Our 13 most service short-changed suburbs

The buses are so bad in some Melbourne neighbourhoods that their residents can't even claim that they've been 'taken for a ride'. That would imply that service exists, which is often not the case for most hours of the week. 

There's many such areas. This is because, while the Andrews government can claim it's built more transport infrastructure than any other in most peoples memory, it has underperformed with regards to service per capita. Especially when compared to the last term of the Bracks/Brumby government which greatly improved buses. Unfortunately for Brumby, another transport service-related issue, rail reliability, contributed to its defeat in 2010. 

Thanks partly to low interest rates, it's been easier to commit many billion for capital spending than the tens to hundreds millions for recurrent spending which is also needed to deliver the service uplifts a growing city needs. Hence it's very common for removed level crossings or new rail lines to see trains only every 30 to 60 minutes at times many wish to travel. And for buses at sites like Southland or Reservoir to remain unreformed or unconnected with trains at these new or rebuilt stations. 

What is a service short-changed area? I'll define it as a significant residential or jobs area without coverage. Or if there are buses they only run for some days of the week and/or are more than 60 minutes apart. This matches the safety net MOTC minimum bus service standards program that started getting rolled out in 2006 but was never completed.   

Below is what you came here for - the list! State seats are italic, coloured by notional party affiliation (given there's been a redistribution).

1. Campbellfield (Somerset Estate) Broadmeadows

If there ever was a one-sided political relationship in Victoria, this is is. Locals have reliably voted Labor for as long as anyone can remember. Yet, in public transport they have got precisely nothing back. Despite it being in government for all but 4 of the last 22 years, Labor has added a not a single trip to the timetables of bus routes 531 and 538. These are the only services to the estate which is hemmed in by creeks and big roads with poor walkability. These routes operate either 5 or 5.5 days per week only. And the 531 has has gaps of up to 2 hours in peak periods.

Any efforts made by the apparently non-locally living Broadmeadows MP Frank McGuire to deliver even low-cost minimum service upgrades have come to nothing. Or maybe his failure is attributable to party factionalism with McGuire even losing Labor preselection in the aftermath of the Adem Somyurek scandal. 

Some service upgrades may arise from the ongoing northern suburbs bus reform which covers Campbellfield. However don't hold your breath; nothing specific has been budgeted nor promised. Unless this changes in the next few weeks, locals need to stop reliably voting Labor to finally make Campbellfield count like marginal seats do. Interestingly they did just that in the 2022 Federal Election with the ALP primary vote collapsing by 17%. I discussed potential bus network upgrades for the area here.

2. Noble Park North Mulgrave & Dandenong

There's no excuses for bus services in this pocket not to have been upgraded since the Mulgrave local member is none other than premier Daniel Andrews. After all if you can't find a million or so to run 7 day buses on Princes Hwy Route 800 then what can you do?

Route 800 is no squiggly little back-street milk-run. Instead it serves major destinations such as Chadstone,  Oakleigh, Dandenong and the southern end of the Monash precinct including the high-rise M-City development. And it is the nearest public transport to low income rental housing in the Noble Park and Dandenong areas. 

Route 800 hasn't had trips added for more than 30 years despite all the recent development and healthy boardings on trips that do run. The last timetable change was actually a major service cut. Hence it runs to an early 1990s 'austerity timetable' complete with 7pm weekday finishes, 2 hour gaps on Saturday afternoons and no Sunday service. 800's continued existence at such a limited service reflects the disconnect between need, usage and service when it comes to planning buses with the very quiet 704 getting all the love instead.  More details on the Fix800Bus Facebook page. 

Other parts of Noble Park North are served by the 811 and the 814. The 811 on busy Heatherton Rd runs an inadequate 1 bus per hour (even in the peaks) but at least it's 7 days. The 814, on the other hand, is Monday to Saturday morning only. This is another strongly used route with no service upgrades for many years.  

3. Doveton (north-east) Dandenong

A very diverse low-income suburb with a lot of rental housing. The north-eastern part is served by the 844 bus which runs Mondays to Fridays and for a few hours on Saturdays. Like a large tranche of Dandenong area bus routes that missed out in the 2006 minimum standards roll-out, there is no evening or Sunday service. 844 makes the neglected route list as it hasn't had a service upgrade for years if not decades despite quite good patronage productivity. 

The southern part of Doveton has 7 day service with the popular 828 to many useful destinations including Keysborough, Dandenong, Fountain Gate and Berwick. However weekend service is lacking for a major route with frequency dropping from every 20 min weekdays to 40 min Saturdays and just hourly on Sundays. 

4. Glenroy (north) Broadmeadows

The Broadmeadows area's 'safe seat syndrome' strikes again! The only bus serving northern Glenroy is the east-west Route 536. Despite being one of Melbourne's most productive local bus routes with a substantial unique catchment it runs during the day Monday to Saturday with no Sunday or evening service. 

Like the 800, Route 536's timetable shows that Labor has been no friend of local bus users; it used to run part of Sunday until the 1990-1 Cain/Kirner austerity bus cuts. Not one of the many transport ministers since has seen fit to restore service. Route 536's catchment includes a diverse and low income population with high transport needs, again mostly reliable Labor voters. 


5. Dandenong North Dandenong

Another taken-for-granted area similar to and adjoining Noble Park North. The area has a lot of often overlapping bus routes. Many lack 7 day service with some with no or limited Saturday service too. These include the already mentioned 814 and others like 802 and 804. 

Dandenong North really needs a bus network review as discussed here. But given that many energies are being spent on the two large reviews in Melbourne's north and north-east (plus Mildura) it is likely to be a while until one happens in the south-east. In light of high usage, the fact that these routes serve major destinations like Chadstone, Monash and Dandenong, and significant social  needs, a basic 'safety net' 7 day upgrade (even if only hourly) would be desirable. Apart from Dandenong other seats to benefit would include Mulgrave and Oakleigh. 

6. North-west Reservoir Preston

This is a large residential pocket home to arguably Melbourne's most complex bus route, the midday-reversing and sometimes deviating 558 . The route stops short of Campbellfield Shopping Centre and has had no significant reform for many years. 558's timetable is also archaic, with no public holiday, Saturday afternoon or Sunday service. This compares unfavourably with the much more frequent (but also dead-ended) 552 serving demographically similar north-east Reservoir. 

The 558's numerous ails should have been fixed years ago. However they are now on to the case thanks to the recently announced northern area bus reform. 

7. Laverton North (industrial) Laverton

A bit different as it's an industrial rather than a residential area. But it still hasn't had any significant bus network upgrades since the 417 industrial route from Laverton Station was put in maybe a decade back. This infrequent weekday-only route requires a good connection from trains at Laverton to stop you waiting 45 minutes until the next bus. And that's just the last part of a complex bus-train-bus trip for most people. 

The biggest need here is a revamped bus network involving direct jobs area buses from where the people are. Tarneit followed by Williams Landing would likely be the biggest hubs yet neither have bus connections to Laverton North. Improvements from Sunshine and Deer Park are also warranted. More detail here though note that the proposed 154 has been replaced by a FlexiRide (starting this weekend). 

8. Pakenham Pakenham

Most bus routes here do run 7 days. However this is a growth area, that unlike Cranbourne, has had almost no reform to its local bus network for many years. This has resulted in coverage gaps, buses not serving new stations (like Cardinia Rd or Officer) and timetables with 75 minute gaps, thus not meeting minimum service standards, even on main highway routes like the 926. More detail here. 

9. Croydon/Chirnside Park/Lilydale Croydon Evelyn

A huge area with only occasionally running buses trying to meet half-hourly trains. Major infrastructure including level crossing removals has not been backed up by train and bus service increases. Only a minority of routes run 7 days per week with short operating hours on the days they do run. Routes like 675 and 680 are weekdays only with no public holiday service. Even though these are suburban areas, there can be 100+ hour super waits between buses when there's public holidays. 

The only significant recent reform was the replacement of TeleBus with FlexiRide, again operating limited hours. The Fix Croydon-Lilydale area PT Facebook page discusses local transport issues in detail.   

10. Beveridge Kalkallo

You basically need one car per adult to live here. And once you have that travel patterns are very hard to shift. Plus people are vulnerable to cost of living pressures. Nowhere is this more typical than at Beveridge's Mandalay Estate. 

It can claim to be served by public transport with PTV's Hume area network map showing the 511 bus from Donnybrook Station (in itself served by infrequent V/Line trains only). The devil though is in the detail with the 511 just running a handful of trips on weekday and none on weekends. Thus unless you are very lucky it's not at all useful. 

11. Ringwood East/Croydon South Ringwood Croydon

A long-established area but still with large transport gaps. It's getting a new station due to the grade separation but no word yet on whether buses will be reformed or trains will run better than half-hourly off-peak. Local street patterns aren't ideal but a look at the network map shows they're hardly trying, with no bus routes running along Eastfield Rd and odd deviations on routes like 737.

Bus network reviews were done about 15 years ago but almost nothing resulted from them. The one exception, of splitting the 366 and 367 to create the 380 loop around Maroondah Hospital, actually made the network worse due to the confusion added. 

12. Frankston South Frankston

Whether it's limited operating days, limited hours, low frequencies, odd deviations or confusing loops, the worst features of Melbourne's bus network are all represented here. A 1971 network  map is very recognisable more than 50 years later. Learn more about Frankston South buses in this long blog post about nothing ever happening. 

13. Rowville/Lysterfield Rowville

Rowville occupies a cursed position in transport as the place where everything gets promised but little ever gets delivered. Labor's Caulfield to Rowville tram, promised in April 2018, is just one of a long line of examples from both sides. 

Like Croydon/Lilydale, this is an area where the powers that be opted to convert the existing Telebus to FlexiRide rather than do substantial local bus network reform. The result is that Rowville/Lysterfield has two heavily duplicative half networks rather than a single full network with routes operating at least hourly seven days. 

You might notice the odd order; neither geographical nor alphabetic. That's because I've tried to present suburbs with the greatest social needs for better transport higher up the list. But it's not exhaustive; pockets of Melton, Hastings, Rosebud, Eltham, Templestowe and Balwyn, to name a few, easily qualify.    

Common threads (it's all about 'safe' seats)

Most of the listed areas have common features. Often they are established postwar suburbs about 15 to 30 km from the CBD with significant rental populations. 

Many are ethnically diverse. I have previously found a systemic bias against services to predominantly non-English speaking neighbourhoods despite high use of the services that do run. That list would have been even starker had it not been for substantial service upgrades in the diverse Point Cook and Brimbank areas introduced under the 2010-2014 Liberal government. 

Almost all listed underserved neighbourhoods are in long-term safe seats. Especially safe Labor seats. Given that Labor has governed for 18 of the last 22 years, voters in these areas have every right to feel neglected for the non-provision of service basics like 7 day local buses. Especially given the cheapness of adding it; a modest $10-20 million annual investment could upgrade a lot of routes across Melbourne.  

State Labor should be worried as much of this previously taken-for-granted demographic did not put a 1 in the Labor box at this year's federal election. The result was collapses of up to 25% in their primary vote in areas like Thomastown, Campbellfield, Noble Park, Hampton Park etc.

Opportunities to stress service exist across the political spectrum. Labor could add meat to its 'Switching on the Big Build' talk by swinging towards service. Conversely non-Labor candidates (including independents) could capitalise on the government's limited record with their own local advocacy and proposals. Even if they don't win they'd have done some good if incumbents can be made worried and cajouled into doing what it should all along with regards to service in safe seats. It's likely not just transport; many similar stories are likely in health, education, environment, libraries and recreation too. Interesting thread here. 

So far we've seen some infrastructure promises made. These need to be backed up by service to get full benefits from infrastructure. It will be interesting what eventuates in the next five or so weeks of the campaign - hopefully there'll be some strong and specific pro-service policies from all sides. Our transport system, and especially the user experience, will be much better for it.