A Charting Transport analysis released on Tuesday showed that weekend day bus usage in Melbourne had risen from 48 to 68% of normal weekday usage in just three years, the fastest rate of any city surveyed. This shift means that weekends should now be top-of-mind when it comes to how we allocate service resources. Especially given how our bus frequencies collapse on weekends relative to trains (and trams) which hold up 6.7 days per week.
And here's the rub. Too few of them do, especially on weekends where bus services fall off a cliff, being one-half or even one-quarter what they are on weekdays. And, despite upgrades about 15 years ago, a significant proportion of routes still don't run 7 days, or have gaps of up to 2 hours between buses.
All this is despite the benefits of higher frequency, especially off-peak. These are likely highest in busy places where there are parking pressures, young minimum-wage workers without cars, and a large student demographic in surrounding areas. Chadstone ticks the boxes on all counts. Plus boosting service on Chadstone routes has direct benefits for areas as far away as Dandenong, Box Hill, Cheltenham and St Kilda.
767 20/30/40/ to 9pm
800 20/60-120/no service/no service
802 40/no service/no service/no service
822 30/40/60/to 9pm
3. Low service routes. Typically operate every 20 to 40 minutes on weekdays, falling to every 60 - 120 min on Saturdays with short operating hours. No Sunday or evening service. 3 of the 4 routes (800, 802 & 804) operate to Dandenong, indicating the extent to which successive governments have taken bus users for granted in historically 'safe' seats like Mulgrave and Dandenong.
Not one of these routes, even the premium 900 and 903, have maximum waits reliably less than 30 minutes. There are some shorter intervals but are too uneven or occur too briefly to be sellable. 900 and 903 lag similar premium routes in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth which typically offer 7 day service every 10-15 minutes.
Some routes overlap to provide a frequent service but you can't count on it. An example is Princes Hwy Oakleigh East's service dropping from a high (but uneven) 7 buses per hour on weekdays to a low 1 per hour on Sundays due to just one of its 4 routes (800, 802, 804 & 862) operating 7 days. Chadstone to Oakleigh Station does enjoy a frequent 7 day service as measured by buses per hour but not as experienced by passengers as it is difficult to find when and where the next suitable bus departs.
See the weekend service cliffs for all Chadstone's bus routes here: (click for better view).
Prefer to see the more frequent weekend routes on a map? It's simple as weekend service to Chadstone is so sparse. Using the Sunday interactive frequent network map just one corridor from Chadstone consistently runs every 20 minutes or better on weekends. And that is a combined corridor of multiple routes to Oakleigh Station. Thus the only people with good network connectivity to Chadstone on weekends are those along the Dandenong train line who can change to a bus at Oakleigh. And even that is undersold due to complex or missing passenger information at the Chadstone end.
Presented is a four step program that would transform bus services to Chadstone from a wide surrounding area. Highest priority is given to maximising service on existing productive routes and working the existing fleet harder. Then attention turns to simpler reformed networks and speed improvements to enable further cost-effective gains. Ultimately it would get main routes to run every 10 minutes and secondary routes every 20 minutes, seven days per week, providing vastly better accessibility than exists now.
Comprises service upgrades that ensure all routes to Chadstone have basic 7 day 'safety net' service at least hourly until 9pm. Would require the following low-cost timetable upgrades:
* Route 612 Box Hill - Chadstone
Extend weekday operating hours to 6am - 9pm
Extend Saturday operating hours to 7am - 9pm
New Sunday service 8am - 9pm (every 60 min)
* Route 800 Dandenong - Chadstone
Extend weekday operating hours to 6am - 9pm
Extend Saturday operating hours 7am - 9pm & increase frequency
New Sunday service 8am - 9pm (every 60 min or better)
* Route 802 Dandenong - Chadstone
Extend weekday operating hours to 6am - 9pm
New Saturday service 7am - 9pm (every 60 min)
New Sunday service 8am - 9pm (every 60 min)
Note: Weekend service coscheduled with 804 and 862 for combined 20 min service
* Route 804 Dandenong - Chadstone
Extend weekday operating hours to 6am - 9pm
Extend Saturday operating hours 7am - 9pm (every 60 min)
New Sunday service 8am - 9pm (every 60 min)
Note: Weekend service coscheduled with 802 and 862 for combined 20 min service
These low-budget measures are worthwhile and particularly help notoriously underserved Dandenong. However they fall short of delivering the step change in accessibility from multiple directions that Chadstone really requires. This is why we also need ..
Many Chadstone routes operate half as frequently on weekends than weekdays. This does not make sense given how popular these routes are on weekends.
This step upgrades weekend services to match weekday off-peak frequencies on six key routes. They would result in intervals between buses on most routes improving from 30 - 120 minutes to 15 - 30 minutes. Somewhat longer operating hours (Eg evening finishes about 1-2 hours later and weekend starts similarly earlier) would also be desirable on some routes. The following is proposed:
* Route 623 St Kilda - Chadstone - Glen Waverley
Boost weekend service from 60 to 30 min to match weekdays/longer hours
* Route 800 Dandenong - Chadstone
Boost weekend service to every 20 minutes/further extended hours
* Route 900 Caulfield - Chadstone - Rowville
Boost weekends to every 15 min between Caulfield and at least Monash/Operate later Sunday evenings
* Route 903 Mordialloc Mentone - Chadstone - Box Hill - Doncaster - Altona
Boost weekend service to every 15 min by adding short trips (eg Mentone - Box Hill or Doncaster)
The above are all strongly performing routes that, 623 excepted, do not need realignment or reform. Thus service can be added with the assurance that it will be well used and won't be taken away. 623 was included due to its exceptional patronage performance and confidence that the 30 minutes proposed is a merely a step to even higher frequency under a reformed network.
Step 2 could include smaller Sunday frequency upgrades to other routes including 767 and 822. These reduce maximum waits throughout the week on these routes to 30 min (767) and 40 min (822), with the latter set to enable potential coscheduling with the 627 on Murrumbeena Rd pending later reform in Step 3. For a similar reason the 742 has been retained at hourly on Sundays to enable potential coscheduling with the 693 from Oakleigh given the significant overlap.
The result of the Stage 1 and 2 upgrades, with most routes operating a much flatter frequency across the week, is graphed below.
Step 2 above does about two-thirds what is possible with existing routes. However there are some omissions with some routes left at every 30-40 minutes when they could be every 20 minutes on weekends.
This is because routes like 623, 624, 627, 742, 767, 822 and 802/804/862 are needlessly complex and/or have significant overlaps that don't aid coverage. Simplifying these routes would enable the highest possible frequency at the least cost. This is what Step 3 is all about.
The highest potential route clusters for simplification include:
Reform could see a more frequent 623 operating every 20 minutes 7 days by having it replace the 624 between Murrumbeena, Neerim Rd and Caulfield with new train and tram connections at the latter. The Oakleigh - Chadstone and Caulfield - Kew portions of the 624 would remain as separate routes with the latter boosted in frequency. More detail here.
* 627, 767 and 822: Significant overlaps in the Murrumbeena area leading to confusing and infrequent service on each route. There is also no simple and frequent route along the Murrumbeena Rd/East Boundary Rd/Chesterville Rd corridor. Instead the areas's most frequent route, the 767, runs along more local streets between this corridor and Warrigal Rd (which has the 903).
A short-term simplification could swap the 627 and 822 so the latter forms a simpler direct Murrumbeena Rd/East Boundary Rd bus. However given 767's superior frequency a further gain could be possible by then swapping 767 with a portion of 822 so that 767 delivers a semi-frequent Murrumbeena-East Boundary - Chesterville Rd corridor midway between the Frankston train line and the 903 on Warrigal Rd. This would strengthen the case for 767's weekend frequency to be boosted to 20 minutes, with benefits as far north as Box Hill. More on better Bentleigh East buses here (though I've used different route numbers).
* 693 and 742: Routes substantially overlap between Oakleigh and Monash University. It is suggested that 693 be extended to Chadstone (replacing 742) while 742 is operated between Monash and Ringwood only. 693 could then gain increased frequency between Chadstone and Ferntree Gully, possibly every 20 minutes 7 days per week. While no longer serving Chadstone, the remaining portion of the 742 could also gain more trips as an important connector between major centres. More detail here.
* 802, 804 and 862: This is a confusing cluster of three routes that overlap between Chadstone and Mulgrave before fanning out on their eastern portions to Dandenong but still with some overlaps. Currently only the 862 runs all weekend and that only hourly. Step 1 adds hourly 7 day service to 802 and 804. However scope exists to consolidate these three routes to two more frequent routes (which I've called 803 and 804) without losing significant coverage. Operating each every 30 minutes weekdays, 40 minutes weekends could provide a combined 15-20 minute service all week as described here.
* 903: This is a long orbital SmartBus with busy and quiet parts. Significant parts of it in the west overlap other routes. Its busiest section is around Chadstone. Network reform to this and orbital routes (eg splitting) may deliver further frequency gains, eg maximum 10 minute waits, on 903's busiest portions.
A summary of Steps 1-3 above, only showing corridors operating every 20 min or better on weekends, is mapped below. This would represent a substantial uplift in service, with vastly easier access from many surrounding areas. It could mesh in with wider network initiatives, as per the Future Frequent Network, enabling easier connections from areas that don't have a direct bus to Chadstone.
Speeding up bus travel basically involves making their routes frequent (to cut waiting), direct (consistent with retaining acceptable coverage) and separating them from other traffic as much as possible.
Initiatives here could include traffic light priority, dedicated lanes and even elevated or underground busways as exist in Brisbane. The latter is only justifiable when there are lots of buses and high usage. Of the key suburban clusters in Melbourne the Chadstone/Monash area must rate highly on this score due to traffic volumes, all week patronage, local demographics and the number of jobs.
I discuss 'bus wormholes' here. A potential network centred on Chadstone could include north-south and east-west routes, largely based on the existing SmartBus Route 900 and 903. This would greatly speed some currently very slow trips and contribute to wider network connectivity.
Conclusion
A four step program to transform buses to Chadstone shopping centre has been described. It would deliver a vastly better 7 day service with benefits over a large slice of Melbourne's south-east and beyond. Emphasis has been given to making the most of the existing bus fleet and maximising early benefits by doing what is simplest to do first.
Index to other Useful Network items here
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