UN 191: Route 603, 604 & 605 reform this Sunday

It's been on and off again but finally it's happening. This weekend in fact. I'm talking about reforms to the 603, 604 and 605 in Melbourne's inner south-east, which you can read about on the PTV website. 

This is a package of three small but worthwhile route reforms to support the south end of the Metro Tunnel. The north end got the 505 and 546 a few months ago but maybe there will a second round when the redundant 403 is deleted and by then excessive Route 401 frequency can be reduced, freeing resources for something better (A 7 day amalgamated Route 401/202 every 10 min weekdays, 20 min weekends would be my pick).  

Anyway back to the south. What's happening this weekend? Basically some of the long-standing problems and unfinished business from the current network will be resolved. The 603 and 604 are creatures of several rounds of Transdev/Kinetic network reform that saw the long 216/219/220 series from Sunshine split in the city and then the quieter southern portions truncated at Alfred Hospital under new route numbers 603 and 604. These had low usage relative to their service levels so their frequencies at some times of the week were reduced in favour of 'greater good' frequency upgrades on much busier routes (done in 2021). 

603 Brighton Beach - Burnley via Elsternwick

Melbourne's inner south-east has very few connections to the inner-east. While not strictly related to the Metro Tunnel, the opportunity is being taken for Route 603 to continue north to Burnley Station rather than west as it currently does. The current terminus is Alfred Hospital which isn't very strong. Also the route overlaps trams and part of the 604 bus. 

The new alignment is superior in that it enables currently difficult north-south trips from the inner south-east to the inner north. North-south cross-Yarra access is a major structural issue with the current bus network with routes and timetables like 548 and 609 receiving zero attention for many decades.  

Some, like the City of Yarra, would have wanted the 603 extended even further north via Burnley St to complete the local transport grid. Eg to Victoria Gardens a bit like the old 607. Maybe even the Hawthorn area. Both would have required more route kilometres than I suspect was beyond DTP's (very tiny) budget for these reforms. Still it's great to finally see progress towards a network concept proposed in the 2010 local area bus review and me in 2019. The next logical reform for the 603 could be a Victoria Gardens extension funded by starting it at Elsternwick in conjunction with simplifying the poorly used north-south rail-duplicating bus routes in the Brighton area. 

604 Elsternwick - Anzac Station

Alfred Hospital isn't a strong terminus and Anzac station was being built just around the corner so the opportunity is being taken to extend the Route 604 there. To pay for this northern extension the Gardenvale - Elsternwick section will be chopped off the bottom. This does not reduce bus coverage as other bus routes operate in the area. 

Monday - Saturday Route 604 will run every 20 min during the day and 30 min at night. Sunday service will be every 30 min day and 60 min night. It will retain its long operating hours, including after 10pm 7 day service (which is rare for Melbourne buses).

It's worth remarking that the formula used by DTP to pay bus operators favours cutting service kilometres to a budget rather than fully utilising buses and drivers with an operationally efficient roster and timetable. 

As an example 604's Sunday scheduled evening run time is 29 to 31 minutes. A 30 minute service using two buses is not quite possible given (i) the need for some layover at the ends and (ii) the lack of nearby terminating bus routes that it could interline with. Using one bus to run a minimum standard 60 minute service is also not possible for the same reason.  

Thus two buses/two drivers is the absolute minimum you can roster on Sunday night. A 40 minute frequency would allow reasonable scheduling efficiency with an acceptable layover for drivers. However the actual service provided is 60 minutes to scrimp money under the current funding formula, with buses spending nearly half the time waiting at termini, not carrying anyone.  This also means that while 604 is more frequent than the 603 (at every 40 minutes) Monday - Saturday night, the 604 is less frequent than the 603 on Sunday night with the latter retaining its 40 minute frequency. 

605 Gardenvale - City via Anzac Station

Finally there's the 605. This gets a minor route change, going via Domain Rd. That's a replacement for the tram that used to go there. The tram instead continues on Toorak Rd which is both straighter and connects better with Anzac Station. That's important due to the decision made not to build a Metro Tunnel station at South Yarra; instead the tram will do this job. Some 605 commuters will likely take advantage of Anzac Station to change to a train for a faster trip into the city, especially in the morning. 

Arguably most important for the 605 is its reformed timetable. It has long had a relatively frequent 20 min service on weekdays. However its operating hours are limited on weekends with a very poor 85 minute frequency on Sunday. The new timetable delivers wider weekend hours and generally better frequencies. I suggested this back in 2019 so it's good that it's happening. 

Saturdays has a 40 minute frequency in the middle of the day dropping to 60 minutes from about 3 pm. This seems unusual given that around 5pm from the city is a very busy time for departures to the suburbs on Saturday. I can only assume it is due to a very tight budget where the requirement was to spend very little. That is also reflected in the operating hours (eg little after 7pm) which remain shorter than 'minimum standards' for buses by an hour or two. The Sunday timetable is hourly all day. 

Summary

Overall, this is a good little package that fixes issues on three bus routes and gives them stronger termini to make a lot of trips easier. The revised routes and timetables will start this Sunday (17 November). 

If we could do this sort of very low-cost stuff several times faster and threw in extra bus kilometres (Perth will add 5 million in the next month to support the new Ellenbrook line's radically reformed bus network) then you'd have a much bigger bus reform agenda than we do. THAT would be a real Bus Plan.   

See other Building Melbourne's Useful Network items here