A better bus network in Melbourne’s West could take over 40,000 cars off the road, every day.
Currently, only 1.3% of all work trips originating in the West are made by bus, with 75% of trips made by car. Recent customer surveys show only 25% of commuters are satisfied with current bus services. The top two complaints are frequency of services, followed by indirect routes.
This dissatisfaction, on top of the embarrassingly the low patronage of many bus routes, demonstrates that current routes aren’t taking people where they want to go, wait times are too long, and services are unreliable. This means households are more reliant on cars, generating more pollution and adding to traffic congestion.
Our inefficient and unreliable bus network also:
- Entrenches social disadvantage
- Increases isolation
- Adds to cost-of-living pressures
- Limits access to employment, education, health services, shops, and social activities
However, buses are the only mode of public transport that can quickly adapt for Victorians.
That’s why we’re calling for the government to consider overhauling the bus network in the west. A reconfigured bus network may reduce the overall number of routes, with increased distances between some stops, but would dramatically increase access to more residents and reduce the average wait time to around 10 minutes.
A slightly longer walk to a bus stop (for some) is greatly compensated by all day ‘turn up and go’ fast and frequent services that better connect residents to community services, employment and other modes of transport.
Making a better bus network could put 1.4 million additional residents within 30 minutes travel of key activity centres in the West, with services every 10-12 minutes.
So why wouldn’t we?
only 25% of commuters are satisfied with current bus services
*Melbourne Transport Forum Better Buses Community survey Report to the public November 2023
