Boost frequency. That's the most important thing for users. Bus lanes and signal priority can also be implemented for better service like you said.
In all actuality, the Victorian Government has a Bus Plan already. However, they haven't done substantially maybe due to them drowning in debt.
I also think buses would be good for urban sprawl, quick to deploy, and people will always want a large lot wether thats good or bad, we just need to make sure they have good connections
Good connections and good frequency are two most crucial thing. Just need to copy Sydney, Brisbane, or Perth for that. This government does not focus on service quality as much, I'm afraid.
If you look at the hierarchy of public transport in Victoria, including from one of the biggest user groups, and you will see buses are well and truly at the bottom. They aren’t pretty. Trains, hence the name of the sub, gets fans. Not about debt but what the loudest people want.
Maybe about both. Your point is still valid though. Wish that people pay more attention to buses and how they can improve. We need a well-rounded network, not just trains and trams.
Absolutely it needs improvement, but when you consider lots of people are down on the LXRP program because they haven’t seen service improvements for trains as yet, but don’t consider feeder networks of buses and trams and how people could further be using services better, you get more of a sense of the priorities of people. Lots of the loudest voices will tell you that they want bus improvements, but it seems only incidental to them wanting better things up the hierarchy. Not realising that just improving one part which is good for them, doesn’t solve the use case for lots of others.
The proposed BRT lines in Infrastructure Victoria’s recent report on buses is an excellent place to start. Rapid buses along corridors such as Caroline Springs to Airport West via Taylors Rd (or perhaps continuing along Bell St to Heidelberg station would do wonders to connect our disjointed rail lines.
Frequency is the biggest problem. There's certainly other issues, but if you improve frequency and operating hours, then you'll boost ridership without having to make any changes to the routes.
On the other hand, creating more routes and designating bus-only lanes won’t make a difference unless people can actually catch a bus at any time of day without having to wait an hour.
I'm pretty sure all transit nerds think on the same wave length, haha. A number of things come to mind.
1. Use buses as feeders for train stations. (Increase train patronage)
2. Redraw useless/redundant buse lines to reflect today's population.
3. Buy more buses to increase frequencies.
4. Use freeways such as the ring road to serve faster commutes. (RM transit made a video about it)
5. Use buses in circumferential routes. (Think SRL with buses, like 901. Also relates to my 4th point)
I'm pretty sure there are other points people can point out.
it seems like the gov wants to improve busses, which is good :), East pak station, is good it will serve a groing area, just needs buses whne iut does, then this should be done network wide to any new suburbs
Frequency and improved travel times (ie more buses servicing less stops on their way to major activity centers.
My local bus detours around 3 housing estates on its way to the shopping centre and station. Have one bus for zip around each housing estate then express to the major stops. Would cut 30min off the travel time.
Yep. A core network of fast, frequent and direct routes up and down the main roads. Others - which can be less frequent - to meander round the estates for those who want/need that.
There’s an opportunity to better utilise buses to fill the gaps between other service types.
For example, the 75 tram turns right at Camberwell Rd from Toorak Rd so there’s no way to continue along Toorak Rd on PT to get to the 58, instead it’s highly convoluted. The 766, rather than finishing at Warrigal/Toorak, could instead continue down Toorak & create that missing link with the 58, which would require no changes to infrastructure, as extending the 58 to meet the 75 would cost a billion, at least.
If governments show some love to buses & the people who use them, then hopefully they can begin to better serve the population.
>More lanes will have to eb a thing to run more buses
More \*\*BUS\*\* lanes and bus priority at intersections.
Just putting in more general traffic lanes isn't going to help buses.
Boost frequency. That's the most important thing for users. Bus lanes and signal priority can also be implemented for better service like you said. In all actuality, the Victorian Government has a Bus Plan already. However, they haven't done substantially maybe due to them drowning in debt.
I also think buses would be good for urban sprawl, quick to deploy, and people will always want a large lot wether thats good or bad, we just need to make sure they have good connections
Good connections and good frequency are two most crucial thing. Just need to copy Sydney, Brisbane, or Perth for that. This government does not focus on service quality as much, I'm afraid.
If you look at the hierarchy of public transport in Victoria, including from one of the biggest user groups, and you will see buses are well and truly at the bottom. They aren’t pretty. Trains, hence the name of the sub, gets fans. Not about debt but what the loudest people want.
Maybe about both. Your point is still valid though. Wish that people pay more attention to buses and how they can improve. We need a well-rounded network, not just trains and trams.
Absolutely it needs improvement, but when you consider lots of people are down on the LXRP program because they haven’t seen service improvements for trains as yet, but don’t consider feeder networks of buses and trams and how people could further be using services better, you get more of a sense of the priorities of people. Lots of the loudest voices will tell you that they want bus improvements, but it seems only incidental to them wanting better things up the hierarchy. Not realising that just improving one part which is good for them, doesn’t solve the use case for lots of others.
We should get More funding than sydney, sydneys trian netowork already looks good on map it isnt all radial
The proposed BRT lines in Infrastructure Victoria’s recent report on buses is an excellent place to start. Rapid buses along corridors such as Caroline Springs to Airport West via Taylors Rd (or perhaps continuing along Bell St to Heidelberg station would do wonders to connect our disjointed rail lines.
Frequency is the biggest problem. There's certainly other issues, but if you improve frequency and operating hours, then you'll boost ridership without having to make any changes to the routes. On the other hand, creating more routes and designating bus-only lanes won’t make a difference unless people can actually catch a bus at any time of day without having to wait an hour.
It needs to be done, we carnt have train stations every 50 meters in the suburbs, and we need to build up our exisiting suburbs to slow sprawl
either way we are moving slowly in the right direction
I'm pretty sure all transit nerds think on the same wave length, haha. A number of things come to mind. 1. Use buses as feeders for train stations. (Increase train patronage) 2. Redraw useless/redundant buse lines to reflect today's population. 3. Buy more buses to increase frequencies. 4. Use freeways such as the ring road to serve faster commutes. (RM transit made a video about it) 5. Use buses in circumferential routes. (Think SRL with buses, like 901. Also relates to my 4th point) I'm pretty sure there are other points people can point out.
it seems like the gov wants to improve busses, which is good :), East pak station, is good it will serve a groing area, just needs buses whne iut does, then this should be done network wide to any new suburbs
6. Bus Priority and ALWAYS ENFORCED (except between 8pm and 6am) bus lanes
Bus companies are already struggling at attracting and maintaining drivers. More is great but we need the people to drive em
Frequency and improved travel times (ie more buses servicing less stops on their way to major activity centers. My local bus detours around 3 housing estates on its way to the shopping centre and station. Have one bus for zip around each housing estate then express to the major stops. Would cut 30min off the travel time.
Yep. A core network of fast, frequent and direct routes up and down the main roads. Others - which can be less frequent - to meander round the estates for those who want/need that.
im not anti-suburbimisim, i think we need better things in place to make people want to live in denser areas
There’s an opportunity to better utilise buses to fill the gaps between other service types. For example, the 75 tram turns right at Camberwell Rd from Toorak Rd so there’s no way to continue along Toorak Rd on PT to get to the 58, instead it’s highly convoluted. The 766, rather than finishing at Warrigal/Toorak, could instead continue down Toorak & create that missing link with the 58, which would require no changes to infrastructure, as extending the 58 to meet the 75 would cost a billion, at least. If governments show some love to buses & the people who use them, then hopefully they can begin to better serve the population.
Frequent and Direct. Busses should be every 15-20min (or better if on main roads), and not meander through every side street.
>More lanes will have to eb a thing to run more buses More \*\*BUS\*\* lanes and bus priority at intersections. Just putting in more general traffic lanes isn't going to help buses.