TT 198: Ease Christmas shopping. Upgrade these 10 bus routes!

The last year has seen some welcome improvements to some shopping centre bus routes. Especially on weekends where there's been a widening gap between travel demand and sparse timetables, sometimes unchanged for decades. For example Chadstone and Box Hill bus routes like 612, 766 and 800 have recently gained 7 day service with 284 and 285 soon to follow. 

But there's scope for more, especially given metropolitan Melbourne's continued growth and the relatively slow rate of bus service reform on non-school routes. 

Here's my pick, mostly concentrating on already popular routes that serve major shopping centres and don't need buying more buses to upgrade. 

1. Route 408 St Albans - Sunshine - Highpoint

This route runs every 20 min Monday to Saturday but drops to hourly on Sundays. It's massively popular, to the point of sometimes being unable to pick up passengers once it leaves Highpoint. An upgrade here is cheap as it just involves a Sunday frequency boost and possibly some slightly wider operating hours. Every 20 minutes would not be overkill given the high usage (and not just around Christmas) but even a 30 minute frequency would be a significant win. 

2. Route 903 SmartBus orbital 

This is a huge route that goes from Mordialloc to Altona. Usage is however very uneven, with loadings peaking between about Oakleigh South and Doncaster. Weekday service is every 15 minutes but weekends have 30 minute gaps - poor for a premium bus route. There is some unevenness in the Saturday timetable as some extra trips have been shoehorned in but they really need to bite the bullet on this one with the busiest portion of the route running every 15 minutes on weekends. Service reliability can be poor so attention to bus priority and network reform to split the route into sections are also essential. Otherwise the operator resorts to desperate measures like skipping the busiest shopping centre stops they are meant to serve. 

3. Route 527 Northland to Gowrie

This is a bit like the 408 in that Monday - Saturday service is every 20 minutes but Sunday service falls off a cliff. In this case an uneven timetable with 40 to 60 minute gaps. Parts of this route overlap others so ultimately there could be scope for a wider network reform with even bigger gains. 

4. Routes 802/804 Dandenong to Chadstone

This is a pair of routes that in conjunction with the 862 form a relatively frequent corridor on their overlapping section. But only on weekdays. 802 and 804 don't run Sundays while 802 has no Saturday service. This makes them Chadstone's only routes without 7 day service. While sections of these routes overlap the 800, there are unique portions around Mulgrave and Dandenong North that justify 7 day service. Dandenong Hospital, Monash University Clayton and Dandenong Market (open weekends) are other destinations served by these routes. The good news for the government is that these are relatively cheap upgrades to do if done in conjunction with work on Route 862 which is why I've grouped them.  

5. Route 468 Highpoint to Essendon

Connectivity to Highpoint is good in some directions but not others. Route 468 is, in theory, a direct connection to the Craigieburn train line but suffers from lacking a Sunday service. Saturday operating hours are also limited. As this is a short route a 7 day upgrade would be very low cost. There may also be network reform synergies by extending a route like 408 to Essendon to provide a through route.  

6. Route 828 Hampton to Berwick

Route 828 sweeps across a huge part of Melbourne's south and outer south-east, serving shopping centres like Southland, Moorabbin DFO, Parkmore Keysborough, Dandenong and Fountain Gate. It is also the main bus serving Doveton. Weekday service is mostly every 20 minutes but weekends falls off to every 40 minutes on Saturday and only hourly on Sundays. While a long route a weekend upgrade to every 20 (or even 30) minutes would make it very popular for a lot of short trips as has been the case on the Route 800 since that got upgraded.  

7. Route 902 SmartBus orbital

The eastern part of this route, between about Nunawading and Keysborough, gets incredibly high usage on weekends including standing loads. An upgrade would especially benefit shops and transport connections at Springvale and Glen Waverley. Normal frequency is 30 minutes but relief may be possible by adding extra short trips between Nunawading and Keysborough to provide a 15 minute combined service over the busiest section. 

8. Route 406 Footscray to Keilor East

A popular route via Highpoint that like several others discussed operate every 20 minutes weekdays and Saturdays but drops to only every 40 minutes on Sunday. The Footscray to Highpoint portion is however indirect so longer term some network reform with the partly overlapping 223 may be desirable. 

9. Route 900 Caulfield to Rowville

Operating via Chadstone, Oakleigh and Monash University, this has been one of the most popular weekend bus routes. Some relief has been provided by the Route 800 upgrade but this doesn't help the Caulfield - Chadstone portion. And it has strong all year weekend patronage, recognised by a boost from 30 to 20 minutes over the busiest times. Due to 900's actual and potential usage a boost to every 15 minutes on weekends over wide hours (like is being done with 905 and 907) would be a big help, as would the addition of Sunday evening service.   

10. Route 508 Moonee Ponds to Alphington

This very popular east-west route does not serve big shopping centres unlike most of the others discussed above. But it intersects with a lot of tram routes and serves a dense, fine-grained and low car owning neighbourhoods around Brunswick. And weekend usage productivity is very high. Dropping to every 40 minutes on Sundays, it's a prime example of service and usage being mismatched. So it justifies an upgrade to every 15-20 minutes 7 days to reach full patronage potential.  

Conclusion

None of the above upgrades need more buses, with extra driver hours, fuel and a bit for maintenance being the main requirements. They are all tested routes with known high usage during the week and on Saturdays. And there are enough destinations that they would attract good all year usage, not just in the pre-Christmas shopping season.

I could add at least another 20 or 30 very worthy routes to the list. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!  

Other Timetable Tuesday items are here