another thought that crossed my mind (especially if you did that) could be to route 295 from Doncaster via King St instead of Doncaster Rd. That would lessen access to the civic centre etc. But it would improve directness for Church Rd/The Grange where it would be basically a back street version of the 908 to The Pines. The walkway from The Grange might provide adequate coverage from the Serpells Rd area via Wayambra Pl. There are two schools in the area but they're primary and normally don't generate much bus usage.
The big resource saving in the area would come from fixing the oveservicing on sparsely populated Reynolds Rd. Probably scrapping all routes (including the 901 orbital) with a Heidelberg - The Pines route running at moderate frequency.
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