"The biggest existing route bus service upgrade package in at least 10 years"
Last week it was trains, this week it's buses. Today the state government released early details of bus service upgrades to be included in next week's State Budget. The package, worth $100 million over 4 years, will see new routes, more 7 day service and higher weekend frequencies on buses across Melbourne.
The media release is here.
Recovering from lean years in 2023 and 2024, budget funding for better buses is back.
Labor MPs who did surveys or sponsored petitions for improved bus services will be pleased the budget heeded their requests. Community campaigns will likewise be celebrating successes for route and service upgrades in areas like Melton, Coburg, Brunswick, Northcote and Dandenong.
Let's whip around Melbourne, starting in the west, to see which areas will get improved bus services funded under this budget. Map first (click for better view) then summary descriptions.
NOTE: Details are still limited - following will be updated when more come to hand.
West
Previous budgets have been quite good for Wyndham but parsimonious to Melton. This budget gives a bit more love to Melton. And it boosts service on some popular routes in established areas that had missed out in many previous budgets. Here's the key upgrades (higher patronage potential routes first).
* Route 408 between St Albans and Highpoint boosted from every 60 to every 30 min on Sundays. The current 60 minute Sunday service is a poor match for the existing 20 minute Monday - Saturday service and sometimes leaves people behind at Highpoint in the afternoons. Operating hours will be extended to approximately midnight Monday - Saturday and 10pm Sunday. The 408 is the only bus that goes right past Sunshine Hospital so these hours and frequency upgrades will be very welcome. Indeed I wouldn't be surprised if the 30 minute service is so popular that it needs to go to every 20 minutes in due course. A 408 service boost was foreshadowed in a survey done by MPs Natalie Suleyman, Sarah Connolly and Katie Hall (St Albans, Sunshine and Footscray respectively).
* Extension of Route 454 to Woodgrove Shopping Centre and a frequency boost to every 20 minutes 7 days will make it Melton's first and only bus route to operate at this frequency. This upgrade will mean that the now under construction Melton Hospital will have a useful bus route from Day 1 of opening.
* Also in Melton there will be two new routes for Weir Views, Strathtulloh and Thornhill Park. Again it was foreshadowed in MP Steve McGhie's bus survey. It is not yet known whether these will replace the areas's FlexiRide (which was never a good idea to put in).
* Route 476 frequency boosted to run every 15 minutes peak and 20 minutes off-peak weekdays. This is a major improvement from every 40 minutes off-peak as current. This route serves many schools. Natalie Hutchins MP did a bus survey on this.
* Routes 411 and 412 to be merged in a single route, though this has implications for Altona North where the routes split.
* Routes 496 and 498 will be more direct to enable people to change to trains at Aircraft Station. This takes those routes off Central Avenue but will need some network reform to retain a bus service along it. Mathew Hilakari MP (Point Cook) has been championing this.
North
* The Moonee Ponds - Brunswick - Alphington Route 508 will get a major boost as is deserved for such an important route across the inner north. On weekdays it will run every 15 minutes midday instead of just in the peaks. And weekend service will improve from every 30-40 to every 20 minutes. There may also be some longer operating hours too. This serves Northcote held by Kat Theophanous and Danny Pearson's Moonee Ponds with Tim Read's Green Brunswick in the middle.
* A LaTrobe University bus package. Later trips on the Route 301 shuttle, new weekend service for the currently limited service Route 551 from Heidelberg and, most exciting of all Route 561 upgraded to run every 20 minutes on weekends with operating hours extended to later at night.
* Route 526 to Coburg North will get Sunday service plus a frequency boost to every 20 min. It will also be straightened. This has been the subject of strong local advocacy including not just a survey but a petition sponsored by Anthony Cianflone MP and a visit from the premier last week.
* The Route 386/387 corridor in the South Morang area has late Night Network trips but an early finish on other evenings. A new timetable will extend evening service on other nights of the week. This route is effectively an extension of the 86 tram.
* Route 542 unusually runs 7 day for its northern half only. The budgeted upgrade brings Sunday service to the entire route with frequencies lifted to Saturday levels.
East
* Route 273 in the Nunawading/Donvale area will gain Sunday service and longer operating hours. Hopefully its huge mid-route kink, which makes travel on it slow, will be straightened.
* Route 766 will get an extra school trip.
South-East
* Routes 802 and 804 will finally get a revamp, understood to include 7 day service. But not immediately. This is because there will be a review of the Dandenong North network in conjunction with Route 862 with the result not just Sunday service but also higher weekday frequencies in the area. This will mean that major destinations like Chadstone, Monash University, Oasis Leisure Centre, Dandenong Hospital and Dandenong Market will finally get 7 day service on all their bus routes.
* An even larger network review will take place in the Casey area. This will incorporate areas such as Cranbourne, Clyde, Botanic Ridge, Casey Fields, Junction Village, Devon Meadows and Warneet (where bus routes are very convoluted). This will be funded by GAIC (developer charges) and will require public consultation.
* Route 885 between Glen Waverley and Springvale via Mulgrave will run 7 days. This is another high usage but limited service City of Greater Dandenong bus route and the subject of a Bus Advocacy Mentorship. 828 (also in Dandenong) did not get upgrade funding but, cutting across several state seats, is the sort of route that would be attractive for parties to promise in the coming election campaign.
* Route 928 between Pakenham and Berwick will gain longer operating hours.
* Those in a pocket south of Dandenong will gain bus coverage with the 890 being rerouted through a residential area. Currently this area has just the twice per weekday 857 deviation.
South
* Route 833 will be straightened in the Carrum Downs area, removing an unnecessary back-tracking. This reduced run time will speed travel from Carrum and enable weekend service to be boosted from 60 to 40 minutes. This is a very popular route especially in the Frankston North area.
* There will be a new connection from Carrum Downs to Karingal Hub Shopping Centre. This appears to be by merging the limited service 778 with the even more limited 777. Again the topic of an MP survey by the Finance Minister no less. Likely to run 7 days.
* Route 236 in Port Melbourne will gain Sunday service. Oddly the busier and frequent on weekdays 237 does not. Neither has local council advocacy for an upgraded 606 succeeded.
Regional Victoria
* Better Inverloch and Cowes - Dandenong connections (also advocated by the local MP)
* Castlemaine - Harcourt
* A Drysdale - Ocean Grove route will be added
Note again the above represents what I've gleaned - will be updated as more details come to hand
What doesn't gain
Some popular routes that one would have thought would be in the front row for Sunday service missed out. Examples include the popular 404, 503 and 506 in the Moonee Ponds/Essendon/Brunswick area, 281 in Box Hill plus 814 and 844 in Dandenong.
Their omission seems to be due to a desire to spread these upgrades around and not concentrate them in one area, despite these routes above average patronage performance or high social needs catchments. Maybe this explains why high bus-using Craigieburn, which by rights should have got at least three and probably six routes upgraded from every 40 to every 20 minutes on weekends, missed out.
Also some isolated and low income areas like Campbellfield got no extra trips on their limited service routes 531 and 538. Though truth be told this area and Broadmeadows would be a prime location for a small bus network review as routes haven't substantially changed for decades.
Does this budget replace the promised northern and north-eastern suburbs bus review that the government dumped just two budgets ago? Last year's and this do quite a lot for buses (and for that matter trains) in the north but shy away from established area reform such as is required to untangle hideously confusing routes like 552, 553, 556, 558 and 566. Neither do they tidy up newer sins like the recently created 513/514 mess on Bell Street (which leaves parts of this busy road with weekend service only every 40 minutes, like the back streets of Moe).
The 408, 454. 508, 561 and other upgrades demonstrate an appetite for routes that run a more consistent frequency across the week. There's a large number of other routes that justify similar upgrades like 390, 472, 513/514, 527, 670, 737, 828, 841, 900 etc, not to mention much-overdue overhauls of the SmartBus orbitals and new connections like SRL SmartBus and a Sunshine - Melbourne Airport link. A continued future emphasis on these types of routes would make the most of the bus network's still large untapped potential.
This budget's package of bus (and Metro rail) service upgrades is very welcome.
They will make hundreds of thousands of journeys per year better or possible. That's important because, as I've often said, the most expensive trips are those that cannot reasonably be made by public transport. With limited bus coverage, operating hours and frequencies that's a lot of trips for too much of the week. Unlike free or reduced fares (which this budget will put ~$400m towards), these service upgrades make public transport a practical option for more trips.
In contrast to many previous budgets this one recognises that investments in public transport service is no less important than infrastructure to make the network useful. This 'shift to service' is much needed and well overdue. Especially since there remains multi decade-long backlogs in bus network development across wide belts of established suburbs including Broadmeadows, Campbellfield, Reservoir, Epping, Croydon, Rowville, Noble Park, Frankston and more and even main road routes may only run every 30 to 60 minutes on weekends.
The routes selected for upgrade set a good balance between inner, middle and outer suburbs. Government MPs in maybe half Melbourne's metropolitan seats will have a good news story to tell their constituents. That's the beauty of bus upgrades - a lot of announceables for little money.
Be prepared for messaging from politicians on improved bus services, just like we saw last week with the Clifton Hill and Burnley group rail upgrades. Which I don't begrudge them for as some have genuinely worked hard to get improved services funded. Especially as these measures are budget funded rather than promised (as was the case with the previous northern area bus reviews which didn't end up happening).
In summary, this is the best state budget for metropolitan bus services in about 10 years. But it's also important to note that decades of fragmented planning and years of underinvestment in public transport service cannot be fixed in a single budget.
This is why this budget should be regarded as a start rather than an end. And that we should still be seeking more investment in service from all sides in the upcoming election campaign.
See other Timetable Tuesday items here
14 comments:
A more holistic service review (e.g. across the northern suburbs) would help to deliver more productive routes and make the investment more worthwhile. Good example here is 526 - great and a much-needed upgrade - but I reckon if they had considered a broader review of routes in the area, it could become a lot more useful.
At the moment the terminus is quite weak, ending on some back streets but not connecting to Reservoir Station or the nearby tram line. If they merged/took over part of Route 553, for example, they could provide a stronger inter-suburban connection and build a more useful network.
I think this applies across many of these examples.
All good things, but still seems piecemeal rather than full network review.
Amalgamation of 508 and 404 to allow for Footscray-Inner North would have been great to see too. There aren’t good connections between those activity centres, but the new munnel does help.
As someone who lives near the 561 I'm very thankful for a much needed frequency boost on weekends. The track record for the 561, while improvements have been slow, has actually outpaced so much of the stagnation of the other buses around Reservoir - it definitely got me through my university days and has become a staple for so many people, in my experience with very good patronage even on weekends with the poor 40 minute frequency.
The extension to Pascoe Vale in 2016 has grown in passenger numbers too, and the introduction of the 301 around the same time brought a lot of relief to the 561's overlapping section which struggled as a feeder from La Trobe University to Reservoir Station back in 2015 and prior.
I do agree that a more holistic service review to properly incorporate the 526 would be welcomed. In an ideal situation in which the 11 tram gets extended to Reservoir Station and the 553 up Gilbert Road would no longer be needed, the 526 could potentially also extend to Reservoir by taking the route of the 553's Edwardes Lake deviation. The existing section of the 553 along Spring Street could possibly join to a more reformed 558 that doesn't have such a confusing loop to preserve coverage, or at least something more useful than its current horseshoe back to Regent Street.
Perhaps if that ever eventuates, the 567 could also be extended very slightly from its terminus in Regent to the West Preston terminus where the 553 now terminates? It would provide a very quick connection along Regent Street from the current 11 terminus to the Mernda line and also to Northland and beyond.
As a Reservoir resident, that is definitely another quirky route not linking to much. Extending it to meet Tram 11 and then continue on to Reservoir station would be great using Gilbert road and Edwardes street, making a more frequent connection along what is the missing Tram extension.
Lots of opportunities with some of the random routes around the area - thinking particularly of 558 (easily extending to Campbellfield shops) and playing around with the 567 potentially replacing part of 609 to form a stronger north-south corridor.
The Preston/Reservoir area actually has a decent amount of service on some routes but it seems to be poorly optimised. For example, the 552 runs every 15 mins interpeak and Saturday mornings, which is very high for a suburban bus route - but the terminals on both ends are very weak. There are also about 5-6 buses per hour between Reservoir and Northland but run slightly different routes and aren't spaced out properly.
A proper review would be a fantastic outcome and potentially saving money by making routes more direct IMO, hopefully these investments spur a more in-depth look at the area. Still, glad to see they are spending some money to fill in the gaps.
Absolutely nothing again in the middle and inner south eastern suburbs of Melbourne eg areas like Bentleigh East, Moorabbin, Cheltenham. Most routes have inadequate hourly timetables on weekends often with very late morning starts on weekends eg after 9am on Sunday. Will they every upgrade routes like 822, 824, 701, 767 and 703? Multiple requests for upgrades have been sent to local members of parliament with nothing changing for years and years!
Why is the 273 a good use of resources? It's mostly duplicated by the 902 and 271 and has a relatively poor unique catchment at the north end of Springvale rd. The Pines to Nunawading journey is also duplicated by the 901.
Not much for the east either aside from the 273 running on Sundays (only thirty years in the making) and about three extra trains on each Burnley/Clifton Hill group line after 8PM to bring Ringwood, Glen Waverley, Alamein, Eltham and Mernda up to the 20-minute evening standard instead of 30 (the Hurstbridge line beyond Eltham has been left out yet again, and still no 343 "train replacement" bus on the weekend either to cover the 40-minute gaps).
@Thaitransit: The 767 is almost at SmartBus standard but is lacking on Sundays where it is every 40 minutes (it actually finishes an hour later than the 903 on Sundays, which says a lot about how stale the orbitals have become).
It's not just the south-east with 40/60-minute weekend timetables on main road routes, it's virtually everything under Ventura, Kinetic and CDC Oakleigh, with the sole exceptions being the 90x SmartBus routes and the ex-MMTB city buses (e.g. 270, 293, 302, 304, 364, 612, 623, 624, 668-670, 679, 688, 690, 693, 708, 732-738, 742, 765, 850 among others are all inadequate on the weekend, as well as your examples).
Hopefully the 703 is not forgotten if/when a SmartBus reform occurs. Even the DART upgrades were not completed across the board, with the 906 missing out on 15-minute weekend services and the 908 not running to the city outside of weekday peak which would alleviate the tendency of the 907 to be crush-loaded even at 11PM on a Sunday night. The 703, 900 and 901/2/3 orbitals all need major timetable rewrites to bring them to a modern standard enjoyed by the 200, 207, 216 among very few others (even the "frequent" 246, 905 and 907 are short-changing people on evening services, but at least they actually run on Sunday evenings instead of finishing at or even before 9PM like the 703/900-903).
Needless to say I'm over the moon with the 408 and 508 upgrades, it looks like the upgrade 508 team got their wish to a degree!
Also huge win for 454. Melton still needs a massive overhaul, but 20 minutes is a good start.
Peter, one thing I've spotted on the press release, you've said 778 to Karingal.
Instead it looks like an upgrade of 777 is on the cards! Definitely didn't have that on my budget bingo sheet.
"Extending the route to operate between Karingal Hub Shopping Centre and Seaford (Route 777)"
https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/bus-bonanza
Ricky - would like to see a map for exactly what's proposed for 777 & 778. An extended 777 could absorb the 778.
Agree the 273 wouldn't have been my first pick if they wanted something for Manningham. I'd have gone with a 281 7 day upgrade instead as it's one of the busiest routes that doesn't run Sundays and serves destinations like Box Hill Hospital.
Agree 508 & 404 could be a good link. Another is 468 (which still doesn't run Sundays) and 408. Though ultimately I'd do that via a 903 rerouting to make it a SmartBus corridor.
Agree, 281 definitely has potential to be a key north-south link in Manningham, but at the same time has almost no unique coverage, even on weekends when 309 doesn't run.
The unique section of High St in Templestowe is effectively within the 800m buffer of either 905 or 908 (despite these running more-of-less east-west to the City).
In defence of 273, the north end of Springvale Rd is currently a weak link in the north-south grid of routes with no early evening or Sunday buses for any teens trying to access Mullum Mullum Stadium. And much of Donvale has to otherwise rely on the 280/2 loop, which is only suitable for local trips & not to travel further afield.
Although not well used, removing 309 along here at peak times 3 years ago was not replaced with any span or frequency increases to 273, with this part of Donvale becoming rather poorly served. So I personally welcome an upgrade to 273 on coverage grounds.
The easiest way to unscramble the duplication in North Nunawading would be to reroute 273 to Blackburn and Box Hill, with 271 instead running directly to Mitcham Station (quicker rail access from Park Orchards). This was proposed in the shelved 2014 Transdev Greenfields consultation.
552 would benefit from a 20 min weekend timetable, a downgrade on Saturday mornings but eliminating the current 30 min gaps on Saturday afternoons & 45 min gaps on Sundays.
Weekdays interpeak is harder to justify a cut - it does provide good local access along High St inculding Preston Market.
I'd argue Northcote Plaza is an ok southern terminus (although connectivity to both the 508 & 86 tram is currently poor)
Certainly merit in extending the northern end of 552 to Keon Park for onward connections inculding the 902.
Streamlining the 555 & 556 to a 20 min frequency would help with better offsets between Northland and Reservoir.
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