).](https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/109/505/137/370/275/968/original/d614ad043edb48ba.png){kind=link}
There’s an excellent article in The Age highlighting the worst bus routes in Melbourne (featuring some quotes from @danielbowen).
For mine, a great example of everything that’s wrong with Melbourne’s bus network is the 736 from Blackburn to Mitcham. What should be a fairly quick trip (Mitcham is two train stops away from Blackburn) ends up being a 70+ minute expedition through the back streets of Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
Along the way, it passes through Forest Hill, East Burwood, Glen Waverley, Wantirna South, Vermont South, and Vermont, to reach a destination two suburbs away. It’s far quicker to walk from Blackburn to Mitcham.
Naturally, it’s unreliable, often delayed, and has long gaps between services. #bus #PublicTransport #urbanism #UrbanPlanning #transport #Vicpol #MassTransit #sustainability @fuck_cars @australia
@danielbowen @ajsadauskas presumably it’s purpose is not to get people from Blackburn to Mitchham, given that there’s a perfectly good train to do that
@seanmaths4eal @danielbowen But that’s the thing—the 736 really doesn’t have a particular purpose for existing.
No transport planner sat down with a map and decided that this service was needed to serve a particular community or fill a gap in the broader public transport network.
Instead, it’s a service that came about from bits of earlier bus routes that were stuck together.
Here’s some of that history, if you’re interested: https://bcsv.org.au/vm/melbourne-private-bus-routes-until-1990-700-799/
It’s a bad local service for residents of Blackburn or Glen Waverley, because any traffic jams on any major nearby roads across a number of nearby suburbs slow it down.
It also duplicates large sections of other bus lines (including the 703 and 765 from Blackburn station to Forest Hill Chase, for example).
This part of Melbourne would be much better served with frequent bus services running more directly along major roads to connect major destinations.
Instead, there’s a mess of infrequent, unreliable, and confusing services that were created from pieces of earlier bus routes that were haphazardly stitched together.
#bus #PublicTransport #UrbanPlanning #Planning #Transit #MassTransit #auspol #vicpol
Here’s a map:
@ajsadauskas along major routes to connect major destinations is fine for the fit and healthy. Not so good for the elderly who benefit from closer to door and are less time constrained. It also assumes you can cross the major route safely, which isn’t possible around here.
@ajsadauskas @seanmaths4eal I don’t know about that route specifically, but there has been a lack of coherent network planning over decades, with individual routes added on top of existing networks, resulting in a lot of duplication. That’s why bus route reform is so important.
@seanmaths4eal @ajsadauskas That’s right. It’s basically 2 local feeder bus routes strung together, which means more efficient use of buses/drivers, and also enables additional local trips. A little counter-intuitive, of course!
There are plenty of examples of these right across Melbourne.
Sounds like - as is common - the frequency and reliability are the main problems.