UN 248: "A big part of our future": Is Premier Carroll catching on to SmartBuses?

“Smart Bus routes are really important, and you know what I was talking to the Public Transport Minister just this week about what can we do to maybe have more Smart Bus routes where the buses go more direct, they’re taking more passengers and they are really really economically valuable and good value for our taxpayers ..

 .. I think for buses they say that for every dollar invested in buses it’s five dollars return to the Victorian community because they’re cheaper to get going, they use existing road network so yes buses are a big part of our future.”

Hon Ben Carroll MP, 16 June 2026

 

Premier Ben Carroll has stressed the importance of buses for Melbourne's transport future in a wide-ranging video interview on transport matters.

Speaking on June 16 while still deputy premier, Mr Carroll told Shriram from Kiddo Explores that improved buses returned about five dollars of benefits per dollar invested (interview below). 

 

He also revealed that he had asked the then Public and Active Transport Minister (Gabrielle Williams - now Deputy Premier) about more SmartBus routes. 

This is significant since the last SmartBus route was added in 2010 in John Brumby's time, with none under the five premiers since. The nine routes (703, 900, 901, 902, 903, 905, 906, 907, 908), including three orbitals, transformed travel between suburbs, contributing to a large increase in bus usage.  

Melbourne's suburbs added more than a million people since 2010 but, as the Auditor-General recently found, progress on bus network reform against Victoria's Bus Plan was slow. Infrastructure Victoria has also recommended more direct and frequent SmartBus-like routes.

However, despite some recent improvements most of Melbourne's 350 bus routes remain indirect and infrequent, with just 4 operating every 15 minutes or better seven days. 

 

This number is low because, with two exceptions, SmartBus has service every 15 minutes on weekdays but only every 30 minutes on weekends. This contrasts with similar premium routes in Perth and Brisbane which run every 15 minutes or better all week. Instead our SmartBuses are more like the main bus corridors in smaller cities like Adelaide and Canberra, where 30 minute weekend services are common. The Public Transport Users Association has been one of those advocating for more frequent weekend SmartBus and other routes, with their priorities for 2026 here. 

Scope exists to accompany SmartBus upgrades with network reform to reduce costs and add a small number of trips to non-SmartBus routes that are already very close to SmartBus service standards. New SmartBus routes are also justified on both patronage potential and equity grounds. This is particularly so in the west, where not one SmartBus route operates west of Sunshine or Altona versus eight in the east. 

  

A refreshed SmartBus network

A refreshed SmartBus program that upgrades the most amount of routes for the least amount of money while meeting modern travel needs could involve the following components: 

(i) Small upgrades to about 12 existing frequent but non-SmartBus corridors to  meet SmartBus service standards to provide a unified service offer across some of Melbourne's busiest bus routes. very low cost and simple to do for 'quick wins'

(ii) Boosting SmartBus service on weekends from every 30 to every 15-20 minutes. Sunday 9pm - midnight service would also be added to match operating hours to trains. medium cost, relatively simple but highly transformative uplifts on key main road corridors

(iii) Simplifying bus routes on certain multi-route corridors to enable more frequent and even routes that meet SmartBus service standards. less simple but highly cost-effective uplifts on key main road corridors that selectively revive Bus Plan network reform

(iv) New SmartBus corridors mostly comprising upgrades to existing direct routes but also including new corridors to key destinations and as precursors to Airport Rail, Suburban Rail Loop North and Suburban Rail Loop East. higher cost but connects biggest job areas, provides west-east equality and revives the 'social licence' of major projects

(v) Passenger experience upgrades at key SmartBus stops and interchange points including double-length shelters, improved passenger information and distinctive livery buses that people can see out of. low cost high benefits that communicate benefits of the above transformed bus services

 

Priority SmartBuses by area 

West 

- Upgrade these routes to SmartBus standard: 150, 170, 216*, 220*, 223*, 411, 418, 420, 426, 460 and 494/495 

- New SmartBus corridors (a) between Sunshine Station, Keilor East and Melbourne Airport as a precursor to Airport Rail, (b) between Footscray and Highpoint, (c) along Ballarat Rd and (d) Taylors Rd, potentially incorporating some of the above. 

North

- Upgrade these routes or combined corridors to SmartBus standard: 250/251*, 390, 508, 513/514, 541 and 561.  

- Upgraded SmartBus corridors (a) Melbourne Airport - Broadmeadows - Greensborough Doncaster as an SRL North precursor, (b) Coburg - Preston - Northland - Heidelberg and (c) La Trobe University - Heidelberg - Doncaster, potentially incorporating some reformed or simplified routes. 

East

- Upgrade these routes or combined corridors to SmartBus standard: 200/207*, 279*, 302/304*, 664, 670, 703*, 733 and 737. 

- New SmartBus corridors (a) between La Trobe University - Swinburne University and Monash Caulfield via Burke Rd, (b) La Trobe University and Swinburne University via  Chandler Hwy and (c) Doncaster - Box Hill - Clayton - Cheltenham as an SRL East precursor, potentially involving some reformed or simplified routes.   

South-East

- Upgrade these routes to SmartBus standard: 630, 693, 791, 800, 828, 841 and 926 

- Short-workings on weekends to boost SmartBus orbital frequencies to every 15 min (a) 903 between Doncaster and Mentone, (b) 902 between Nunawading and Keysborough and (c) 901 between Ringwood and Frankston. These could be precursors to wider orbital reform.  

Inner

 - Upgrade these routes to SmartBus standard: 234*, 235*, 241*, 246* and 402*.

 

 (*) Frequencies already equal or exceed SmartBus at most times so only a small number of extra trips per week are needed (mostly slightly extended operating hours). 

  

Conclusion 

Upgrading existing and adding new SmartBus routes does a lot for public transport connectivity for relatively little money. In many cases new buses are not even required.

It is encouraging that the Premier has expressed interest in SmartBus services. The Opposition has said it favours increased cost-effectiveness in transport project selection, which SmartBus certainly is. Victorian Greens have said they want $270m extra for better bus services.  

With interest gathering, the time is ripe for SmartBus and other main route bus upgrades to become a topic in the upcoming election campaign as a beneficial transport and cost of living measure.

An index to all Useful Network items is here

UN 247: Councils advocate major bus upgrades

Executive Summary: Councils across metropolitan Melbourne have united to back major bus network improvements in a Metropolitan Transport Forum advocacy paper published recently. With key figures (including the premier) known to personally support bus service upgrades, the time is right for state election contenders to publicly back the improved bus services that Melburnians need and are requesting.  

The Metropolitan Transport Forum group of councils has followed BusVic and the Public Transport Users Association is requesting party and candidate support for improved bus services across Melbourne. 

Such upgrades deliver benefits across a wide area, can be quick to implement and are very cost-effective. They are also something that this government has planned more than delivered with progress slow against Victoria's Bus Plan according to the Auditor General. 

MTF's priorities include simpler routes, longer operating hours and higher frequencies, particularly on weekends. MTF's priorities, with input from most councils across Melbourne, are set down in a detailed Bus Services Analysis (pdf with everything - including maps) prepared by Movement and Place Consulting. 

General comments 

The Analysis starts by making a case for investment in bus services. Many bus network improvements are relatively low cost and simple to implement and spread benefits to all residents, not just those near trains and trams. Noteworthy points made include: 

* Large variations of public transport service levels by local government area with the City of Melbourne being  highest and Pakenham-based Cardinia (whose buses typically have 60 minute or more gaps, even in peak) the lowest. Service per capita shows a similar result. 

* Most municipalities have seen a decline in public transport service per capita. This is because service provision (across all public transport modes) has not kept up with population growth in about two-thirds of council areas. 

* Growth areas likely to slip furthest behind if services are not increased include Cardinia, Melton, Wyndham and Casey. The analysis did not include the Shire of Mitchell but this is also likely to be in this group. 

* There was a strong association between public transport service provision and car ownership. This has significant cost of living implications due to the household costs of buying, financing and running a car. 

* Analysis is done on service span for buses by municipality. Personally I'd have used more typical Monday to Thursday night numbers rather than Friday night (which is skewed by Night Network). Service spans vary between 14 and 18 hours though there are neighbourhoods where they are more likely to be only 12 hours (and less on weekends). 

* Over half of municipalities had average gaps at stops between buses that exceeded 20 minutes. This average conceals variations where many stops would have 40 to 60 minute gaps, particularly on weekends. 

* Weekend bus services are about half weekday frequency on average. Cardinia, Melton, Casey and Mornington Peninsula score well on this score. But this is entirely due to weekday services also being infrequent (typically hourly). At the other end of the scale Merri-bek is lowest ranked as their buses typically run every 20 minutes on weekdays but often lack Sunday service. Hobsons Bay and Moonee Valley have similar patterns - that is densifying inner areas whose bus timetables reflect pre Sunday and in some cases pre Saturday afternoon trading. 

* The average cost of running a bus is about $7.10 per kilometre, though it should be noted that buses have lower carrying capacity than other modes. Still it makes adding bus service relatively cheap. 

* Some savings measures on high frequency routes by improving bus priority, spacing stops wider and reappraising run times are suggested. 

* Certain radial and orbital main roads are designated as economic corridors. These have been identified as major bus corridors that justify more intensive service. Some of these have very infrequent service currently, especially on weekends. 

Local government area priorities (my comments in red)

Banyule

- Splitting the complex and confusing 566 Also desirable to extend to Pacific Epping/Northern Hospital

- Extending 561 to Greensborough 

- 7 day service for every bus route including 548 and 549

Bayside

- Simplifying the very complex 600/922/923 

- Flipping 822 and 828 to make the latter more direct along Bay Rd

- Extending 824 to Brighton to replace the complex 811/812 in area

Boroondara

- Extend 567 to Camberwell via Kew and Swinburne to provide a Chandler Hwy bus

- Extend 734 to Caulfield 

- Amalgamate 548 and 624 to provide a simple La Trobe - Caulfield - Oakleigh route

Brimbank

- Service upgrades for 400, 408 and 418

- Connect 417 and 427 for better access to jobs in Laverton North

- New connections from Melbourne Airport to Brimbank 

- Reform bus routes to connect across railway lines at Sunshine, St Albans and Watergardens

- Bus priority on Ballarat Rd and improve 215, 426 and 456 service levels

Casey

- Improved frequency on 828 and 893

- A new Dandenong - Frankston outer orbital involving routes 861, 841 and 791

- Improved bus network directness in Hampton Park and Berwick

- Route extensions to improve connectivity to employment areas such as Dandenong South 

- Earlier introduction of bus services in growth areas

Darebin

- Improved frequency on 301, 508 and 510 301 less important until rail frequency is boosted

- Extend 536 to Reservoir by merging with reformed 558 

- Combine 567 and 609 to provide a Northland - Swinburne connection via Chandler Hwy

- Simplify bus routes along Bell St and Murray Rd and improve frequency 

- Merge 548 and 624 to provide a combined La Trobe - Swinburne - Monash Caulfield route 

Frankston

(not involved)

Glen Eira

- Network reform in Bentleigh East area with a straightened route 822 enabled by reform to 626 and 627

- Rerouting 823 to terminate at Elsternwick to serve more of Nepean Hwy

- Extending 630 to Fishermans Bend

- Increased frequency and span for 703 particularly weekends and peaks

Hobsons Bay

- Consolidate 411 and 412 into a simpler route 

- Improved industrial area coverage by rerouting 400 to Williams Landing, 152 to North Williamstown and 154 to Newport Removing the very popular 152 from Williams Landing is political poison but the 400 idea has much merit

- Realign indirect 432 and consider connection to West Gate Punt

- Reform 232 to run via Fishermans Bend and remove the Toyota deviation 

Hume

- Flip routes 901 and 902 at Broadmeadows so that 901 goes to Airport West and 902 to Melbourne Airport
- Sunday service on 538 and same frequency 7 days on 532 
- Merge some bus routes through Roxburgh Park and Broadmeadows interchanges to reduce the need to change (eg 477/538, 542/544, 531/540)
- Growth area exensions 

Kingston 

- Improved frequencies on 828
- Improved frequencies on 903 (especially weekends)
- Improved frequencies on 708 (especially weekends) 

Manningham

- A new Pines - Templestowe - Heidelberg bus route 
- Replace the poorly used 280 / 282 with routes that better serve local needs
- Investigate a frequent busway on the Doncaster Rd corridor

Maribyrnong

- Simplify Footscray - Highpoint bus services including 223/406 consolidation
- New connection between Maribyrnong, Ashley St and Tottenham 
- Review central Footscray bus network and interchange
- Bus priority including possible 220 BRT on Ballarat Rd

Melbourne

- Extend 604 to Williamstown Rd to improve connectivity from Anzac Station

- Realign Route 232 via Lorimer St to connect Fishermans Bend with western suburbs 

- Boost 241 weekend frequency

- Improved bus priority on key streets including Hoddle, Queen, Lonsdale and to Fishermans Bend

Melton

- Increase span and frequency of 460
- New Taylors Rd Bus Rapid Transport going to Melbourne Airport

- Reform Melton township bus network with better frequency and directness

- Improved hours and frequency across bus network
- Early delivery of bus services in growth areas

Merri-bek

- Extend 536 to Reservoir (via 558)
- Extend Route 527 to Broadmeadows and improve Sunday frequency
- Increase frequency and span on 503, 506 and 508
- Increase 531 to a tram-like service level to connect with 19 tram An extension to Coburg station would be highly desirable

Mitchell
(not involved)

Monash

- Increase frequencies on Route 737 
- Increase frequencies on Route 754
- Upgrade Glen Waverley bus interchange

Moonee Valley

- Flip routes 503 and 510 in Essendon for more directness
- Increase frequency and span on 503, 506 and 510
- Extend 478 and 479 to Moonee Ponds Would overlap other routes - better to boost frequency/hours

- Upgrade Moonee Ponds interchange for better accessibility 

Mornington Peninsula

- Reform 782 and 783 and coordinate with trains Irregular train timetable would need fixing first

- Increase frequency and span of 787
- Continue 887 express bus further down peninsula
- Improve service levels in Rosebud and Dromana

Nillumbik

- Merge Route 343 with southern half of Route 566 
- Provide bus coverage on Bolton St Eltham as part of a wider network review
- Simplify network to remove unidirectional running on routes 517, 518 and 582
- Harmonise bus with train frequencies 

Port Phillip 

- Upgrade Route 606 to run more frequently
- Simplify the very complex Routes 600, 922 and 923 
- Provide an east-west connection to Anzac Station by extending Route 604 through South Melbourne

Stonnington

- Extend Route 734 from Glen Iris to Caulfield via Gardiner Station
- Extend Route 603 north to Victoria Gardens
- Connect Route 604 or 605 to Route 235 to connect Metro Tunnel to Fishermans Bend
- Combine 548 and 624 to provide a simple north-south route from Ivanhoe to Caulfield
- Simplify bus routes between Caulfield and Huntingdale including 623/624 consolidation

Whitehorse

- Simplify bus services including consolidating 281 and 293 along Edgar Rd

- Provide a new Canterbury Rd bus from Union Station to Ringwood
- Boost weekend frequencies to weekday levels on the busiest routes including 302, 304 and 903

Whittlesea

- Extend Route 357 in Wollert further north and potentially south to Reservoir
- Combine some routes to run through railway stations eg 358 and 369 and 390 and 385 Some routes  eg 390 justify higher frequencies than others eg 385 and combining may prevent needed service upgrades on the busiest section. This problem has retarded service upgrades on the orbital SmartBuses.  
- Improve bus connections to La Trobe University
- Review bus network in area

Wyndham 

- Higher frequencies on popular routes including 150, 152, 160, 495 and 498
- Increase base frequency on Route 190 to every 10 min 

- A Wyndham bus loop between Werribee, East Werribee, Hoppers Crossing and Pacific Werribee

Yarra 

- Extend Route 603 to Victoria Gardens
- Boost servicing on, and marketing of, Route 246
- Boost 241 weekend frequencies

- Flip 250/1 with 504 alignment in Clifton Hill for better directness
- 24/7 bus lanes on Hoddle St

Yarra Ranges 

(not involved) 

Conclusion

Some councils stuck to three main points while others combined several routes in the one point to sneak a few more (mostly sensible) asks in. A limitation of the local government-based approach was that some potentially strong cross-regional bus corridors (such as as SRL precursors) didn't get quite the emphasis they deserve in my view. 

Still it is fantastic that MTF have brought councils together in this way. The implementation of its bus agenda would be a huge step forward for buses in Melbourne, reviving bus network reform from the hole it fell into after the 2022 state election. And with the next state election barely two months away and both premier Ben Carroll and key opposition members personally supportive of bus service upgrades, MTF's timing couldn't be better. 

Visit the MTF website both to view their proposals and watch videos on recent transport forums they have hosted around Melbourne. MTF has also written to all MPs requesting support. This makes it doubly important that whenever you see an MP or candidate seeking your vote, you ask them to urge their party to support major bus network upgrades like the MTF is advocating.   

An index to all Useful Network items is here

TT 242: Four Year Flashback - The bus reform that never was

Executive Summary: Proposed and promised bus network reform was to be the biggest people moving transport project in the state. It was quietly dumped some time in 2023. Here's what we know. 

Four years ago yesterday then public transport minister (and now premier) Ben Carroll promised a major review of bus services across Melbourne's north, north-east and Mildura. 

https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/major-review-buses-melbournes-north-and-north-east

This promise was made two months before the November 2022 state election. The department went to a lot of work, engaged consultants, commissioned reports, ran public surveys etc. 

My write-up on this at the time is here: 

https://melbourneontransit.blogspot.com/2022/09/un-137-bus-network-reviews-coming-to.html

Since then our understanding of state politics has changed with the state leadership. We can now view bus reform similar to Airport Rail - another project that was promised before the 2022 state election but dumped shortly after. Not only that but the same people were involved, including those out of favour with the then leadership. 

Here's the story. 

The 'eastern strategy'

While its primary vote share declined the election was a landslide for Labor with their seat number actually rising (despite lowered primary vote). It was a political triumph for premier Daniel Andrews, guaranteeing a time in office longer than either the Cain/Kirner or Bracks/Brumby Labor governments. 

Andrews Labor returned the favour to its new eastern and southern voters in the form of level crossing removals, new lifesaving clubs and, most spectacularly, the Suburban Rail Loop. Those involved (who you often hear interviewed on Socially Democratic) thought it was a political masterstroke. After all who can argue with three straight wins with increasing majorities each time?   

However what you might call Labor's 'eastern strategy' was funded by breaking promises or at least understandings in their western and northern heartland that political strategist Kos Samaras explained was considered a bank of safe seats that could be raided to retain the support of more electorally fickle centrist easterners. 

The 'freezer'

In transport the most high profile examples of this was the delayed Western Rail Plan, Melton electrification and airport rail, with the latter particularly associated with the out of favour Ben Carroll who was described in the media as being consigned to Daniel Andrews' 'freezer'. 

While Carroll was a senior minister (in Labor it's the factions, not the leader largely determining who forms the ministry) he was not then on the government's Expenditure Review Committee, the main group that directs spending priorities, especially when fast cuts need to be made.

Carroll reportedly found out about ERC's April 2023 decision to dump airport rail through a Herald Sun headline. This was doubly embarrassing to him. Both as the responsible minister for public transport and the local member who thought he had won a victory in September 2022 by getting the airport rail plans changed to include a station at Keilor East.

The glow of that helped win the election but was in tatters less than six months later. I'm reminded of how triumph turned to (ultimately unrecoverable) despair for the Keating government when after the 1993 election victory over Hewson's GST they brought down a deeply unpopular budget later that year with many tax rises.     

Premier Andrews was no friend of buses, whether in his own seat or elsewhere. His failure to get the Route 800 upgraded during his entire 20 plus years of holding Mulgrave (despite unprecedented new bus service funding under premiers Bracks and Brumby) illustrates that. And, in a partial repeat of 30 years earlier, relations between the state government and the protectionist local parts of the bus industry were soured by protests at parliament in 2018. That might have harmed what goodwill there was in government toward buses around this time, with passengers being the losers. 

The Bus Plan

So what happened to the major plank of Victoria's Bus Plan whose responsible minister was none other than Ben Carroll? The plan itself was launched in 2021. As I said at the time there wasn't much detail in it - that was to the the subject of a later Bus Reform Implementation Plan.

That became the bus reform pilot projects for Melbourne's north, Melbourne's north-east and Mildura announced before the 2022 state election. Extensive market research and planning was done including a staged plan for a grid network of buses every 10 minutes over long hours on main roads.

The potential of bus network reform is huge. In terms of people movement (potentially 80 million more trips per year) it is bigger than North East Link, West Gate Tunnel, the Metro Tunnel or the Suburban Rail Loop East but received a fraction of the new investment these 'Big Build' project got. Buses should be carrying more people than trams but the existing indirect and infrequent network punches below its weight in most areas.

Infrastructure Victoria was saying likewise and, through various reports and media appearances, was a constant voice for buses' potential. However after a long period of not being listened to very much, the government recently announced its intention to wind it up. 

Not running good buses is like a broadband network that delivers fibre to the node, not fibre to the premises. In transport terms poor last-mile and orbital bus networks weaken usage benefits from major capital projects such as level crossing removals and the Metro Tunnel. 

This is a flaw of major projects - Benefit Cost Ratios are used to justify funding for them but there are rarely reviews on whether anticipated benefits were realised (which is less likely if over-runs cause high-benefit connectivity and wider network features to be descoped - as has happened to both the Metro Tunnel and more recently the Suburban Rail Loop projects). 

So despite it being Melbourne's biggest people carrying transport project, bus reform joined airport rail (and Minister Carroll himself) in the freezer after the 2022 state election had been safely won. I was worried about that at the time and said so in June 2023 and again in December 2023.

The 2024 state budget marked the low point for buses in Melbourne. Only the Route 800 upgrade got funded - nothing else did, not even the bus plan that DTP spent more than two years working on. At the time we didn't know how or why government got cold feet on something that had previously been supported and promised. It was arguably a case of double standards; a $5 or $10 billion blow-out on a major project was accepted almost without question while an amount 1% of that could not be found to start (much lower financial risk) bus reform.   

The official silence was broken in September 2025 by a vigilant Legislative Council that got internal bus reform documents tabled (18 months after their request). My account of that (including media commentary) is here. After raising expectations the government lost interest in buses for a while with the 2023 and 2024 state budget particularly lean. And that's not mentioning the huge backlog in fixing 'low hanging fruit' due to the government then playing go-slow on bus reform since its rejection of the (admittedly flawed) Transdev network reform in 2015. 

Victoria's Auditor-General confirmed that the state government was not on track to achieve Bus Plan aims in a report tabled in June 2026 and discussed here. VAGO also found that departmental transparency was lacking. This confirms both my comments above and the difficulties the Legislative Council had getting its document request furnished. 

Lessons for advocates

The moral from this? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

When a political party promises a bus network review (regardless of merit) do not believe them. 

Daniel Andrews' Labor burnt those wanting bus reform in 2022. It could be them or another party who burns us in 2026. 

Instead anticipate a review's likely main findings and seek direct political commitments on them. Eg specific upgrades or extensions to specific routes. Such upgrades may need to be accompanied by network reviews for best efficiency and coverage but the review itself should never be the centrepiece of your ask. Asking for something specific means that you can have a yes/no answer on whether a proposal becomes a promise and whether this is honoured. 

Don't do what the Greens tried in 2022 and make wishy-washy promises about electric buses everywhere with no details of routes. Voters need to know the direct benefits of a policy to them and only maps with routes and proposed frequencies can deliver that for buses. A small number of affordable and specific undertakings is far better than promises of a grand but vague strategy. And don't get too caught up in result-less processes like the 'We need a transport plan' type people can be prone to doing. 

Out of the freezer onto the table?

The same change that saw Jacinta Allan take over from Daniel Andrews saw Gabrielle Williams take over from Ben Carroll as minister responsible for public transport.

Minister Williams was apparently in a warmer place with better luck winning funding than her predecessor. The 2025 and especially 2026 state budgets marked a revival of government interest in funding for improved Metro train frequencies and bus services. A major emphasis has been reducing maximum waits on selected bus routes from 40-60 to 20 minutes as well as some new or extended routes. 

This is very welcome and could be almost transformational if carried through to maybe 40 more bus routes across Melbourne. Though it does not replace the desirability 10 minute frequencies on major corridors for a true 'turn up and go' network. This is most economically funded by considering the sort of bold bus network reform that DTP  started work on in 2022 but was not progressed with. 

The future

It is too soon to know about the record of new Transport Minister Vicki Ward. Or the backing of the new premier who was so supportive of bus network reform as minister five years ago. Recent transport announcements have been about new or repaired roads - not closing the still widespread 30, 40 or 60 minute gaps that are effectively the potholes of a connected public transport network. 

Neither have we yet seen bus policies from any of the major parties. Shaping these will create a major opportunity for advocates with stakeholders like the PTUA and BusVic already making a contribution. It is also important for individuals like you to play a part by citing buses (and public transport services more broadly) when you meet candidates who solicit your vote. 

See other Timetable Tuesday items here

BusVic releases 2026 State Election Advocacy

 

BusVic, the industry body representing Victoria's family owned bus companies, has released advocacy in time for this year's state election. 

BusVic background

Never heard of BusVic? There have been times when the Association was legally and politically influential. Most notably in the late 1980s when it supported a successful Supreme Court challenge to the Cain government's bungled bus contracting (the Waverley Transit case - see AUSTLII transcripts for 1988 and 1989). 

And in the early 2000s its CEO John Stanley was the most effective advocate for what became the state's biggest ever bus service expansion program in the 2005 State Budget and delivered under the 2006 MOTC plan. Your bus probably runs on Sundays due to the minimum service standards campaign that BusVic ran, and the Bracks-Brumby government largely adopted.  

A continuing BusVic theme has been to resist the takeover of local family run bus operators by government and later large, often multinational, private companies. The value of family bus operators even became the basis of a PhD thesis by a former BusVic CEO in 2016 and a budget day protest at parliament in 2018. BusVic won significant concessions but the trend towards operator consolidation continued. 

The most recent bout of industry sales and mergers was a result of recent recontracting and capital-intensive bus and depot electrification in 2025. This resulted in the bulk of Melbourne's 350 plus routes being run by just four operators; Kinetic, Ventura, CDC and Transit Systems. All are large enough to do specialist functions that smaller bus companies previously used BusVic for.

The larger operators still need an industry body but now prefer the multimodal Public Transport Association of Australia and New Zealand (PTAANZ). PTAANZ's corporate approach and style is different to the small business-oriented BusVic. In contrast PTAANZ's leadership more visibly reflects the successful cross-industry Women in Transport movement and contemporary political leadership (four of the five ministers responsible for public transport since 2014 have been women) with the Women Who Move Nations podcast contributing to this profile. 

If PTAANZ has advocated for  improved service levels on public transport it has been in a private rather than public capacity, with no pre-election advocacy material sighted. Its members being dependent on government contracts would likely require an approach more subtle than that available to independent groups such as the PTUA or even the (to be abolished) Infrastructure Victoria. 

With the metropolitan route bus battle lost, BusVic's strength today is highest amongst charter, regional and school bus operators. Reflecting this, association emphasis has shifted to preserving local ownership of school and regional bus runs, with the Your Community Asset website established. 

This has also included the Connecting People Victoria document that you can read here.  

Connecting People Victoria advocacy document

Connecting People Victoria has ten policy directions. Not surprisingly, protecting existing school and regional bus contract arrangements is number one. 

Others also of interest include (2) service improvements and minimum service standards, (3) statewide myki ticketing, (5) improved road maintenance and (6) dedicated authorised officers for buses. 

Before the 2022 State Election Bus Vic presented a list of very specific bus upgrade requests split roughly evenly between metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria. Large parts were adopted almost word for word by the Liberal/National Coalition for its 65 point bus platform for that election. 

Reflecting its changed industry role, Bus Vic has taken a different approach in 2026. All of their specific asks are regional. If implemented they would make a significant different to bus services in many areas outside Melbourne. However readers should note that priorities largely reflect the interests of Association members. For example the complex Wodonga, Mildura and Shepparton town networks have high needs for reform but these are not operated by members so do not feature.  

Still, while not having many metropolitan members, Connecting People Victoria nevertheless covers off Melbourne bus service needs in its second point. Key asks include the establishment of minimum public transport service standards for all Victorian commuters such as:

• 15 minute bus services in all of Melbourne’s interface council areas

• A bus service aligned to all metropolitan train arrivals at major stops and interchanges

• 20 minute services for all other inner metro and regional bus services

• The extension of all routes on Sunday to accommodate weekend commuters

If implemented these would greatly improve the usefulness of buses across Melbourne. They are very similar in concept to the bus part of PTUA's Priority Transport Investments that I reviewed here.  

Accordingly I welcome BusVic's contribution and hope that it and similar documents (such as those from the PTUA and the Metropolitan Transport Forum) will inform the agenda for public transport service improvements in the coming state election campaign. 

UN 246: Every 20 minutes to (almost) everywhere - PTUA launches its transport advocacy priorities

The Public Transport Users Association recently released its advocacy priorities for the 2026 State Election. It concentrates on cost-effective service upgrades across train, tram and bus to cut intervals between trips from their current 30 to 60 minutes to 20 minutes maximum. There is a particular focus on weekend service uplifts.

Rail lines to particularly benefit from going to a 20 minute maximum wait include: 

● Melton (weekends and evenings) 

● Geelong (midday weekdays for Waurn Ponds plus evenings for the whole line) 

● Mernda and Hurstbridge (weeknights) 

● Belgrave, Lilydale, Alamein and Glen Waverley (weekend evenings and Sunday mornings) 

● Belgrave and Lilydale (midday weekdays) 

Bus routes that would particularly benefit with 20 minute 7 day service include: 

West

● 150 - Tarneit Station to Williams Landing Station

● 160 - Tarneit Station to Hoppers Crossing Station

● 418 - St Albans Station to Caroline Springs

● 460 - Watergardens Station to Caroline Springs Station

● 494 & 495 - Williams Landing to Point Cook South

● 497 - Williams Landing to Saltwater Promenade

North

● 357 - Epping Station to West Wollert (With a potential extension to Craigieburn)

● 504 - Clifton Hill to Moonee Ponds Interchange

● 556 - Northland to Epping Plaza

● 567 - Northcote to Northland SC (potential 549 extension to Regent for coverage)

East

● 606 - Elsternwick Station to Fishermans Bend

● 623 - St Kilda to Glen Waverley Station

● 624 - Kew to Caulfield

● 734 - Glen Waverley Station to Glen Iris Station (With a new extension to Caulfield)

● 737 - Monash University to Croydon Station

South east

● 693 - Oakleigh to Ferntree Gully

● 841 - Cranbourne Station to Narre Warren North

● 850 - Dandenong to Glen Waverley Station

● 881 - Merinda Park Station to Clyde North (799 diverted to Casey Central SC)

● 828 - Hampton to Berwick (weekend improvement in line with local government advocacy.)

SmartBus routes (703, 900, 901, 902, 903, 906, 908) would improve from every 30 to 20 min on weekends while other routes not already listed above would get a 30 minute weekend service. In the vast majority of cases this can be done without needing to buy new buses.

The emphasis for the above include incremental improvements is to get key routes up to 20 minutes maximum waits. This is considered an interim step on the way to an ultimate 10 minute all week service on all main routes, with this happening first in weekday interpeaks for trains to Ringwood and tram routes 1, 3, 5, 6, 16, 64, 67, 72, 78 and 82. 

The Association's priorities also include: 

● Tram extensions for Park St (South Melbourne) and East Malvern

● Station upgrades for Caulfield, Richmond and Broadmeadows

● New stations at Altona North (ie a rebuilt Paisley) and Mt Atkinson

● Growth area rail including Melton electrification, Donnybrook electrification and a Clyde extension

Tram accessibility and major bus network reform both get less emphasis. 

Watch me go through the priorities below (9 min)

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAdwqrWy2yo

Alternatively you can download and read them here: https://ptua.org.au/posts/2026/priorities-for-2026-election/

If you like what you read it would be helpful to ask that any political candidates you meet support these priorities. 

An index to all Useful Network items is here

TT 241: Loving the Bus - This week's western bus upgrades

Some great news for bus users in parts of the City of Wyndham with bus improvements coming from this Sunday. All three are associated with long-anticipated road and rail projects being opened for use. 

West Tarneit

The new West Tarneit Station will relieve passenger loading and parking pressure at Tarneit Station, the busiest V/Line station outside Southern Cross. Public transport in the area currently comprises the very popular 182 bus south of the railway (mostly every 40 minutes) and the unreliable Tarneit FlexiRide north of the line. 

The new station opens on September 13. As a Geelong line station the basic service is every 20 minutes during the day on every day of the week. Peak frequency is somewhat higher while evening gaps can lengthen to 40-45 minutes. It is Wyndham's first new station since Regional Rail Link commenced in 2015. 

Two fixed bus routes will serve the bus interchange at West Tarneit. These include: 

* Existing Route 182 between Werribee and Tarneit will operate via the new station. In addition this very heavily used route will get a major service increase. Off-peak service will increase from every 40 to every 20 minutes with longer operating hours. Peak service will be on average every 15 minutes though there are some longer gaps. Like some other recently upgraded bus routes service finishes around midnight Monday to Saturday and 11pm on Sunday. 

Route 180 shares a significant part of Tarneit Rd with Route 180. While coordination is hampered by Werribee trains being every 20 minutes off-peak (unlike other lines like Sandringham which now enjoy a 10 minute frequency), if Werribee trains were upgraded to every 10 minutes then it might be possible for Tarneit Rd to have its first every 10 minute bus corridor with some careful scheduling of the two routes.  

* New Route 186 will operate between Tarneit and Tarneit West, giving the area north of the line fixed route coverage for the first time. Its service level is similar to the 182, that is every 15 minutes peak, 20 minutes off-peak seven days a week. It too runs late at night. I expect the 186 to be an instant success with many relieved to have this as a reliable alternative to FlexiRide. 

It is also possible that the Tarneit North FlexiRide will serve the new station though no details yet.

The maps and timetable for 182 and 196 are on the Transport Victoria website. Transport Victoria has also published an item called Better train and bus services in Melbourne’s west to tell people about West Tarneit Station and the above two bus upgrades. 

Transport Victoria has a habit of setting up pages and leaving them as unlinked 'orphans' until too close to  an improvement's start date. This, and their incomplete indexing from their main News page, is why Google is handy to find items that TV has written, published but not yet linked to.  

TV also takes a fragmented approach to publishing information, preferring a mode or project rather than area or customer-based presentation. For example, despite commencing on the same day and being in the same general part of Melbourne, other upgrades may be published separately with few references or links between them. In other cases additional material on the same set of network changes may be scattered elsewhere because it is done by a different section of the department. Two examples of this are presented next.      

Werribee

The third bus upgrade for the area to start on September 13 will be the Route 194 extension to Werribee.

Similar to Route 140 in Mt Atkinson, the intention was for this route to operate between two stations. However the road network was discontinuous and there was a pressing need to cover an unserved area so a shorter route was introduced in the interim.

Mt Atkinson's temporary version was numbered 140A (and left off local area maps) while the Harpley Estate temporary version was given the final number (194) and included on the Wyndham local map. 

Bus 194 will operate its full Wyndham Vale - Mambourin Harpley Estate - Werribee route from Sunday with this enabled by the Ison Rd overpass which opened on September 4. This will greatly speed travel times with an easy connection to Werribee. 

In addition Route 194 getting a large timetable boost. Weekday service will improve to every 20 minutes with 11pm to midnight finishes all night of the week. This is a large improvement for the new estates of Mambourin and Harpley Estate as well as the more established Riverwalk which previously only had the limited service Route 441 available. However, in contrast to the 182 and 186, weekend service will remain at every 40 minutes. 

Love the Bus campaign

Werribee and Tarneit are in one of two pilot areas for Transport Victoria's new Love The Bus campaign.

Tackling the low social licence of buses (a finding from market research DTP did for its proposed but aborted bus network reform) it seeks to personify the bus as something that's changed with better coverage, higher frequency and longer hours. Watch the campaign's video on Facebook here. 

Love The Bus is Melbourne's first bus marketing campaign for a long time. A predecessor was 2018's Explore Melbourne by Bus (beautiful posters, an interactive map but poorly targeted) under PTV. Then under Metlink there was the I highly recommend you get on the bus campaign sometimes starring comedian Frank Woodley from 2007. Again that sought to improve buses perception after large service upgrades that extended service to 9pm and added Sunday service on many routes. There has also been some more targeted route-specific marketing, such as for university shuttles like 401 and 601. 

While the video linked above is broad (attracting derision from those whose bus services remain limited) the main website page for Love The Bus concentrates on western and northern growth areas that have had substantial bus service upgrades in the last few years. Such targeting is good as it better aligns claims about service levels with reality and customer experience. 

Also helpful is the attempt to articulate a service offer with regards to frequency and operating hours. Such an expression is particularly desirable in Melbourne where buses need to overcome a (not always true) perception of poor service levels. Auckland faced similar issues before successfully reforming its bus network. You can compare service offers between our Love The Bus and Auckland's Frequent Network here:     

It may be that Auckland designed its service offer first and timetabled buses on its reformed network accordingly. Whereas Love The Bus is more a case of marketers coming later to sell bus services whose underlying service offer varies greatly. For example the 20 minute frequency has no clear time bands and may or may not apply on weekends. In 2021 I said that Victoria's Bus Plan should propose a standard service hierarchy for bus routes to make clearer Auckland-style service messaging easier. 

Then there's maps. DTP/Transport Victoria use them internally but are shyer about using them to publicly explain or sell the network, preferring written descriptions or leaving people to fend for themselves via the journey planner. The Love the Bus campaign is a welcome break from this reticence, with the production of maps that highlight bus routes that run every 20 minutes or better for 'most of the time'. 

The maps are on sub-pages for North (covering Craigieburn) and Outer West (basically the City of Wyndham).  

In Wyndham's case most of these routes (153, 154, 170, 180 and soon 182 and 186) are every 20 minutes seven days while 190 and (soon) 194 are this frequent on weekdays only. Route 192 between Werribee and Wyndham Vale is also every 20 minutes seven days but was left off the map, possibly as it has 30 min (or more) gaps in the morning peak.

The Outer West map reflects the network from 13 September 2026 while the text reflects the pre 13 September network in its inclusion of the shorter and less frequent Wyndham Vale - Harpley Estate version of the 194 without a link to the abovementioned news item on its extension and frequency upgrade. The text also inconsistently lists the new 451 Thornhill Park route but omits both the 140A in Mt Atkinson and the 405 in Cairnlea despite all three meeting the 20 minute threshold, at least on weekdays.  

The north (or basically Craigieburn) map is below. Again there is vague 'most of the day' messaging about the applicability of 20 minute service. This provides consistency with the Wyndham map but at the cost of specific information for Craigieburn that some might find helpful (eg "every 20 minutes for most of the day Monday to Friday"). Also since the V/Line service at Donnybrook is much less frequent than the V/Line service at Tarneit and Wyndham Vale it might have been helpful to note train frequencies on this map since it has no 'safety net' 20 minute maximum waits like Craigieburn and Roxburgh Park stations now have.     

Notwithstanding above issues identified, these maps are a great concept. Especially if they are put up at stations and bus interchanges. But some design choices illustrate the continued dominance of single mode 'silo' thinking within DTP/TV. Presumably that's based on a narrow project brief to raise the profile of buses. That is they do not highlight train lines that meet the 20 minute frequency requirement despite these connecting bus routes and offering more distant travel.

Passengers and the fare system treat the public transport network as a whole, so should TV. This single mode pattern of information presentation is something that Transport Victoria need to be coached out of; for a while  they even described multimodal local area maps as 'bus maps', which is incorrect. 

Where do you find these maps? I won't blame you if you can't find them. Currently they are hosted on an obscure safety campaign section of the TV website that few would visit. They are currently not linked from the general maps section nor indexed on the news page. Hopefully that will change from September 13 (although Craigieburn's is current now). 

The only other official map that showed some (not all!) of our more frequent bus routes got dumped when the PTV website transitioned to Transport Victoria. But the SmartBus map continues to be hosted elsewhere, eg here. While they might be telling us to love the bus, TV has yet to love their maps. 

Summary

These bus improvements along with the new West Tarneit station substantially improve public transport in these newer parts of Wyndham. Particularly notable is the 20 minute weekend service on two of the three bus routes discussed, well ahead of the 30 to 40 minute weekend frequencies more widespread in Melbourne. The operating hours also continue the extensions that have made after 9pm bus travel newly possible in many parts of outer Melbourne. 

Transport Victoria is making tentative steps towards promoting bus usage in some areas that have recently seen (very welcome) service upgrades. Its use of frequency maps represents progress for an organisation that has historically resisted promoting the more frequent parts of its network, especially through maps. However it needs to develop its mindset further in areas like multimodal network thinking, customer focus and information presentation for its work here to have the effect it should. 

 

See other Timetable Tuesday items here

Former V/Line CEO jailed for corruption

Former V/Line CEO James Pinder and Transclean boss George Haritos got put in the slammer on Thursday September 3, 2026 for corruption over cleaning contracts uncovered by IBAC's Operation Esperance about five years ago. Associates of Haritos, including Alex Kyritsis, Steven Kyritsis, Maria Tsakopoulos, received community correction orders.  

Their conduct cheated Victorian taxpayers and, in Pinder's case, exhibited personal greed that betrayed the trust that we should be able to have in public officials. He was suspended and then sacked in 2020 but IBAC and the County Court needed more time to establish the whole truth and sentence appropriately. 

Pinder's fate, entirely of his own making, is a sad end to the career for someone who left school in England at fifteen to repair trains, rising to lead Australia's highest patronage and fastest growing regional railway.  

Learn more here:

News and commentary

* 3/9/2026 ABC news item

* 4/9/2026 IBAC media release

* 3/11/2020 my blog post with background on Operation Esperance

County Court of Victoria sentencing remarks and video

* 3/9/2026 Her Honour Judge Todd's accepted account of events, sentencing and sentencing remarks (including pdf and video - copyright County Court of Victoria)

* 3/9/2026 Her Honour Judge Todd's accepted account of events, sentencing and sentencing remarks (direct link to pdf document)

* Sentence of DPP v Pinder & Ors before Judge Todd - 3 September 2026 (direct link to YouTube video)

Her Honour's comments are detailed yet readable. Reading and/or watching is highly desirable to understand this case.

UN 245: Metro Tunnels Everywhere? CL Fouvy's grand scheme for 2025

 

Executive Summary: A look at the legacy of CL Fouvy, a transport engineer who identified the need for SRL-style orbital rail lines as early as 1975 and designed a massive suburban rail grid to double public transport travel speeds by 2025.   

It's fair to say that this State Government has had some difficulties with the Suburban Rail Loop project in the last few weeks. 

New Premier Ben Carroll regards it as a lower priority than his predecessors did. Construction will proceed but with cost reductions that lessen connectivity to its stations.  The Auditor-General found the project was unlikely to be completed on schedule. And that some funding will come from a fares levy that was not disclosed to the public. The premier said he'll not continue with the levy but that would leave a gap that still needs to be filled somehow. 

SRL East, due to its entirely tunnelled nature, substantial stations, construction during an inflationary period and the special difficulties the Anglosphere has with containing construction costs on major projects, is an expensive project. And the State Government appears to be having difficulty in making its funding formula (1/3 state, 1/3 federal, 1/3 value capture) work. Especially as it is being built simultaneously with other high cost projects such as North-East Link. 

However imagine a city where the SRL was not exceptional or particularly expensive, but just one of  an extensive grid of rail systems under (and sometimes above) Melbourne. This is what engineer CL Fouvy envisaged in 2004, for completion in 2025. 

CL Fouvy worked for the Tramways as an engineer for many years. He did much of the modelling for the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan. More about that later but let's first look at the scheme he proposed in 2004. 

The Fouvy scheme

In 2004 he presented a paper to the Railway Technical Society of Australia proposing an underground Metro system for Melbourne. This was not just a loop under the CBD (like the City Loop) nor a single line under the suburbs (like the Suburban Rail Loop) but a grid network of lines spaced every 2 kilometres under most inner and middle suburbs. There would be hundreds of kilometres of new tracks in a General Scheme for Rapid Transit Development. 

Fouvy's proposed concept is below: 

A close-up of the CBD area is below: 

Of note is a north-south line not dissimilar to the now operating Metro Tunnel under Swanston St. This fanned out to two lines at Parkville and Southbank. Stations were typically closer together than the spacing chosen for the Metro Tunnel.  

Fouvy's proposal was published on the RTSA website. Unfortunately RTSA deleted it in a website revamp. But not before  it was captured by the Web Archive at: 
https://web.archive.org/web/20080721025337/http://rtsa.com.au/assets/2008/03/rapid-transit-by-l-fouvy.pdf  

I recommend you read the whole thing. But the main points were: 

* Large urban areas require rapid transit of 40km/h or more to cater for trips longer than 6 to 8 km. Current services are just too slow, especially when compared to car travel. 

* From 1854 to 1929 Melbourne's rapid transit rose in line with the population. Since then (writing in 2004) there were few developments, resulting in a 75 year backlog. 

* Fixing this backlog requires a 2km grid of radial and ring urban rapid transit routes across Melbourne's suburbs. Construction would cost $1.5b per year for the next 20 to 25 years. Fouvy considered that affordable, comparing it with the $2.8b we apparently spend on remedying road traffic crash data. Funding would come from fuel and congestion taxes on motorists.  

* A new rapid transit grid rail network could double the speed of many if not most public transport trips, particularly those between non-CBD points. It could attract serious mode share from driving.  

* Lines could be at ground level, tunnelled or elevated. Some would be electrified existing lines while others (the bulk of the network) would be new. 

* There would be 72 radial routes and 21 proposed ring rapid routes. Each route would run every 10 minutes during peak times and (apparently) 15 minutes off-peak. Tracks would be designed for 2 minute headways with up to 5 routes per track. 

* Fouvy does not address the reliability risks that a combination of relatively infrequent lines sharing the same track would pose. Also that 10 and 15 minute frequencies impose significant transfer penalties and platform crowding risks for what is envisaged to be a high volume metro network. 

* These electric rapid transit lines would keep Melbourne going as world oil supplies decline over the next 50 years. 

In other words, whereas universal automobility was predicated on cheap oil and continued high road construction, this transit-oriented alternative was justified by declining oil supplies. Rapid transit was necessary for cities with urbanised radii larger than 5 or 6 km. Melbourne had passed that long ago. 

CL Fouvy quotes the 1929 plan that found that Melbourne could accommodate 6 million people within a 21km radius. He lists various plans (1929, 1954, 1969) and their extension proposals, most of which were not implemented. The vision was for a compact, transit-oriented city (as opposed to a more car-oriented sprawly city). 

Fouvy says that he acknowledged the need for ring rapid transit routes (ie effectively SRL predecessors) as far back as 1975. This was driven by the incapability of the current radial rail network to serve many trips and the depletion of oil reserves by 2050 (with no substitute).

His scheme envisaged about 8 times more route kilometres than operated at the time to provide a useful grid based on nearly everyone in the urbanised area being within 2km of a station. Track kilometres would rise to about 3.6 times current. Thus many tracks would have several routes, which he describes as being more efficient. Hold that thought as I'll come back to his network philosophy later. 

Many new stations on existing lines were proposed. These range from sensible (eg Campbellfield) to batty (eg Ormond North which would make the Frankston line excruciatingly slower than it currently is). The current Premier would however note Keilor East's inclusion. 

Despite the closer spaced stations, trains would still be faster than buses. To answer objections against extending rail in favour of adding feeder services, the latter was considered to add too much time, and thus be ineffective. Overall trips would be vastly faster than now due to rail's much extended coverage. A few examples are given later. 

At $4.2m per kilometre of electrified double track, construction costs appear very low by modern standards. Even after accounting for CPI. Something that would have made construction cheaper is acceptance of new level crossings - something that would not be tolerated today. 

The document sets out a plan per 5 year period to built various lines. Ambitiously the first period is 2005 - 2010, starting just one year after his 2004 presentation. 

What difference would the Fouvy scheme make to travel speed? Like the Suburban Rail Loop project, Fouvy published before and after travel times for cross suburban trips. Here's a sample: 

Caulfield - Camberwell 35 > 14 min
Coburg - Melbourne Airport 51 > 25 min
Doncaster Shoppingtown - Ringwood 37 > 12 min
Hampton - Dandenong 65 > 25 min
Knox City - Dandenong 40 > 16 min
Monash - Doncaster Shoppingtown 61 > 24 min
Sydenham - Werribee 77 > 51 min

These are basically car competitive travel times, if not better, especially with higher congestion. Their reduction would not just contribute to modal shift but also likely generate new trips. 

Put in another way, on Melbourne's current PT network you struggle to have much less than 60 minutes travel time for all but direct rail trips to the CBD from most train stations. Whereas Fouvy's network roughly doubles travel speed to make many trips possible within 30 minutes, including those between suburbs. Thus it repositions public transport as being practical for a huge number of cross-suburban trips where it currently has a modal share of maybe 5% or less.  

Background on CL Fouvy and his network philosophy

Other material on Fouvy is published in past Australian Timetable Association magazines. These are hosted on its website at https://timetable.org.au under the Back Copies section at https://www.timetable.org.au/publications/back-copies . 

Sadly at the time of writing its links are broken. The lesson is always save copies of historical important documents on your own storage - you never know when they might become unavailable.  

Fortunately I was able to retrieve the April 2020 issue of The Times which says something about CL Fouvy's approach. Not from the current link which is at https://www.timetable.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/thetimes202004issue.pdf but inoperative when checked yesterday. Nor at a previously used link at http://cdn.timetable.org.au/thetimes202004issue.pdf . But an archive of that previous link at https://web.archive.org/web/20221027140521/http://cdn.timetable.org.au/thetimes202004issue.pdf was working. 

The relevant article, on page 3, is by Ian Manning. This gives some background to transport modelling, as used by (often) American consultancies to do transportation (sic) studies for Australian cities in the 1960s. These studies assumed continued cheap oil and road building that could keep pace with traffic resulting in a shift to driving for most trips other than (in the larger cities) CBD commuting. 

Fouvy's work on Melbourne's 1969 plan included measures of public transport service quality. Here's an interesting quote: 

‘Convenience of service is assumed greater for two routes [or two rail stations] each with two vehicles an hour, than for one route with four vehicles an hour, since wider areas are served. The use of the square root of the service frequency places more emphasis on the number of routes serving the area than on the service frequency of an individual route...'

This is a different approach to younger planners such as the late Paul Mees and Jarrett Walker who have favoured simpler but frequent grids featuring turn-up-and-go frequencies in suburban areas. It's as if the "network effect", which needs high frequency to work, wasn't then a thing in his mind. Also that perfect coordination with multiple routes in multiple directions was possible (which it isn't). And that people are more willing to wait up to half an hour for a line that takes them exactly where they want to go rather than a lesser time to a route that may or may not, not much waiting is involved to connect to the route to their destination.

In the case of rail multiple routes on the one corridor can lead to knock-on effects where a delay on one line also disrupts other lines. Hence the philosophy of 2010's era rail planning to operationally separate lines but run each at high frequency with the best possible interchange between them. At the time Fouvy presented his Melbourne plan in 2004, metropolitan rail punctuality had just started a long-term reliability fall with this not to seriously recover until nearly a decade later. Part of that recovery was driven by operational segregation, notably the formation of the cross-city group that took lines out of the City Loop.  

Based on the quote about his assumptions, it would seem that if Fouvy was allowed to plan a network it would be more like Melbourne's (often) complex and infrequent buses than the train or tram network (with a smaller number of more frequent routes). Or, in capital city terms, preferring Adelaide or Brisbane (both of which have been weak on bus network reform and have inferior frequencies) over Perth (with its simpler frequent routes, including on some non-CBD corridors). 

Fouvy's bias against frequency is confirmed when you look at his General Scheme profiled above. 10 and especially 15 minute frequencies might be fine for suburban buses but impose significant transfer penalties for those who need to change on a high volume Metro-style train station. His acceptance of up to five lines sharing tracks also imposes significant reliability challenges that modern Metro rail planning (including the Metro Tunnel) has tried to untangle.  

Puzzlingly Fouvy's preference for an extensive infrequent one-seat network over a frequent one that may require changes is despite him working for the Tramways, which (more so than the Victorian Railways, especially post WWII) had a culture of high frequency all day service. Although one could argue that the St Kilda Rd operations where each route had its own line to the CBD with no changing required is somewhat Fouvy-like. 

In a way one could consider Fouvy in the spirit of Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allan. As premier and transport minister they staked their political life on building orbital rapid transit (ie the SRL) but  were reluctant to champion less capital intensive rail frequency upgrades and bus network reform. Though to be fair Fouvy did envisage reform of feeder routes and good interchange points that demonstrated a broad network rather than a narrow project vision.  

Other big rail schemes

https://handwiki.org/wiki/Engineering:Proposed_Melbourne_rail_extensions
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Proposed_Melbourne_rail_extensions

Conclusion 

Based on low construction costs and ignoring the electrification of road transport, some might consider Fouvy's ambitious rail scheme as fanciful. It nevertheless still deserves study and reflection. Especially when one looks at the big expansion of road freeways in the last 60 years whereas electrified metropolitan passenger rail per capita is has fallen by maybe two-thirds in that period.

In contrast to the dense grid of the Fouvy plan, the SRL is the sole current orbital rail project with gap-filling concepts like extending the Alamein line or even tram routes to nearby stations seemingly not on the agenda. Electrification to growth areas like Melton, Donnybrook and Clyde has also lagged in the last decade, and these are just basic radial routes. 

The Fouvy scheme's audacity can inspire us all. But also be aware of its assumptions and limitations with regards to the broader transport context and network design, including frequency and reliability. 

Read it here: https://web.archive.org/web/20080721025337/http://rtsa.com.au/assets/2008/03/rapid-transit-by-l-fouvy.pdf  

An index to all Useful Network items is here