The most important factor that determines the usefulness of a public transport service is not whether it's a train, tram or bus but its timetable, route and stops.
What takes 30 minutes to go from Preston to Preston and is timetabled to run slower on Sunday than during the weekday morning peak? Welcome to today's topic - bus route 553.
Route 553 is one of a number of former Reservoir Bus Company routes that are (like other things in Reservoir) a time capsule of how things used to be. Others include 552, 555, 556 and 558 that we've
already discussed. The main thing to have happened to it were extra trips (including a new Sunday service) added about 10-12 years ago as part of minimum standards upgrades. More 553 history at
Krustylink.
The route starts in the east, about 300 metres from Thornbury Station, on High St near the start of Plenty Rd where the 86 tram splits off. It serves dense, active and low-car owning High St until splitting off and crossing the railway just before Regent Station. 553's High Street portion is overlapped by Route 552. Combined weekday service on High St averages 6 buses per hour. This is not a consistent 10 minute frequency; instead the differing frequencies of 552 and 553 cause intervals to be uneven.
Next 553 runs north along Spring St to Reservoir Station. This area attracted many postwar migrants from Europe and has lots of older people in small villas who may not necessarily own cars. Reservoir is sharply divided by one of the horror road and rail intersections in Melbourne with shops largely duplicating one another east and west of the railway.
From Reservoir 553 heads west. It largely overlaps the 561 until the industrial area on Newlands Rd. It didn't used to overlap but 561 got extended to Coburg, and later Pascoe Vale several years ago. When that happened other routes (including the 553) were never reviewed to remove duplication and allow better service.
And the dotted line north of Edwardes Lake? That's an occasional deviation. When the bus does that it doesn't serve stops on the 'main' route around Newlands Rd and Henty St. More on that later. After that the 553 heads due south via Gilbert Rd to its West Preston terminus. There's not much there apart from a few shops and the terminus for Tram 11 (which some have advocated extending). This terminus is just 600 metres west of where the 553 went in Spring St and barely 2 kilometres from where it started in Preston/Thornbury. Route 526 from Coburg (which has an even weaker terminus) also finishes nearby. You can see all this on the PTV area map below.
To summarise, Route 553 is indirect, illegible and highly duplicative. Only in a few parts does it add unique coverage. It does provide a one-seat journey for some trips that might otherwise not have it. However it never got reviewed when surrounding routes either got extended (561) or remain with very restricted operating hours (526, 558).
What about 553's timetables? You can see them below. As I mentioned at the start, unusually the schedules allow more time for the buses to run on a Sunday than during the morning peak. It would be interesting to go out there to see if this is consistent with actual traffic conditions. That's especially given that a lot of the middle northern suburbs are very traditional with less Sunday trading and activity than trendy inner and bayside precincts.
On weekdays 553 is basically a flat half hourly service until about 7pm, when it drops to hourly. Peak traffic is assumed to be the same as off-peak, both in services provided and running times. The 30 minute headway is incompatible with trains (every 20 minutes). Neither does it sit evenly with the 552 (every 15 minutes) to provide an even service along the common section.
Saturday service is every 30 minutes in the morning with a drop to hourly in the afternoon. Again reflective of the traditional Saturday AM shopper rush. Sunday service is a flat hourly, conforming to the minimum service standards that were widely but not totally implemented a decade ago.
Careful lookers will see some gaps in the timetable. This is due to the deviation mentioned before. The standard route has a time-point (shown on the timetable) at Newlands Rd. However the deviation does not. The deviation operates 7 days per week on alternating trips for part of the day. It is most likely to occur in the morning for trips from West Preston and in the afternoon for trips from the Preston/Thornbury end. Because the deviation skips some regular stops it leaves a 120 min gap in the timetable on Saturday afternoons and Sundays. However the deviation provides the area north of Edwardes Lake with its only Saturday afternoon and Sunday service due to the limited operating hours of Route 558.
The question is: What (if anything) would you do with the 553's route and timetable? Extra points if you consider wider area travel needs and other routes in the area.
Steven Higashide NEW!
Gleeson & Beza
David Levinson
Jarrett Walker
