Background

Melbourne is one of the fastest growing cities in Australia expected to become Australia's most populated city in the near future. In a well designed city heavy transport options like trains and light transport options like buses operate adequate service allowing  However our bus system is in need of improvement.

The Problem

Melbourne's bus system is way too infrequent as outside of a select few routes buses operate only once every 30 minutes during peak hour and during weekends most buses operate once every hour andsome buses including one of melbourne's busiest don't operate even on Sundays.  The problem is also worsened by the fact that patronage on weekend and some weekday services more than justifies frequent buses. 

The Solution

For most routes 30 minutes should be the bare minimum for offpeak services with 20 and even 15 minutes justified on smartbus and other busy routes. With frequencies between 10-20 minutes during peak on most routes and even 5 minutes on some of the busier ones.

When

We need higher frequencies to take into effect by the end of this decade, prefferably earlier, in order to keep up with the rising demand for efficient transportation in this city. Especially with all the new rail project projects that will require buses to live up to their full potential.

Benefits of higher frequencies

Even though trains are more effecient and benefit the most from service imporvements as there is a dedicated ROW and higher capacity, buses also benefit from higher frequencies they help connect homes with shops, schools, offices and train stations. 

Higher public transport frequencies results in higher demand for public transport as shown by this study

 If more people use public transport less people will use cars which will:

• Free up roads resulting in less traffic
• Lower carbon emissions
• Make suburbs and the CBD more space efficient