Executive summary: The Eastern Transport Coalition proposed some worthwhile transport upgrades in its 2026-27 state budget submission. But it could have gone further as the group's first contribution to the agenda for next year's election campaign. Its submission had nothing for rail and was patchy on buses. Earlier release and more promotion may also have increased its impact.
Local councils sometimes form groupings to jointly advocate to state and federal governments for transport upgrades. This is sensible because major roads, railways and bus routes typically serve multiple local government areas.
Such groupings have waxed and waned in influence. Activity heavily depends on the involvement of dedicated campaigners who can either be councillors or council officers. Other factors depend on council priorities (they may tend to prioritise within-council functions) and the perceived probability of success (especially if there are state or federal elections soon). Some groups engage professional support for secretarial or lobbying purposes though the cost effectiveness of this varies.
One such grouping, comprising several councils in Melbourne's East, is the Eastern Transport Coalition. ETC goes back to at least 2007, then having Dandenong, Knox, Manningham, Maroondah, Monash, Whitehorse and Yarra Ranges as members. That membership remained in 2024 but had shrunk by 2025, with Whitehorse and Maroondah dropping out. Membership of organisations like ETC involves a cost which can be an issue if member councils don't see value in it and/or would prefer to advocate alone.
So far we've seen advocacy from various groupings in Melbourne's west and north. ETC posted its submission for the 2026-27 state budget on its website on 27 October 2025.
2026's main political events include the state budget in May and the state election in November. That makes this next budget a pre-election budget. Those writing submissions should be mindful of this, noting that even if a project request does not win budget funding it may be picked up by one or several political parties as policy a few months later, and with luck be funded later.
Pre-election budget submissions should be written with this in mind. That might include asking more than what you might normally request and proposing measures that have electoral appeal.
ETC's submission
Such groupings have waxed and waned in influence. Activity heavily depends on the involvement of dedicated campaigners who can either be councillors or council officers. Other factors depend on council priorities (they may tend to prioritise within-council functions) and the perceived probability of success (especially if there are state or federal elections soon). Some groups engage professional support for secretarial or lobbying purposes though the cost effectiveness of this varies.
One such grouping, comprising several councils in Melbourne's East, is the Eastern Transport Coalition. ETC goes back to at least 2007, then having Dandenong, Knox, Manningham, Maroondah, Monash, Whitehorse and Yarra Ranges as members. That membership remained in 2024 but had shrunk by 2025, with Whitehorse and Maroondah dropping out. Membership of organisations like ETC involves a cost which can be an issue if member councils don't see value in it and/or would prefer to advocate alone.
So far we've seen advocacy from various groupings in Melbourne's west and north. ETC posted its submission for the 2026-27 state budget on its website on 27 October 2025.
2026's main political events include the state budget in May and the state election in November. That makes this next budget a pre-election budget. Those writing submissions should be mindful of this, noting that even if a project request does not win budget funding it may be picked up by one or several political parties as policy a few months later, and with luck be funded later.
Pre-election budget submissions should be written with this in mind. That might include asking more than what you might normally request and proposing measures that have electoral appeal.
ETC's submission
This is a concise 6 page document that lists transport priorities by mode after a one page introduction. There are sections for bus services, shared user paths, walking and roads.
I will focus on the public transport components only. I have identified four key issues with it below:
They didn't ask for enough
That's my first thought. Even if you don't get it all funded in 2026 a submission like this is a great opportunity to give stakeholders (who are about the only people who read these documents) a taste of the bigger things you want in the hope that it gets adopted as an election promise from one (or preferably all) parties.
You don't want to go the other extreme either, blinding people with a shopping list of fine details on 50 bus routes. But asking for a few more high impact initiatives would have made the submission better.
I will focus on the public transport components only. I have identified four key issues with it below:
They didn't ask for enough
That's my first thought. Even if you don't get it all funded in 2026 a submission like this is a great opportunity to give stakeholders (who are about the only people who read these documents) a taste of the bigger things you want in the hope that it gets adopted as an election promise from one (or preferably all) parties.
You don't want to go the other extreme either, blinding people with a shopping list of fine details on 50 bus routes. But asking for a few more high impact initiatives would have made the submission better.
Nothing for rail
The big omission is there's nothing for rail. That might be understandable given that the southern part of the ETC area is served by the Dandenong line. The CBD - Dandenong portion is already every 10 minutes or better most of the week with times that it is not (weekend evenings and Sunday mornings) likely to be fixed in the Metro Tunnel timetable starting in February 2026.
But the northern part of the ETC area (notably Yarra Ranges and Knox) is served by the Burnley group whose trains east of Ringwood are amongst the least frequent on the metropolitan network, with 30 minute gaps common. Midday frequency upgrades on those would be highly cost-effective with big benefits over a huge catchment.
The submission should have advocated at least that, like Maroondah has done so individually. Maybe ETC didn't consider it important as two of the three municipalities that would have most benefited (Whitehorse and Maroondah) no longer appear to be members. However the City of Monash is still a member and would have benefited from frequency upgrades on the Glen Waverley line.
A few good bus initiatives
The big omission is there's nothing for rail. That might be understandable given that the southern part of the ETC area is served by the Dandenong line. The CBD - Dandenong portion is already every 10 minutes or better most of the week with times that it is not (weekend evenings and Sunday mornings) likely to be fixed in the Metro Tunnel timetable starting in February 2026.
But the northern part of the ETC area (notably Yarra Ranges and Knox) is served by the Burnley group whose trains east of Ringwood are amongst the least frequent on the metropolitan network, with 30 minute gaps common. Midday frequency upgrades on those would be highly cost-effective with big benefits over a huge catchment.
The submission should have advocated at least that, like Maroondah has done so individually. Maybe ETC didn't consider it important as two of the three municipalities that would have most benefited (Whitehorse and Maroondah) no longer appear to be members. However the City of Monash is still a member and would have benefited from frequency upgrades on the Glen Waverley line.
A few good bus initiatives
The stand-out here is an upgrade to the Doncaster Rd corridor served by the popular bus route 907. This is also backed by Infrastructure Victoria in its recent 30 year strategy.
The Templestowe Rd Heidleberg - Pines bus concept is also good. This requires significant bus network reform for maximum effect but is potentially possible for no net cost.
Support is given for the Bus Network Review in the North-East. This will require the government to revive the review and reform plan to 2031 that Cabinet dumped in late 2023. But the concept of frequent direct routes, including a bus along the Suburban Rail Loop corridor, is good.
The Templestowe Rd Heidleberg - Pines bus concept is also good. This requires significant bus network reform for maximum effect but is potentially possible for no net cost.
Support is given for the Bus Network Review in the North-East. This will require the government to revive the review and reform plan to 2031 that Cabinet dumped in late 2023. But the concept of frequent direct routes, including a bus along the Suburban Rail Loop corridor, is good.
Some mediocre or low impact bus initiatives
Other initiatives have potential but in my view are over-complicated, too expensive and/or are not the highest priorities for their areas.
A route for the part of Scoresby Rd without service from Bayswater is definitely needed. However the ETC proposal has this going to the smaller and more distant centre of Stud Park rather than the closer and busier centre of Knox City. The former would have this new route overlap other routes (eg 753, 755) which would require substantial reform if major inefficiencies are to be avoided. I discussed simpler options here.
Also advocated is a connection to Tram Route 75 incorporating reform of Route 745 (which is just four trips per day across all its variants). A 'nice to have' but providing a simpler consistent network that runs 7 days would be a higher priority.
There is also a messy 12 month pilot program of bus routes in the Dandenongs. Many of these are not that well used and/or may be underserviced. They do deserve a network review but are relatively low impact compared to other potential bus upgrades.
A review of Dandenong CBD bus routes is also worthy in that through-routing could enable more one-seat rides to bring people nearer to shops and Dandenong Market. However bus reviews are time-consuming affairs that can take years after which any initial enthusiasm to do anything has dissipated or been diverted due to 'higher priorities' elsewhere.
There are more specific upgrades possible on existing above average usage routes such as seven day service on services like 802, 804, 814 and 844 as well as higher weekend frequencies on main routes like 828 (advocated by Kingston Council which is not an ETC member), 900 (the bus most similar to the trackless tram ETC backs) and others like 901, 902 and 903. At least sections of these routes can be reasonably upgraded without need for a review. Thus they can be done quicker and likely with high benefit. ETC could have gone harder on these.
A route for the part of Scoresby Rd without service from Bayswater is definitely needed. However the ETC proposal has this going to the smaller and more distant centre of Stud Park rather than the closer and busier centre of Knox City. The former would have this new route overlap other routes (eg 753, 755) which would require substantial reform if major inefficiencies are to be avoided. I discussed simpler options here.
Also advocated is a connection to Tram Route 75 incorporating reform of Route 745 (which is just four trips per day across all its variants). A 'nice to have' but providing a simpler consistent network that runs 7 days would be a higher priority.
There is also a messy 12 month pilot program of bus routes in the Dandenongs. Many of these are not that well used and/or may be underserviced. They do deserve a network review but are relatively low impact compared to other potential bus upgrades.
A review of Dandenong CBD bus routes is also worthy in that through-routing could enable more one-seat rides to bring people nearer to shops and Dandenong Market. However bus reviews are time-consuming affairs that can take years after which any initial enthusiasm to do anything has dissipated or been diverted due to 'higher priorities' elsewhere.
There are more specific upgrades possible on existing above average usage routes such as seven day service on services like 802, 804, 814 and 844 as well as higher weekend frequencies on main routes like 828 (advocated by Kingston Council which is not an ETC member), 900 (the bus most similar to the trackless tram ETC backs) and others like 901, 902 and 903. At least sections of these routes can be reasonably upgraded without need for a review. Thus they can be done quicker and likely with high benefit. ETC could have gone harder on these.
Timing and promotion
There may well have been private approaches to local MPs and ministers but my experience is that many advocates prepare their budget submissions too late to have an impact. Winter is about when local MPs think about what they want in the following year's budget for their area with approaches made after about mid to late September possibly being too late.
ETC don't seem to have promoted requests in this submission very much, especially when compared to groupings in other areas such as Melbourne's west and north or indeed some individual councils such as Kingston.
A search indicates little evidence of media releases being issued. ETC has also not used its social media to promote the submission with its last Facebook page post being 27 June.
There may well have been private approaches to local MPs and ministers but my experience is that many advocates prepare their budget submissions too late to have an impact. Winter is about when local MPs think about what they want in the following year's budget for their area with approaches made after about mid to late September possibly being too late.
ETC don't seem to have promoted requests in this submission very much, especially when compared to groupings in other areas such as Melbourne's west and north or indeed some individual councils such as Kingston.
A search indicates little evidence of media releases being issued. ETC has also not used its social media to promote the submission with its last Facebook page post being 27 June.
Conclusion
The Eastern Transport Coalition has advocated some good things for public transport in its budget submission. We won't know how effective this has been until next year's state budget and the following election campaign.
However it looks to me that they could have asked for bigger transport upgrades (especially in rail) and done more to generate community, stakeholder and political support for same (like councils in other areas are attempting).
Their submission might also have been improved if it had more specific asks on already productive bus routes (which would be simpler to implement and would benefit more people) rather than a concentration on seeking reviews or business cases to sort out indirect and poorly used routes.
However it looks to me that they could have asked for bigger transport upgrades (especially in rail) and done more to generate community, stakeholder and political support for same (like councils in other areas are attempting).
Their submission might also have been improved if it had more specific asks on already productive bus routes (which would be simpler to implement and would benefit more people) rather than a concentration on seeking reviews or business cases to sort out indirect and poorly used routes.
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