SmartBus turns 20 today. Starting as a pilot project on Blackburn and Springvale Rd its first decade saw an expansion to include new university, orbital and Doncaster area routes. It changed how thousands get around Melbourne, adding to previously sparse evening and weekend service on major roads, particularly in the eastern suburbs. And the increased service it brought was a prime reason for the commensurate boom in bus patronage encountered.
See my 18th birthday write-up for a more detailed story.
SmartBus had a huge growth spurt in election year 2010. Then nothing new for the decade-plus since. Ex-Met routes that already closely meet or exceeded SmartBus service standards (eg 216, 220, 223, 234, 246 etc) remain outside the SmartBus house. The proposed Blue Orbital and western part of the Green Orbital didn't happen despite even bigger PPTN plans existing. And a bold $1.5b 2015 BusVic proposal for 20 new SmartBus routes got no further than this TV news report.
Government and bus operator commitment to even the existing routes has lessened with the use of specially liveried SmartBus vehicles, though effective in promoting the service to car drivers, declining. SmartBus probably reached its low point under the disgraced former bus operator Transdev Melbourne who ran dirty and/or unsafe buses on its routes until pinged by Transport Safety Victoria in 2017.
Transdev then smartened its act, with the COVID pandemic assisting already improving cleanliness. But that didn't stop it losing the operating franchise to Kinetic which has since maintained better standards. And there's been some good news on the service front in the last few years. These saw small weekend service upgrades on routes 703 and 900. Also Doncaster area SmartBuses gained long-overdue Sunday evening services and in some cases Night Network and weekend frequency boosts as well.
SmartBus has been transformational. It helped change the public transport network from a CBD-centred asterisk to a more versatile web. And it showed conclusively that if you improve service more people will use buses. These are, I think, its two biggest achievements.
SmartBus' three big remaining challenges include a. still low frequencies, particularly weekends, b. slower than ideal travel speeds due to car traffic, and c. lack of expansion since 2010, particularly in Melbourne's west, north and outer south-east.
What about the future? Victoria's Bus Plan mentions a hierarchy of routes but had little specifics of future network changes. My Future Frequent Network adds needed detail, proposing a direct frequent network similar in size and concept to the PPTN outlined in 2006.
So happy birthday to SmartBus. If you've had any interesting SmartBus experiences please share them in the comments below.
5 comments:
The original Smart Bus lines were meant to provide fast transport between hubs. This was similar to how a train would work but utilising a bus network. This means that some of the 'normal' bus attributes would be modified to achieve this end.
The first and main attribute is that they would not stop at every stop along a route. The roles of servicing those stops would fall to intermediate routes which would serve access to the Smart Bus system, in a similar way that busses and trams feed the train network. A Smart bus may stop at every third, fourth or even fifth stop along the route. This enables the Smart Bus to move quickly across the network.
The second attribute is to not pull all the way in to every hub. This should run in the same way that trains do no divert off the tracks and into shopping centres. A bus that stays on the main road adjacent to shopping centre can save commuters 5 to 10 minutes per centre on a through trip.
The third attribute is to take a route straight from one main hub to the next and avoid diverts to minor hubs, that would slow the flow. Again, the role of connecting these minor hubs should fall to the intermediate routes.
The 900 Smart Bus, at least the section from Huntingdale to Rowville highlights a Smart Bus Route at it's best. There is one divert on route, an easily accessible and well laid out Monash University Hub, but otherwise a straight run with minimum stops on route. The Caulfield to Chadstone section is also well laid out run. Unfortunately, the section from Chadstone to Huntingdale is clumsy as it navigates back streets in order to try to unnecessarily add Oakleigh Station to the route.
The 901 Smart Bus (or as many people in the Outer Eastern and Northern Suburbs now refer to it - "Stupid Bus") is an example of a bus that tries to do a little bit for every person and does nothing well for anyone. It seems to be a bus route that was formed by a very large committee and would only get approved once every member had inserted their two cents worth.
It stops at every single stop along it's route. It pulls all the way in to every shopping centre. It diverts all over the place like a rat in a maze. The route is so long and unwieldly so that delays in peak times often see a number of busses drop everybody off at a station to catch the following bus and warp forwards a few kilometres to get back on schedule. In order to allow for these delays, they have had to build in huge time stays at every major hub so they do not run behind. Smart Bus? No. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid bus? Yes, indeed.
There are really simple fixes for this route.
1. Reduce the length of the route. Create one Smart Route Frankston to Dandenong and another from Dandenong to Ringwood via Knox. The busses more quickly loop back to the start and the few people wanting to go the whole way can transfer at Dandenong. The section from Ringwood to Blackburn is unnecessary as it duplicates the train a few metres to the south. The rest of the route should then be broken into two or three Smart Bus sections. Seriously, no one in their right mind at Frankston is using the Smart Bus to go to the Airport.
2. Keep the Smart Bus on the Main Roads. eg the 901 does not pull into Stud Park at Rowville and everyone is fine with that. Same at Greensborough. On the other hand, it does not need to go all the way to the front door of The Dandenong Plaza, Knox, The Pines, Plenty Valley, Epping or Roxburgh Park. Even Broadmeadows shops does not need a second stop when it already stops at the station just a few metres away. The train doesn't.
3. Stop every third or fourth stop, not every single stop. Faster running between hubs. Enough said. Sure, Mrs Jones will be cross when she can't use the Smart Bus to pick her up almost from her door and drop her off to the front door of the shopping centre 200m down the road but that is not it's purpose.
It is time to get the Smart Bus system Smart again.
The 901 between Ringwood and Blackburn doesn't really duplicate the train, most people are getting on/off between stations e.g. the three kilometres between Blackburn and Nunawading, or between Mitcham and Heatherdale. It's also nice to have an alternative to waiting 30 minutes for a train after 9PM.
I'm all for splitting the 901, but only if the 670 is extended to Box Hill and upgraded to a midnight finish in place of the SmartBus (no need to divert via Blackburn station the way the 901 does). It's ridiculous that the 364 and 380 through the middle of nowhere have longer hours than the 670 simply because they were former MetBus routes (although the opposite is the case on the weekend where the 380 is well below average with hourly services and a 7PM Sunday finish).
The northern half of the 901 can run from Melbourne Airport to Blackburn, or maybe the 703 can be extended to The Pines replacing the old 286 now that there is no level crossing in the way.
tl;dr version:
901 Ringwood-Frankston only
"911" Melbourne Airport-The Pines only (or Airport West-The Pines if the western termini are swapped with the 902/"912")
703 extended to The Pines
670 extended to Box Hill, upgraded to SmartBus standard
Agree on all counts. I'd also run the 670 every 20 min on weekends (somewhat better than the 901 now) to Box Hill. Not sure how much usage it would get at night though given the 'big box' retail of Nunawading. But I'd have trains every 10 min to Ringwood though until last service, 7 nights.
I can't see the big box section around Nunawading being any more dead than Car City or the Croydon North section. Or even Cotham/Whitehorse Rd on the 109 tram for that matter.
Extending the 670 to Box Hill would also give an opportunity to reform several Kinetic routes in the area, namely the 271, 279, 364 and 370 (and potentially the 273, 303 and 309). If a Mitcham/Park Orchards/Ringwood North FlexiRide was a thing and all services met the minimum standard, the 271/364/370 could be straightened out, improving their frequency with next to no additional buses needed. That just leaves the issue with the 279's Blackburn deviation and the 303/309 terminating short of more useful areas e.g. Mitcham and Ringwood stations.
Just to confirm my original comment on the Ringwood to Blackburn section of the 901 - I agree wholeheartedly that this section deserves a frequent service and one that stops at all stops on a long timetable. In this way it acts as a good subsidiary to the train where you can get off at the closest station and use the 670 (or whatever # designation) to get those last few hundred metres to your stop.
However - a service of this type should not be designated as a ‘Smart’Bus - in this case, that is the job of the train.
You would not use this bus to travel from Box Hill to Lilydale as the trip would take probably 6 times longer than the Train. It is this that would exclude it from being a Smart Bus.
As per my original email, this is what stuffed the 901 up in the first place. Frequent services and a long timetable should not be the main criteria for a Smart Bus. Moving quickly from main hub to main hub is, by emulating a train service as much as it is possible on road routes where there are no train lines.
On another point on the 901, a traveler I know had to travel south from Ringwood on the 901 yesterday at afternoon peak and watched as two consecutive buses got down to a minute to arrival before disappearing off the board altogether. This means that they leapfrogged ahead past Ringwood to get back on schedule and the wait time went up to about 50 minutes. By this time this bus was absolutely packed which is not great in Covid times. As someone who used to catch this bus often, this is an every night occurrence.
How does the bus company get away with this?
If it is every day, which it is, why do they not send out a new bus to Ringwood to start from there on time, and if necessary, cancel the previous bus when it arrives at Ringwood?
The 901 just does not work.
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