Are you being served? Commentary on the service aspects of public transport in Melbourne, Australia. Covers networks, routes, timetables, planning, co-ordination, information, marketing and more.
Executive Summary: Potential exists to make better use of our existing buses to better connect Melbourne Airport to surrounding suburbs. A cost-effective example with improved airport connectivity for Sunbury, Airport West, Essendon and Moonee Ponds is presented here. Last week I covered improved access to Melbourne Airport , with an emphasis on what can be done in the short term. This is…
Executive Summary: A worthwhile package of improvements that makes rail travel more useful for more trips. But despite political messaging about the dependence these have on large infrastructure projects, many could have been done years ago. The Melbourne suburban rail network will be almost free of 40 minute gaps between trains when a new timetable starts in less than two weeks. The timetable…
Executive Summary: Despite not yet serving passengers, the second airport in Australia's second biggest city has better public transport access than the main airport in Australia's biggest city. Described is a way to cost-effectively deliver the overdue better bus service Melbourne Airport workers and visitors deserve. Regardless of new premier Ben Carroll's enthusiasm for Airport Rail, its…
New premier Ben Carroll is busy putting his stamp on the state Labor government he took the leadership of last week. After distancing himself from his predecessors ("I'm not Daniel Andrews. I'm not Jacinta Allan") his first action was to call a royal commission into construction industry corruption, something the previous premier refused to do. Mr Carroll has assembled his inner office and has…
This was yesterday 30 July 2026. Watch my video account of the first in-service trip from Essendon depot to the city below. This item was written by Peter Parker www.melbourneontransit.blogspot.com
On Tuesday, after the resignation of Jacinta Allan followed by a long Cabinet meeting, Ben Carroll emerged as Premier. Current transport minister Gabrielle Williams is his deputy. Election analyst Antony Green noted that that long-term three leader governments typically end in landslide victories for the opposition . However Jacinta Allan's polling as premier was so dire that even members of her…
One of the many Melbourne bus routes that have been without Sunday service is the 536 between Glenroy and Gowrie. Linking the Craigieburn and Upfield lines it provides the only public transport for a large section of northern Glenroy that was once known as Gowrie Park. The area has social and public housing with significant numbers of people on low incomes. Route 536 has above average passenger…
As noted last week , today marks the day that all bus routes in Melbourne will be accepting credit and debit card full fare payment. This adds buses to trains and trams that have already been transitioned over. The benefits for buses are particularly high. Myki worked well for regular train commuters. Every Metro station had a card vending and top up machine. Regular commuting was a frequent and…
Get from Melbourne Airport to the city for just $3 via a 15 minute bus ride that not even many locals know about! With tap and go credit/debit card payment enabled from today this bus-train option is easier than ever - no myki card required. Learn more in this interview with Charlie Pickering on ABC Radio. Detail on the actual trip and finding the bus interchange here. This item was written by…
Executive summary: The state government risks setting the Suburban Rail Loop up to fail if it takes advice from a planning committee that has a poor understanding of the bus services needed to effectively get people to its stations. It should instead heed those with an understanding of multimodal public transport planning to be assured of maximising the patronage and mode shift benefits of the…
Last week I graphed the frequency of Melbourne bus routes at midday weekdays , aided by data from Adam Bain's Frequency Finder . Matching the common reputation of Melbourne buses, this graph showed that just 7 out of over 350 routes ran every 10 minutes or better while a further 18 ran every 15 minutes. More ran every 20 minutes but the vast majority were still every 30 or 40 minutes. However that…
On Thursday the state government announced the date of contactless payment 'tap and go' roll-out on Melbourne buses. That date is Sunday 26 July 2026 for everything with some starting tomorrow on the 19th. This is a big deal because tap and go makes payment for bus travel easy for any full fare payer with a credit or debit card. Trains and trams have already been contactless for some weeks prior.…
Airport rail vs Melton electrification I've never warmed to the version of airport rail as proposed in Melbourne. Sure it connects a major destination (that most people might go to a few times of the year) but it transforms neither the network nor the city. With the likelihood of a premium fare nor it would not have much helped airport workers (most of whom live in surrounding suburbs anyway).…
Most cities have bus routes that vary from infrequent to frequent. While the majority of routes may be infrequent and a minority frequent, you will typically find it is the frequent network that caters for a disproportionate number of trips. Either due to them serving a popular or densely populated corridor or because their better service induces higher usage. The quieter less frequent routes tend…
There is significant unmet demand for bus services. Boost service on a existing popular (but underserviced) bus route and usage will rise in proportion. Higher frequency and longer hours induce new demand, just like the 200% rise in Saturday use of Dandenong's Route 800 bus when weekend trips were added. Such underservicing is common even on our most important bus routes, with headways of 30, 40…
Melbourne's public transport has its share of disruptions, wildly varying service levels and (for buses) limited operating hours and indirect routes. But parts of the network are pretty good, with tourists awed by the size of our train and tram systems. Every route is equal - how Transport Victoria maps However, although charged with network marketing, DTP through its Transport Victoria brand has…
A quick welcome to new bus route 140A (Rockbank to Mt Atkinson) which joined the weekday Useful Network frequency map yesterday. Described by Transport Victoria here , hopefully they will add it to their local area map soon. The 140A brings Mt Atkinson from having zero public transport to having better than average weekday frequency and operating hours for a Melbourne outer suburb with buses every…
Councils across Melbourne have united to get the State Government to add bus services and improve networks. This comes in the form of a resolution from the Municipal Association of Victoria passed by their State Council at its meeting last month . The motion reads: That the MAV calls on the Victorian Government to urgently increase recurrent and capital investment to fully implement Victoria’s Bus…
Today is exactly 5 years (or 1831 days ) since Victoria's Bus Plan was released. Possibly not uncoincidentally the Victorian Auditor-General (VAGO) had a report critical of bus network planning in Victoria tabled in parliament yesterday . It makes interesting reading. VAGO found that the Department of Transport and Planning had an ambitious vision for buses to be a mass transit option by 2031 but…
Bus Recoordination in the south-east The third (and I believe) final tranche of bus timetable recoordination to reflect the February 1 2026 Metro Tunnel and related train timetables will come into effect on Sunday July 5. The previous stage, recoordinating bus routes in Melbourne's north and west, happened in April, with details in the Projects section of the Transport Victoria website here .…
Today I'm showcasing another vision for improved bus services , this time for Geelong, Bellarine Peninsula and Bannockburn from the Public Transport Users Association Geelong Branch. It is in response to the bus review DTP is conducting for the area, following funding in a recent state budget. They asked for public input back in April and PTUA responded with a detailed submission. My personal view…
As noted here , the much-promoted "Big Switch" February 1 Metro train timetables were a huge boost for the Sunbury line, some handy uplifts for Cranbourne and Pakenham but pretty small affairs elsewhere. This is because bigger initiatives are planned for later, with the minister describing the February 1 changes as only the beginning . These will include off-peak improvements for Sandringham,…
Fawkner is geometrically a terrible suburb to plan public and active transport for. Fawkner can claim two stations on the Upfield line. But this skirts the suburb's western edge, is severed from most homes by busy Sydney Rd and lacks a station at the suburb's nearest large shopping centre at Campbellfield. When the timetable is running perfectly peak trains run every 16 minutes. However…
Yesterday Daniel Bowen cited statistics that showed that Australia's busiest tram lines were no longer in Melbourne. Indeed three of the top four top performers were new systems in Sydney and the Gold Coast. See Daniel's item for some possible reasons for this. Benefits of frequent all week service The ideal for any major public transport line is that you should be able to turn up at any…
Summary: Despite having a tram and several bus routes nearby, public transport access to the new Footscray Hospital is slower, less direct and less frequent than it should be. While the hospital has been under construction for years no opportunity was taken to revamp surrounding buses in time for its opening. This item proposes several cost-effective measures that could improve public transport…