'Big service' upgrades turn 10

Ten years ago today the biggest single recent upgrade to public transport services across Melbourne happened.

A broad package of reform lifted service on Melbourne's busiest train line, restructured bus routes west, north and east of Melbourne, boosted bus connectivity to Melbourne Airport and simplified trams. 

Little was made of it at the time but nothing quite so widespread has happened to public transport services since. 2015's Regional Rail Link and bus reforms were huge in Geelong and Wyndham and Night Network revamps in 2016 and 2021 were significant at certain times, but the 2014 changes touched more passengers in more areas.    

Official memory of 27 July 2014 is likely limited for two reasons. Firstly, DTP is led by road engineers who undervalue even their own achievements in public transport and, secondly, the upgrades occurred under the previous government (whose party successors, now in opposition, rarely publicly refer to their time in government, even the achievements).      

However noting this date and events is essential to preserve memory of what can be achieved with the appropriate will and leadership. And to ask why we aren't doing anything on this network scale now. 

Background

First some historical context. These upgrades happened under Public Transport Victoria. This was set up a couple of years previously to be about public transport service. Not roads. Not infrastructure. Public transport service. Significantly, all its leaders (Dobbs, Wild and Weimar) had experience running public transport operations (all ex-UK, with Dobbs also previously here). 

Major 7 day bus service upgrades happened about five years previously but money for many more had slowed. Instead government interest was on getting rail failures off the front pages. Previous transport departments, preoccupied with franchise and ticketing issues, stood passively while reliability plummeted from 2003. Network organisation was fragmented and there seemed no accountability. The then Brumby government eventually acted on rail but was too late to benefit, with the reliability rebound happening in 2012-2013, well after their defeat in 2010.

An ABC report of the 27 July 2014 service upgrades is here. It was sold as 'nearly 4000' new services per week, of which 3260 were bus, 470 tram and 200 for metropolitan train. A news release from premier Napthine is preserved here . The PTUA's Daniel Bowen praised the changes, saying that if they gave us a package this significant every year, the government would be kicking goals. (spoiler: they didn't - but we did get a lot of infrastructure)

So what got done on this momentous day a decade ago? Here's a summary: 

V/Line trains

Ballarat and Bendigo trains started using the new track built as part of Regional Rail Link on their route between  Sunshine and Southern Cross. This meant separation from metropolitan services but them not stopping at North Melbourne. The bigger part of RRL, the new alignment from Geelong via Tarneit accompanied by transformed bus networks, commenced service the following year. 

Metropolitan trains

The big news here was the upgrade to interpeak Pakenham and Cranbourne line services. Services on the end of the lines went from every 30 to every 20 minutes with a 10 minute combined frequency inbound from Dandenong. As weekends had already been upgraded to this level in 2012, this gave Dandenong a daytime turn-up-and-go service, matching the Frankston line which had got this previously.

The timetable change also included some minor peak additions on the Dandenong and Frankston line as well as a simplified Frankston line pm shoulder peak pattern. Archives of PTV advice on that, including a downloadable brochure are here. 

Despite Melbourne adding nearly an Adelaide to its population in the last decade, nothing since has approached the Dandenong line's interpeak service upgrade on the Metro rail network. This is even though: 

(i) a similar Belgrave/Lilydale weekday interpeak service upgrade would be very cheap to do with political benefits for marginal outer-east seats

(ii) growth area lines like Craigieburn and Mernda are short-changed with double the waits of the frequent but non-growth area Frankston line despite higher patronage productivity 

(iii) there are no rolling stock or infrastructure barriers to cutting maximum waits at all but a few metropolitan stations from 30-40 to 10-20 minutes

(iv) Sydney has far outpaced Melbourne with a large suburban rail frequency boost in 2017 that cut their waiting times to half ours for important times that people travel. Perth has also improved its service.  Both cities' typical 15 minute frequencies are two to three times better than Melbourne's still widespread 30 to 40 minute gaps.   

Coinciding with the Regional Rail Link commencement, there was to be another transformative Metro train timetable change in 2015. This did not proceed, with the government worried about the reaction from Frankston line commuters and its infrastructure agenda taking centre stage. However it wasn't completely forgotten with worthwhile elements of it successfully introduced in January 2021. Anything else has had to wait for the (as yet unannounced) timetable associated with the Metro Tunnel.   

Metropolitan tram

This involved the splitting of the Route 112 tram into separate Route 11 and Route 12 services to add capacity to growth area CBD fringe areas including Docklands. 

There was also a simplification of the network with part-time routes like 24, 31, 79 and 95 being folded into full time routes. Background to this on the PTV website here.  

Transdev bus network reform

Global bus operator Transdev gained the right to operate the Melbourne Metropolitan Bus Franchise in 2012. Comprising Melbourne's longest and busiest bus routes, their network comprised routes from the previous Melbourne Bus Link franchise, the National Bus franchise and the three SmartBus orbitals. Admittedly these were made from positions of vested interest, but industry claims that this would lead to falling standards proved accurate, with skimping on vehicle upkeep culminating in a major fleet safety crisis in 2017.   

Having said that Transdev (who will soon be back running our trams) did do some good things with buses before we dumped them. Including timetable and network reform, which I'll explain below. 

While the Bracks / Brumby government reformed bus networks in many regional Victorian cities and greatly increased bus operating hours in metropolitan Melbourne, the pace of metropolitan bus network reform was still quite slow. Detailed consultants reports, grouped by local government area, were commissioned but only a small minority of reform recommendations got implemented. 

Still, the need for bus network reform was well known. So when it offered the Melbourne Metropolitan Bus Franchise the (then) Coalition government required that the successful plan a greenfields bus network. However there was some confusion with the same government setting up PTV, which was supposed to be a one-stop-shop to bring together various public transport functions including network planning. 

Transdev's network reform got divided into two steps. The first and generally less controversial (but still significant) changes happened ten years ago today. The emphasis was on simpler and more frequent routes with fewer duplicative overlaps. Multi-route corridors that may have had 3 or 4 routes were cut down to 2 routes. Notable areas where service was simplified include around Sunshine West, Fishermans Bend, Clifton Hill, Kew, Doncaster, Blackburn and Ringwood. However the three very long, resource-intensive and sometimes duplicative orbitals remained on their current alignments. 

The changes had to be pretty much cost neutral. So some corridors got fewer buses per hour than before, with peak overcrowding sometimes the result. Overall though the network was simpler with more corridors that ran every 10-15 minutes or better off-peak. There were also some weekend operating hours and frequency gains.

It wasn't all in the direction of simpler and better service though, with the complex Route 380 loop replacing the simpler 366 and 367 at Ringwood/Croydon. Also operating hours on orbital SmartBuses were reduced. A fuller description of what got changed is described by BCSV here.   

Transdev's more radical 2015 network, which did include orbital reform, was planned but did not proceed. Public consultation was poor, there were a lot of nasties in it (especially for Melbourne's north and west) and the new Labor government did not like it. So then minister Jacinta Allan (possibly correctly) ditched it completely, with the full story here. A lack of follow-up meant that buses entered another stagnation, despite large reform backlogs remaining. However 2019 saw reforms to Transdev's cross-city Routes 216, 219 and 220 along with gains for popular routes in 2021.  

The subsequent bus franchise (lost by Transdev/won by Kinetic) did not include a greenfields network requirement, with it being clear that planning was to be done by PTV/TfV, DoT/DTP in-house. 

Brimbank bus network reform

This was a network developed within PTV. It originated when there was funding for a small peak upgrade to one route that was getting overcrowded during the peak time. PTV pointed out, and then minister Terry Mulder accepted, that it was possible to not only deliver the funded upgrade but also wider network changes. This sowed the seeds for the new Brimbank bus network, the first and largest component of which commenced ten years ago today. 

Reform was economically possible because the area had bus routes that overlapped one another and had weak termini. Not all ran seven days. These could be thinned out slightly, made more direct, extended to logical termini and operated 7 days. The result was a more useful and very cost-effective network upgrade whose fifth anniversary got this write-up. Brimbank's demographics, social needs and bus network issues are closely matched in Greater Dandenong but the latter has yet to get commensurate 7 day bus network reforms.    

Airport bus network reform

Public transport to Melbourne Airport has long been talked about as a joke, and it's not just been discussions about our lack of airport rail. Buses from surrounding suburbs can be pretty lacking, especially for a precinct with so many jobs. 

The biggest single breakthrough in bus access came in late 2010 when the 901 SmartBus orbital commenced service. It connects suburbs across the north, including Broadmeadows, Roxburgh Park, Epping, South Morang and Greensborough to Melbourne Airport. However direct service to other surrounding destinations, such as Sunbury and Airport West, remained terrible with complex irregular timetables with multi-hour gaps. 

The latter changed (somewhat) ten years ago. Route 500 to Sunbury was deleted. So was the one trip on each weekend days that ran from an unmarked stop in the CBD to a closed asylum in Sunbury. Overlaps with trams and other buses got removed. These (and possibly some extra) resources were put into boosting the 478 and 479 to operate a simpler service. As a result Airport West now has buses every 30 minutes on weekdays and 60 minutes on weekends to the airport. Sunbury has an hourly weekday service, though weekend service remains sparse. Operating hours are still quite short, so the new arrangements don't suit everyone. But it is an improvement from the previous complex network. 

Wyndham bus network upgrades

The big Wyndham bus network upgrades happened when Regional Rail Link started in 2015, bringing new stations to the area at Tarneit and Wyndham Vale.

However the 27 July changes rolled out 7 day service to all routes and extended operating hours on some. More here. 

South-East Melbourne bus timetable changes

These changes coincided with the Pakenham/Cranbourne line frequency upgrades discussed above. Most were to coordinate with the new train timetables and/or reflect more realistic run times. However there were some new routes and frequency upgrades on existing routes, notably in the Berwick/Cranbourne area. As well the common section of routes between Dandenong and Endeavour Hills increased from every 12 to every 10 minutes on weekdays, harmonising with trains. 

Most of the changes were positive. However changing 802/804/862 from every 45 min each (providing an even 15 minute spacing) to every 40 minutes each (providing an uneven spacing) in theory harmonised with trains but meant a lumpier combined timetable over the route's lengthy common section from Chadstone to Mulgrave. It would likely have been better to stick to the old 45 minute frequency and put any spare resources into improving the abysmal weekend service (which has not had a trip added in the decade since). 

The most significant cut occurred to a most unexpected route - the busy Route 767 between Box Hill and Southland via Deakin University and Chadstone. This was downgraded from every 30 to every 40 minutes interpeak. This should never have happened due to the route's strong usage. Several years later this was reversed with 30 minute service restored. And, funded in the 2022 budget, the 767 gained a lift to every 20 minutes, with smaller improvements on weekends. 

More on these changes here.  

Conclusion

Ten years ago today we had a substantial multimodal lift to public transport services like we've never seen since. 

Its execution shows that we have been capable of this type of service improvement in the past, and hopefully will become so again in the future. 

In public transport infrastructure without service is useless, so it's important to work what we have as hard as possible.