The standard local bus offering in outer Melbourne is uninspiring. Typically it's an indirect route that runs about every 40 minutes until about 9pm. Peak service might improve to every 20 or 30 minutes but not always.
Even if you were willing to walk longer to a frequent service on a main road, as the IV and DTP bus reform boffins say you should be able to, you may find your ability to cross it is blocked by roundabout-facilitated unbroken streams of cars. And if you are lucky enough to find a gap in the traffic to eventually reach the stop (having missed the bus you intended to catch), the wait for the next one won't be much shorter than your local route anyway.
Exceptions
However there are some exceptions. The reformed 2014 Brimbank and 2015 Wyndham network featured a small number of 7 day buses running every 20 min or better (170, 180 & 420). As did the reformed Cranbourne network in 2016 with the 798 to Selandra Rise and 897 to Clyde.
Back in 2019 I documented these and other 20 minute services. Since then some other routes got upgraded to this service level. Notably most local routes in Craigieburn and the new 475 between Sunbury and Diggers Rest. Though this latter group of upgrades was weekdays only, with weekends remaining at every 40 minutes, ie typically meeting every second train.
Buses that run every 20 minutes or better 7 days per week form an exclusive subset of Melbourne's 360-odd route network.
Even if you were willing to walk longer to a frequent service on a main road, as the IV and DTP bus reform boffins say you should be able to, you may find your ability to cross it is blocked by roundabout-facilitated unbroken streams of cars. And if you are lucky enough to find a gap in the traffic to eventually reach the stop (having missed the bus you intended to catch), the wait for the next one won't be much shorter than your local route anyway.
Exceptions
However there are some exceptions. The reformed 2014 Brimbank and 2015 Wyndham network featured a small number of 7 day buses running every 20 min or better (170, 180 & 420). As did the reformed Cranbourne network in 2016 with the 798 to Selandra Rise and 897 to Clyde.
Back in 2019 I documented these and other 20 minute services. Since then some other routes got upgraded to this service level. Notably most local routes in Craigieburn and the new 475 between Sunbury and Diggers Rest. Though this latter group of upgrades was weekdays only, with weekends remaining at every 40 minutes, ie typically meeting every second train.
Buses that run every 20 minutes or better 7 days per week form an exclusive subset of Melbourne's 360-odd route network.
Most closer to the city are a legacy of Tramways Board routes that have always had better service than private buses (especially since the 1990-1 cuts to the latter following an acrimonious contracting dispute).
In the middle suburbs the most glaring omissions are the SmartBus orbitals that should be linking the radial train lines but unreliably do so due to their infrequent 30 minute weekend service. That explains the blanks near busy areas such as around shopping centres like Northland, Eastland and Chadstone as well as major interchanges like Broadmeadows, Coburg, Preston Box Hill and Springvale.
A welcome extension
In the slow moving world of Melbourne buses, it's a rare and exciting event when a 7 day 20 minute frequent route gets added or even just extended. Thus it's worth chronicling those that do happen.
That's today's topic. Sunday 11 May 2025 saw the commencement of the extended 798 bus from Cranbourne. Instead of terminating at Selandra Rise it extends significantly east to the growth frontier at Clyde North. It's roughly a doubling of route length, as foreshadowed here.
The 798 is not your average suburban bus route. It commenced in 2014 with longer hours and far more frequent service than any other growth area bus route. This was a result of a determination to have reasonable public transport from early in Selandra Rise's development. The background to this was described in a research paper presented to 2015's ATRF.
Route 798 was later extended a little south to serve more of Selandra Rise. Other routes have since been added in the area. Thus Sunday's change reverses that extension in favour of a much longer extension east along Hardys Rd and O'Connor Avenue to newer growth areas as shown in the red dotted line (the 831 extension will happen later).
In the slow moving world of Melbourne buses, it's a rare and exciting event when a 7 day 20 minute frequent route gets added or even just extended. Thus it's worth chronicling those that do happen.
That's today's topic. Sunday 11 May 2025 saw the commencement of the extended 798 bus from Cranbourne. Instead of terminating at Selandra Rise it extends significantly east to the growth frontier at Clyde North. It's roughly a doubling of route length, as foreshadowed here.
The 798 is not your average suburban bus route. It commenced in 2014 with longer hours and far more frequent service than any other growth area bus route. This was a result of a determination to have reasonable public transport from early in Selandra Rise's development. The background to this was described in a research paper presented to 2015's ATRF.
Route 798 was later extended a little south to serve more of Selandra Rise. Other routes have since been added in the area. Thus Sunday's change reverses that extension in favour of a much longer extension east along Hardys Rd and O'Connor Avenue to newer growth areas as shown in the red dotted line (the 831 extension will happen later).
Most notable about this change is that the 20 minute service is retained on the 798. Not only that but also its longer operating hours. For example an 11pm rather than the typical 9pm finish.
Network implications
As a result of path dependency comprising (i) the Selandra Rise pilot, (ii) the 2016 Cranbourne network review and (iii) subsequent 897, 898 and now 798 extensions, east west buses to Cranbourne are often direct with service every 20 minutes (at least on weekdays). These are highlighted below.
In contrast north-south buses to Berwick and Narre Warren are typically every 30 to 40 minutes. There are also a lot of overlaps and weak termini. Some are unavoidable but not all are. A consequence of weak termini is that despite the large number of routes, not one offers a one seat ride from Cranbourne to Berwick.
Contributing reasons for this include (a) the lack of a comprehensive Narre Warren - Berwick area bus network review, (b) two bus operators (Ventura and Cranbourne) serving the area and (c) Restrictions arising from temporary and conditional GAIC funding for growth area routes.
Conclusion
The extended bus route 798 offers new coverage with better than average operating hours and frequency over a wide growth area catchment. The Clyde area will gain further with the 831 extension (likely later this year). However there is still a significant service backlog and the Narre Warren/Berwick/Clyde area would benefit from a bus network review.
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