Buses in Melbourne
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Melbourne, capital city of the State of Victoria, Australia, features an extensive bus network. While the city is better known for its (predominantly) inner-city tram network and radial train network, for many commuters in the middle and outer suburbs of Melbourne the primary mode of public transport is by bus. Unlike Melbourne's train and tram networks, up until the 1970s, buses in Melbourne were operated in a largely deregulated free market by private companies. As a result of this, the network is operated by a number of privately owned bus companies. A list of these companies is available here.
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[edit] History
[edit] Early history
Many of Melbourne's private bus operators began by running jitney style 7 seat-buses. The use of these small buses may be interpreted as an attempt to circumvent State government regualtion. While some of these early operators ran fixed routes or regular timetables, there was no State Government agency to regulate, or officially recognise these routes. Many attempted to compete with trams, running along tram routes but charging lower fares.
Ventura was founded in 1924 by a war veteran named Harry Cornwall. Cornwall had been an employee of Track & Kintrack, an operator based in St Kilda, but decided to form his own bus company when his employer refused to let him run a bus service along dirt roads through what was then Melbourne's outer east. Cornwall began operating a bus route between Box Hill and the city, and later running buses along dirt tracks between Box Hill and Mentone, which roughly equates to the modern 700 bus route. Its first depot was the petrol station on the corner of Station Street and Canterbury Road, in Box Hill South.
1925 saw the introduction of the first tramways buses, by the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board (MMTB). Their first bus routes ran down Swanston Street from La Trobe Street, and along Glen Huntly Road to Elsternwick Station.
After World War II other Australian cities began to replace their trams with buses, and by the 1960s Melbourne was the only Australian city with a major tram network (there is one tramline in Adelaide, and there are also trams in Bendigo). But Melbourne resisted the trend, partly because Melbourne's wide streets and geometric street pattern makes trams more practicable than in many other cities, partly because of resistance from the unions, and partly because the Chairman of the MMTB, Sir Robert Risson, successfully argued that the cost of ripping up the concrete-embedded tram tracks would be prohibitive.
[edit] 1950s - 1960s
Melbourne's bus operators, from the 1950s and 1960s onwards, began replacing jitneys with full-size buses.
Between 1952 and 1969, Ventura purchased Clarinda Transport, High Street Road Bus Service and Knibbs Bus Service. It also added a service between Blackburn and Clayton (roughly equivalent to the current 703 service), added Waverley and East Burwood services, and (in 1957) opened its Oakleigh South depot at the corner of Centre and Warrigal Roads. Also during this time-frame, Ventura closed its Box Hill South depot and replaced it with a new depot at Mahoney's Road, East Burwood.
During the 1960s, the MMTB took over services in the north-eastern suburbs, after the bankruptcy of the private operator. The services would eventually be onsold to the National Bus Company. The Tramways Board took the unprecedented step of running its buses to the same level of service as its trams - every 10 to 20 minutes until midnight seven days a week.
In 1969 Ventura purchased several bus routes around Mitcham from C Young.
[edit] 1970s
In 1970 Boronia Bus Lines was acquired; the two purchases added 12 route services to the company.
Kefford Corporation entered the Victorian bus market in January, 1976, when it acquired Point Cook - Werribee Passenger Service Pty. Ltd.
[edit] Regulation
The collapse of many bus companies led to State Government intervention in Melbourne's bus network in the 1970s. Buses would eventually fall under the responsibility of the Public Transport Corporation. The Public Transport Corporation would take over running ticketing for Melbourne's bus network, and would contract out the operation of routes to various private operators.
[edit] 1980s
Lindsay Thompson (born 15 October 1923), took over as Liberal Premier of Victoria from 1981 to 1982, after taking over from Rupert Hamer. In December 1981 Kefford Corporation expanded its bus business beyond Melbourne, when it acquired H. A. Davis Motor Service Pty. Ltd. in Ballarat.
In March 1982, John Cain defeated the Liberals and formed the first Labor government in Victoria for 27 years. In July 1983, a new government body, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, was formed to integrate Melbourne's tram, train, and bus services. The Metropolitan Transit Authority, commonly known as "The Met", would manage Melbourne's bus network through its Bus and Tram Division, as well as operating the Tramways bus services.
Included in the reforms was the integration of bus, train, and tram tickets. From 1983 onwards, the State Government began collecting all revenue from the multi-modal tickets, with private bus operators receiving money for costs one month in advance. Unfortunately, the State Government had trouble increasing the fixed-ticket subsidies in line with inflation. The State Government would introduce a moratorium on new bus purchases, as well as make attempts at forcing the consolidation of the numbers of private bus operators, in attempt to overcome the subsidy problem.
[edit] Go or Grow
In an attempt to cut costs, the Cain Government wanted to reduce the number of private operators, while increasing the number of cross-city bus routes. At this stage, Melbourne's bus network (aside from the MET buses) was run by a large number of small, family operators which ran no more than a handful of routes each. The Cain Government reasoned that it would be more efficient, and cost effective, to have bus services provided by no more than about half a dozen large companies than dozens of small ones: larger operators would bring in economies of scale on bus purchses, repair costs, staffing, and would require fewer depots. The State Government also believed that it would be easier to negotiate contracts with a smaller number of large bus companies than with a large number of small bus companies. Thus the government put pressure on many of the small operators, in 1986, to either "Go or Grow."
In response to the State Government's "Go or Grow" policy, particularly between 1986 and 1988, there was a large amount of consolidation in the bus industry. 1986 saw Driver Bus Lines amalgamate with Shave Bus Service to form Waverley Transit. The consolidation of small family operators continued into 1987, when Ventura acquired Bentleigh Bus Lines, Rennies Bus Services, Willis Bus Services and Hawthorn Bus Services. As a result of these pruchases, Ventura sold its East Burwood depot and replaced it with its larger Knoxfield depot. In August 1987, Kefford Corporation acquired the Bono Bus Services which served Footscray, Highpoint City, and East Keilor. Also in 1987, Cunningham Bus Lines (who operated route 503, Essendon to East Brunswick) was taken over by Moonee Valley Bus Lines.
The consolidations continued when, in January 1988, Kefford Corporation acquired Sitch Bus Services (which served Sunshine, North Sunshine, St Albans, Footscray, Yarraville, Altona, Laverton, and Williamstown), as well as Sinclair Bus Services (which served Monash University, Elwood, and Gardenvale). August 1988 saw Southland Bus Service (which operated the 645 Southland - Mentone - Sandringham, 652 Southland - Beaumaris, 654 Moorabbin - Dingley, 655 Chadstone - Murrumbeena - Southland, 656 Moorabbin - Clayton, and shared the 636 Chadstone - Hughesdale - Southland with Ventura) was taken over by the Grenda Group. Southland bus lines, along with other Grenda Group acquisitions including Blue & Silver Bus Lines, Hampton Red, Hampton Green, and Camden Bus Lines were amalgamated into Moorabbin Transit.
[edit] New Bus Moratorium
The bus operators were now funded their operations via a State Government subsidy, partially funded by the sale of multi-modal Met Tickets (rather than each bus company issuing their own tickets). In another attempt to reduce costs beyond the 'go or grow' policy, the State Government refused to subsidise new capital investment into the private bus companies (for instance, spending on new depots) and put a moratorium on the subsidies on bus replacement. Any new additions to the fleets of bus companies would have to be covered out-of-pocket by the bus companies themselves. This policy led to the dilapidation of the bus fleet through the late 1980s and into the 1990s, though would later be lifted.
[edit] Quince's
In 1988, the then Metropolitan Transit Authority called for tenders on all of Melbourne's bus routes. Prior to the completion of tenders, Met employees reportedly told Waverley Transit 'not to bother' entering tenders for some of their existing routes. At the completion of the tender process, 7 bus routes previously operated by Ventura, and 3 previously operated by Waverley Transit were tendered out to a company called Quince's, which had 60 buses used mostly for charter and school services.
In the case Waverley Transit V Metropolitan Transit Authority, Waverley Transit launched a Supreme Court challenge to the results of the tendering process. The verdict deemed that the State Government had acted inappropriately during the tendering process, and as the contract between the State Government and Quince's was illegal, thus restored the bus routes to Ventura and Waverley Transit. In the wake of this verdict, the Met launched an appeal, with Waverley Transit launching a counter-appeal; the cases lasted into the early 1990s. The final verdict of these cases pointed out that the licenses to operate bus routes, as well as the bus routes themselves, were legally the property of the respective bus companies and not the State Government.
In spite of this, Quince received the rights to operate a number of new cross-suburban bus routes cutting across a number of bus operator territories, including a route from Brighton to Lilydale.
[edit] 1990s
By the 1990s Melbourne's public transport network was making huge losses and costing the Victorian state government many millions of dollars. In 1990 the Labor government of Premier John Cain tried to introduce economies in the running of the system, which provoked a long and crippling strike by the powerful transport unions in January 1990. When Cain resigned suddenly in August 1990, Joan Kirner was elected Labor leader and thus became Victoria's first (and so-far only) woman Premier. In October 1992 the Liberals came to power under Premier Jeff Kennett in a landslide, as a result of the public's complete disillusionment with the Labor government, which was held responsible for the state's economic and budgetary crisis. The Kennett Government pledged corporatize Melbourne's public transport network, however policy shifted to supporting the privatisation of the tram system in the wake of a series of public transport union strikes.
[edit] Deregulation and Privatisation
Under the government of Jeff Kennett, the state government-run bus routes were privatised. Using the NationalBus brand, British operator National Express purchased the Public Transport Corporation's bus services in the Northern and Northeastern suburbs of Melbourne, centred around Doncaster.
National Bus Company commenced operations on the 27th December 1993 with a fleet made up of former Government owned buses including MAN SL200s and Volvo B59s. The company acquired two depots located at Doncaster and Fitzroy North.
In 1994, National introduced the first of 56 Mercedes-Benz LO812 mini buses. These buses were introduced under National's plan to introduce bus services in local areas previously not serviced by bus routes.
In addition, between 1997 and 2005, National has undergone extensive fleet modernisation programs in order to phase out Volvo B59s and early model MAN SL200s. This has involved the purchase of 68 Mercedes-Benz O405 series buses along with 53 low floor MAN AG buses.
A 1997 press release from then Transport Minister Robin Cooper announced that a consortium of Reservoir Bus Company and Dyson's Bus Services were the preferred bidders for the remainder of the Public Transport Corporation's bus routes (particularly in the inner city). In 1998, the routes were sold to the consortium, which operated under the name Melbourne Bus Link.
In 1998, Quince's lost their bus routes. Ironically, Quince's long cross-suburban bus routes were broken up, with sections divided between Ventura and Driver (for instance, the Monash University - Brighton leg of one Quince's route became part of Ventura route 703, the Glen Waverley - Mitcham section became part of Ventura route 736).
[edit] 2000s
In 2000, Ventura purchased Mount Dandy Bus, while in June of that same year, Kefford Corporation acquired Geelong's Bender Buslines. In September 2003, Dyson's Bus Services acquired the Nixon Group, which was the parent company of Bell Transit, Cobb & Co., and Rambler Tours.
2002 saw the sale of Sandringham Charter Coaches to the Dineen Group, it now operates under the Sandringham & Brighton Coaches brand.
In 2004, Ventura purchased the National Bus Company from the National Express Group for A$45 million, becoming the largest private bus operator in Melbourne. While the company has announced that it will continue to use the National Bus Company brand until bus contracts come under re-tender in 2007, new National Buses are painted in the Ventura livery. Through National Express, ventura purchased what remains of the old government fleet, which is often of particular interest to railfans, though this section of the fleet will be phased out over the coming years. Also in 2004, in September, Chris' Coaches (which also traded under the 'Melbourne on the Move' brand, and formerly operated Hope Street Bus Lines) changed its name to Olympic Coaches.
[edit] Recent developments
Since the Kennett Government left office in 1999, a number of new policy initiatives have been undertaken in regards to Melbourne's bus network, as spelled out in the Melbourne 2030 and Melbourne Transport Plan documents.
These include:
- Improvements to passenger information through Metlink signage
- Proposals for a series of orbital bus routes, based on existing and proposed SmartBus routes.
- Progressively upgrading 250 local routes to specified minimum service levels by the state government's Department of Infrastructure. These upgrades will mean that most local routes will run until at least 9pm seven days a week. [1]
[edit] SmartBus
Main Article: SmartBus
A policy initiative of the former Kennett government, the first SmartBus service begun on the 5th of August 2002 under current Victorian Premier, Steve Bracks. SmartBus seeks to eventually establish a series of key suburban bus routes, and orbital bus routes, around Melbourne.
Key aspects of this program include longer operating hours, higher service frequency, improved information at bus stops, wheelchair accessible services and priority at traffic lights. Current Melbourne SmartBus routes are the 700 Box Hill - Mordialloc via Chadstone, 703 Middle Brighton - Blackburn via Clayton, 888/889 Nunawading - Chelsea via Springvale, Chelsea Heights (889), Edithvale (888), and the 900 Caulfield - Rowville via Monash University.
SmartBus services typically run every 15 minutes on weekday, 30 minutes during evenings and every 20 to 40 minutes on weekends. The last SmartBus services depart around midnight, except on weekends, when services finish earlier. The southern portions of routes 703, 888 and 889 are not considered part of SmartBus and may receive less frequent services.
[edit] Criticism
The Melbourne bus network is less developed than either the train or tram system. Buses in Melbourne have the (often justified) reputation of being a third-rate last-resort transport mode and are frequently criticised on many grounds. The main points of such criticism usually include:
- The lack of network-wide planning. New services are often grafted on without changes to existing services. This can lead to wasteful duplication in some areas while other areas go without service. The little planning that does happen appears to be based on a single route or operator rather than a region.
- Slow and indirect routes. Walking is often faster than waiting for and riding on a bus due to a combination of circuitous routes and poor service frequencies. In addition the bus system is riddled with anomalies such as occasional deviations, early finishing, varying public holiday arrangements and some operators imposing reduced service 'summer timetables'.
- Poor days and hours of operation. The majority of Melbourne bus routes finish at around 7pm on weekdays, 6pm Saturdays and do not run at all on Sundays, making them unsuitable for modern travel, working and shopping patterns. This has been recognised by the State Government, which is now introducing minimum service standards so that most local routes will operate until 9pm seven days a week.
- Poor service frequency. The average Melbourne bus route operates every 40 minutes, even during peak hour. Where it is provided, weekend and evening service is typically no better than hourly. As a result passenges must meticulously plan trips to avoid long waits, and in some cases poor connections between services make them unavoidable.
- No correlation between service levels and route importance or passenger demand. Melbourne is filled with examples of frequent bus services serving quiet back-streets, while those serving major trip generators are less frequent. This is a reason of historical factors and the lack of network-wide planning mentioned above.
- Lack of timetable and service co-ordination. Even on the premium 'SmartBus' routes, it is not uncommon for service intervals on buses not to match trains (for instance buses every 30 minutes attempting to connect with trains every 20 minutes). Hence passengers are continually juggling timetables to find a service offering the best connection.
- Missing or out of date passenger information at bus stops. Unlike the tram system, where all stops have current timetables, timetables at bus stops are often either missing, out of date or do not include details for all routes that serve the stop. Information is also presented in a confusing array of formats, which is now being standardised under the Metlink project.
[edit] See also
- List of Victorian Bus Companies
- List of Melbourne bus routes
- Transportation in Australia
- Transport in Melbourne
[edit] External links
| Bus Transport in Australia |
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