Around 2000 pages of material related to the review of Victoria's Bus Plan were released by the Government on Tuesday>These documents show that significant bus reform was recommended by the Department of Transport and rejected by cabinet in 2023.
The released documents, requested in 2024 by Upper House member for Western Metro Truung Luu, show that the Department recommended a new bus network with buses every 10 min on a 1.6km grid throughout the city, supported by some local routes. This proposal is in line with Melbourne University research which indicates that these bus grids are affordable and create a fast, frequent and reliable service, connecting suburban Melbournians to local activity centres and train lines.
The papers make it clear that Labor's Cabinet rejected transformational bus reform that would bring life-changing new services to Melbourne's fastest growing suburbs, in favour of 'big build' projects designed for political point-scoring.
Communities in the West have been angry for for years over the lack of action on Labor's bus plan. Victoria's Bus Plan, released in 2021 by then Public Transport Minister Ben Carroll, promised a transformation of the bus network that restructured and simplified services and a cleaner and smarter bus fleet.
Communities in Melbourne's West have been advocating for a fast, frequent and connected grid of buses to replace the current broken network. Existing slow, winding bus services leave people waiting up to an hour for a bus that rarely gets them where they need to go. These same communities have expressed growing frustration at the lack of action and accountability, with the department, government and bus companies all pointing the finger at one another for why network reform wasn't happening according to the Plan's timeline.
"We finally know why we don't have ten-minute frequencies on fast direct routes - it's the Labor Cabinet. It's not that it's expensive or impractical, in fact they were flooded with evidence that better buses are the answer. If their own department is putting forward the solution, why is Victorian Labor rejecting the Bus Plan?" said local bus activist Senthill Sundaram.
The documents also reveal substantial investment into research on benefits, including the impact of reform on community safety and amenity, women's safety and benefits to disabled Victorians. Department research also indicated most Melbournians would be willing to walk a little further for a more frequent and direct service, and that Victoria has the lowest per capita investment in bus service in the country.
"The government owes the community an explanation for rejecting common-sense improvements. Blaming contracts, operators, or timing is not good enough. People in the West, in particular, deserve to know why they're still waiting for the network they were promised while other big build projects pass them by," said Senthill.
"After years of talk, it's deeply frustrating that the reform sitting under their noses has been ignored, leaving us with piecemeal changes masquerading as progress. It is long past time that the government followed the advice of its own planners and a host of independent experts. The government must act now and give the people of the west what they desperately need: a fast, frequent grid network." said Dr John Stone, honorary senior fellow at the University of Melbourne and author of the "Better Buses for Melbourne's West" report.
