UN 206: Could Route 828 be the new 800 in Melbourne's south-east?

 

The patronage success of some relatively modest service upgrades to bus route 800 last year has raised questions about whether they could be repeated on other bus routes in Melbourne's south-east. 

If you take the 800 as the model, any other candidate route must:  

1. Be direct and on main roads for most of their alignment 
2. Serve major 7 day destinations including train stations, shopping centres and employment areas

3. Have patronage patterns that involve many short trips along sections of the route
4. Have weekend service that is 50% or less of weekday service (allowing increases with existing fleet)

5. Have boardings per kilometre patronage productivity above average for Melbourne buses
6. Not be too long, have large 'dead' areas where a service boost would be poorly used nor are significantly duplicated by other routes

All three of the long SmartBus orbitals easily satisfy the first five along most of their length.

But notwithstanding significant crowding and underservicing, especially on on weekends, the orbitals' record of getting service upgrades since being introduced about 15 years ago has been abysmal. Complications include the expense, existence of unproductive sections and overlapping routes due to a lack of network reform. Governments wishing to boost bus services have invariably looked elsewhere.

Major non-orbital routes have had a better chance of getting upgrades, even if their operating hours are (mostly) still shorter than the SmartBus orbitals. Recent examples include the 733, 767, 788, 800, 905 and 907. One to two hour runs times are typical, versus four hours for an orbital. Slightly shorter examples in the west include 420 and 460 with Route 390 one to watch in the north. All would rate well on the above six requirements. 

Other routes also meet all requirements but have missed out on service increases for a decade or more. Key examples might include the 508 between Moonee Ponds and Alphington, the 670 between Ringwood and Lilydale and the 828 between Hampton and Berwick. All have weekday frequencies in the 15-20 minute range but have gaps up to 40 - 60 minutes on weekends and at nights, despite all serving major 7-day destinations. 

Route 828 versus 800 

Today I'll just talk about the Route 828. Some comparisons with the 800 are below. 

* 828 is about twice as long as the 800.  

* But 828 serves more big shopping centres, eg Southland, Dandenong Square and Fountain Gate. 

* 828 serves major light industrial and bulky goods retail precincts at Cheltenham, Moorabbin Airport and Keysborough. The 800 services similar catchments at Springvale. 

* 828 services low income catchments at Doveton versus 800's at Noble Park and Dandenong. 

* 828 serves multiple train lines, feeding trains at four stations. It will also feed the Suburban Rail Loop from two directions. Whereas 800 parallels one rail corridor, feeding trains at two stations.

* 828's patronage productivity is above average for Melbourne's buses, though is not as high as 800's. 

* Route 828's weekend service is infrequent (40-60 min) but because it is better than Route 800's previous weekend service (every 60-120 min on Saturday and zero on Sunday) the cost of upgrading it should be similar to upgrading Route 800 for potentially a similar patronage gain.   

To summarise some differences (eg existing patronage productivity and shorter length) are in 800's favour. Whereas others (eg existing weekend service levels, number of destinations and train lines fed) favour the 828.   

How does Route 828 help network geometry in the south-east?

In summary the Suburban Rail Loop (East) will get you north-south while 828 is the main route for those in much of the south-east going east-west. Once you add connections to north-south SmartBus routes 901, 902 and 903 (some of which are poor quality due to inconvenient stop placement on main roads), the 828 is a major contributor to a multi-directional network in the south-east. 

As noted before Route 828 will feed the Suburban Rail Loop at Southland (Cheltenham in SRL-speak), making the 828 even more key to the south-east's bus network, especially if it is straightened to operate along Bay Rd to Sandringham.

The efficacy of such an SRL connection depends on (a) bus-train physical interchange being short (the current Southland bus interchange being too far away for this) and (b) Route 828 operating at a good frequency all week (not currently the case, particularly weekends). 

828 advocacy and upgrade time-line

The importance of most of today's Route 828 alignment for public transport in Melbourne's south-east has been known for at least 20 years. Here are some important milestones:

2002: A 'Principal Public Transport Network' (PPTN) identified as part of the Melbourne 2030 plan. This is defined as the routes along which 'high-quality public transport services are or will be provided'. 

2005: Linking Victoria transport plan published. View this here. 

Figure 1 on Page 12 has a PPTN including Bay Rd and the 828 east from Southland. The map on Page 51 for the south-east shows more detail. Route 800 on Princes Hwy and the Dandenong end of Route 800 on Heatherton Rd also appear here. 

'Priority actions' (in 2005) included: "Upgrade key existing PPTN bus services to SmartBus standard with a focus on northern and western Melbourne".

These were indeed done (in a reduced scope fashion) with orbital routes to Altona, Airport West and Melbourne Airport introduced by 2010's end. However the network has gained no further Smartbus routes since.  

January 2006: The complex route 826, 827, 828 corridor from Hampton to Pakenham was simplified to two routes (827 and 828) with Pakenham end being served by a new route 926 from Fountain Gate. 827 and 828 were 90% the same route except for 827 serving Hallam Gardens. 

2 October 2006: Then routes 827 and 828 gained longer hours and 7 day service, with each operating every 2 hours on weekends to provide an hourly service over the large common section. Prior to that there was no Sunday service. Short trips between Hampton and Southland would continue to provide a 30 minute frequency between Hampton and Southland on Saturday mornings (a legacy from past routes that often had a frequent Saturday morning service but no or limited Saturday afternoon service). 

These upgrades were an early part of the May 2006 'Meeting our Transport Challenges' program that upgraded more than 100 Melbourne bus routes to run until at least hourly until 9pm all week. 

2010: Booz & Co bus network review for Bayside, Kingston, Boroondara and Glen Eira commissioned by the Department of Transport recommends consolidating routes 827 and 828 into a single route 828 with 'main route' status. This would be similar to the existing 828 except for some increased west Dandenong coverage and a direct route to Sandringham via Bay Rd (instead of Hampton to Highett). 

Booz recommended the 828 would run every 15 minutes in the weekday peaks and every 30 minutes on Saturdays and Sundays. However, possibly due to a wish to harmonise with weekday trains (then) every 15 or 30 minutes, they recommended a downgrade of weekday interpeak frequency from 20 to 30 min (which I regard as poor for what they themselves designate as a main route). 

December 2010: Route 827 trips at Hampton were consolidated into the existing Route 828 operating every 20 minutes weekdays and 60 minutes weekends. This provided a simpler single route service to Berwick. Hallam Gardens was served by a new route 891. However the west Dandenong and Sandringham realignment recommendations from Booz were not adopted. Neither were the frequency changes. 

2011: Rumour amongst bus drivers that Route 828 could be upgraded to a SmartBus status, possibly sparked by the bus network review. Nothing came of it. 

2014: PTV plan for a more frequent bus network reported on. The document linked is no longer available but the 828 corridor is likely to be one of those proposed for upgrade. 

2016: BusVic call for a frequent Route 828 SmartBus from Sandringham amongst other bus improvements across Melbourne. Watch the Nine News report on this here.  

December 2018: Route 828 Saturday timetable reformed. The Hampton - Southland Saturday morning short trips were removed in favour of a 40 minute frequency across the entire route during the day (replacing the previous 60 minutes).  

November 2024: Route 800 on Princes Hwy upgraded to every 30 min on weekends after a community advocacy campaign. Saturday patronage rises by 200% with strong usage of the new Sunday service. The 800 - 828 similarities noted above indicate that the latter's usage too could respond well to weekend service boosts.  

2025: City of Kingston starts advocating upgrades to south-east buses including an upgraded route 828 operating every 20 minutes on weekends, a Bay Rd connection and a Mordialloc - Monash University service. Fix Dandy Buses strongly supports the City of Kingston advocacy here. It is hoped that other councils, such as Bayside, Greater Dandenong and Casey who share the 828 with Kingston, advocate similarly.   

Conclusion

What can we learn from the above?

* Firstly there is a strong case for the Route 828 to get a seven day upgrade given its strong usage and the precedent set by the success of last year's very successful Route 800 upgrade. 

* Secondly many people (including transport authorities) have proposed or advocated upgrades to the Route 828 corridor for at least 20 years.

* Thirdly that there is a general consensus on the type of service that is desired - that is a SmartBus type route from Sandringham along Bay Rd to Southland and then the existing 828 corridor to at least Berwick.

* Fourthly that when someone recommends or advocates an upgrade, something normally happens within two years, though typically well short of what the proponent wants. This has occurred on at least three occasions between 2005 and 2018. This track record means that time advocated for an improved 828 bus is not time wasted. 

* Fifthly we are overdue for an 828 upgrade, noting the development along the corridor and it feeding both Metro Tunnel and SRL rail lines. With ministerial interest in improving bus services, buses being highly cost-effective ways to deliver transport improvements across larger areas and a state election coming next year, right now seems a good time for 828 supporters to organise given the strong case that exists. 

See other Useful Network items here