TT #156: Belgrave's quirky 697

Maps are supposed to tell you where a bus goes but the one on PTV’s website for Route 697 raises more questions than answers. What you see resembles a chair. Dandenong and Fountain Gate form its feet, Lysterfield and Rowville form the seat while Belgrave – Belgrave South form the back. 

Does the bus run from Dandenong to Narre Warren with a backtrack via Belgrave? Or are there separate trips from Belgrave? And can one arrive at any location on the route with an assurance that there will be a bus soon (or even in the same week)? 

The first indication that all is not what it seems comes when you look at the stops. There are many between Belgrave and Belgrave South but only a few on the seat and legs. The timetable gives more an indication. More on that later. 

To put you out of your misery, the 697 proper is basically a Belgrave Station to Belgrave south bus. It’s topical to talk about it on Tuesday as this is one of the days that one of its weekly extensions (to Dandenong Market via Wellington Village Shopping Centre Rowville) operates.  The other extension runs on Thursdays to Fountain Gate Shopping Centre. Return trips operate from both destinations just after lunch.

Hence the 697 performs multiple roles. The first and main role is to link the Belgrave South residential area with the station and shops at Belgrave. The other roles involve providing weekly connections to a major market and a major shopping centre.

The latter, to Fountain Gate, involves a one-seat ride. Slightly further away but likely still visited by Belgrave South people is Knox City. This involves a complex bus-train-bus or bus-bus-bus trip involving the 697, Belgrave train (or 693 bus) and finally the 732 to Knox City. This is because all local buses from the south and east (eg 695 & 697) terminate at Belgrave Station with none offering through service to popular local destinations.  There is however a price to be paid for 697’s one-seat ride as you’ll see later.

Route 697 is in the seat of Monbulk held by deputy premier James Merlino MP. This is not a safe seat. 

(*) Strictly speaking though these are not quite extensions. A couple of stops off the main road are missed on the Dandenong Market and Fountain Gate trips. You can see the stops skipped when you look up the detailed timetable.

Timetable

The 697 hasn’t had much of a service upgrade in years. It missed out on the ‘minimum standards’ upgrade that rolled out 7 day service to many bus routes about 15 years ago. Hence it only runs 5.5 days per week with no Saturday afternoon or Sunday service. There is however service on most public holidays (mornings only). This is due to the route adhering to the standard of a Saturday timetable (no matter how dated or unsuitable) applying on public holidays.

Monday to Friday service is from roughly 6am to 7:30pm. Peak service, at every 20 to 25 minutes, is surprisingly high for a quiet fringe area ‘coverage’ bus route. Buses are timed to take 10 minutes each way so this can be achieved with one bus on the route. 

The weekday interpeak timetable is unusual. Mostly it runs to a 30 minute frequency. This is also unusually good for a low usage fringe area route and meshes with trains. However it is not consistent with some 60 or even 70 minute gaps. 

Saturday service is available between approximately 8:30 am and 12:30pm only. An uneven 70 minute (approx.) interval is offered apart from the first two trips which are about 40 minute apart. The short span makes the bus suitable for morning shopping trips to Belgrave but not much further due to the travel times and transfer penalties involved. In cases like a trip to Knox City you would struggle to make the last return bus even if you caught the first unless the trip was very brief. 

Below is a screenshot of the timetable. A curiosity is the relationship between the weekday shopper extension trips and the regular Belgrave-Belgrave South trips. In particular it shows two Tuesday trips departing at 9:45am. One goes the normal short route to Belgrave South. The other goes almost the way there, missing the Morton Rd stops. This is to retain directness for the Dandenong Market trip.  The Tuesday return trip has a similar pattern but the trips are a couple of minutes apart up until Belgrave where they arrive simultaneously (due to different scheduled run times).

History and usage

The outer eastern areas around areas like Belgrave was already quite highly populated before WWII, though then as separate towns on main roads and around stations (that are typically adjacent). Population growth has been much more gradual than in other areas such as in the outer west, north and south-east. In the outer east postwar growth was higher in places like Croydon, Bayswater and Boronia than Belgrave.

However Belgrave has long had rural type bus services. Some like the 695 operate at surprisingly high frequency, even exceeding some suburban routes. As for the 697, service goes back nearly 90 years with a route from Belgrave South to Upper Ferntree Gully that was cut back to Belgrave in 1962. However there was a Narre Warren and Dandenong connection in the 1950s. The 1978 network map has the Belgrave - Belgrave South route similar to now but with no Dandenong or Fountain Gate extension showing. 1992's map however shows the Tuesday Dandenong extension.

The 697 attracts about 15 passenger boardings per bus service hour on weekdays (numbers from 2018). This is somewhat below average for Melbourne buses (around 20). Saturday usage is less again at 11 boardings per hour.

This lower than average usage can likely be attributed to relatively low population densities and less favourable demographics for buses compared to other parts of Melbourne. The significant transfer penalties for any destination apart from Belgrave could also be a factor as passengers must change for even local trips to places like Ferntree Gully and Upper Ferntree Gully.  

Conclusion

I previously discussed the local bus network here. I suggested that it needs a radical shake-up with simpler routes, less duplication and easier access to Knox City.  Other nearby routes such as 694, 695 and 699 are also often confusing and poorly used.

As for the Dandenong Market and Fountain Gate trips, how useful are they given their weekly frequency? Is there a place for weekly trips at all in a metropolitan area of over 5 million? Would it be better to simplify routes with consistent daily service to Dandenong or Fountain Gate/Narre Warren with connections from other routes?  Or would there be most benefit by sticking to timetable upgrades like Saturday afternoon 697 service? Comments are appreciated and can be left below.

Other Timetable Tuesday items are here