route 694 – we need to be reassured

report from the roundtable – 13 jul

At the last council meeting I raised the issue of bus route 694. There are some inconsistencies between what our local MP is saying and what the recently released Yarra Ranges Bus Service review is recommending. Whilst a newspaper article reports the route is staying the bus review is clear in its intent that the route will be removed.

Route 694 - staying or going?

In order to get some clarity and assurances for our community I moved the following motion.

That council write to the Minister for Public Transport, Martin Pakula, to confirm

1) Whether the Yarra Ranges Bus Service Review recommendation to remove Route 694 is correct;
2) Should Route 694 be removed, clarify the timelines for the removal of the service;
3) Clarify what is meant in real time by short, medium and long term timeframes as referred to in the review.

In April 2010 the government released the findings of the Yarra Ranges Bus Service Review. The review was extensive and detailed changes to bus services throughout the Shire of Yarra Ranges. Most of the recommendations included enhancement of services and new services over the short, medium and long term throughout the Yarra Ranges Shire. However in one case the recommendation was to delete a service, being Route 694, Olinda to Belgrave via Sherbrooke Road.

I had further concerns around the timing of recommendations. The Implementation plan refers to a short timeframe for changes to route 694 (and route 688), although the implementation plan refers to a short timeframe, the implementation table indicates it is a medium need.

This is currently the only public transport option offered along Sherbrooke Road, from Kallista through to Ferny Creek, and its cancellation would disenfranchise residents along this road, residents travelling between the two townships, students who utilise the service to get to Sherbrooke Community School and tourists. Should the recommended changes be implemented per the bus service review, residents who want to travel from Belgrave to Olinda via bus would have to do so via Upper Ferntree Gully, adding many kilometres and minutes to the journey.

I moved the motion to seek council's endorsement to ask for clarification from the Minister for Transport, our community needs some surety about this one because what our local MP is saying is in direct conflict with what the bus review is saying.

Councillors supported the motion unanimously.

route 694 questioned in parliament

It was good to hear Greens MLC and spokesperson for Public Transport, Greg Barber, raise the issue of Route 694 in parliament this week.

Mr Barber asked a question without notice to the Minister for Public Transport, Martin Pakula.

Regular readers will know there’s been a question mark over the future of Route 694 as it has been recommended for removal in the Yarra Ranges Bus Review.

Mr Barber directly asked the Minister “Can the minister confirm that the recommendation of the bus review that route 694 be removed is not going to be followed?”

The Minister’s response, “ I am advised -- and I will advise Mr Barber further if this is not the case, but I imagine that he would not expect me to have encyclopaedic knowledge of every bus route in Melbourne -- and my advice to him and to the Parliament is that despite that recommendation there are no changes envisaged to bus route 694 at the current time.”

No changes envisaged...at the current time....What does this mean, not before the election? How long is “the current time” and can residents truly feel reassured?

Of concern is another part of the Minister’s response “Equally there are other recommendations in the bus reviews that are not now or in the future ultimately accepted by the department.” This leads to more questions, what other recommendations outlined in the bus review might not be “ultimately accepted by the department”?

The bus reviews set a lot of expectations in our community that we would get improved services throughout the shire, it’s up to us to make sure those expectations are fulfilled.

If you’d like to read the entire transcript of the question without notice click here.

bus review, more work to do

Earlier this week, the Minister for Public Transport, Martin Pakula announced the results of the Yarra Ranges Bus Services review. The announcements are a a step in the right direction and it was good to see a some of the council’s recommendations for service improvements included, however, there is much more work to be done on further improvements to meet the needs of commuters living across the Shire.

No 695 extension to Knox City, very disappointing.

The council’s 24 page submission to the review called for much-needed improvements to peak hour frequencies, better connections with train services and more services operating until 9pm and on Sundays. Other improvements sought included the introduction of express services along the Warburton and Maroondah highway, increased coverage in rural areas and an expansion of the Telebus service.

The review has resulted in changes to five of the shire’s 26 bus routes and include:
Route 663 (Belgrave – Lilydale): Boost Weekday and Saturday service to operate till 9pm, and introduce Sunday services for the first time, meaning services will operate till 9pm, seven days a week.
Route 670 (Ringwood – Lilydale): Will be extended from Lilydale Station to Swinburne University. The frequency of services will be increased to approximately every 15 minutes at peak times.
Route 680 (Lilydale – Mooroolbark): The Lilydale to Swinburne University section of Route 680 will be replaced by Route 670
Route 688 (Croydon – Olinda): Will be extended to from Croydon to Montrose to replace and improve Route 698. This will be a combined service so passengers won’t need to change at Olinda and means additional weekday services and weekend and public holiday services for the first time.
Route 698 (Croydon – Montrose): Will be combined with Route 688, and will be known as Route 688.

It was good to see the changes to Route 688 which will see more frequent connections from Croydon and Upper Ferntree Gully railway stations to the hill top townships of Olinda, Kalorama and Sassafras, it has great potential to help boost tourism numbers to the region.

The improvements announced by the department will go some way to improving the quality of public transport in our municipality, however, if the government is serious about reducing car dependency and making it easier for people to access work, study, training, medical appointments and social and sporting activities then more extensive improvements are required.

Last year route 694 was recommended for deletion, not gone yet, but how safe is it?

The Shire of Yarra Ranges will continue to push for a range of other improvements aimed at encouraging people to use public transport – including the abolition of the country fare for commuters travelling beyond Woori Yallock. It was disappointing to see that this hasn’t been addressed by the Minister, it is a key issue raised through the review workshops and puts those community members beyond Woori Yallock at an ever greater transport disadvantage.

At the workshops in June, 2009 the consultants announced a range of recommendations covering 27 routes, including new routes, extended routes, deleted routes and more frequent and express services.

It is disappointing to see that some of the recommendations that were received as very positive by our community have not been included in the Minister’s announcements. Of particular disappointment is the consultant’s recommendation of the extension of route 695 to Knox City (currently running from Gembrook to Belgrave). Time and time again community members have spoken out about their concerns about the difficulty of getting to Knox City via our bus network, particularly parents concerned about their teenagers having to wait, sometimes for extensive periods at Upper Ferntree Gully Station. I know there will be a great deal of community dissatisfaction about this glaring omission.

While we haven’t got everything we asked for I am still pleased with the progress that has been made to date and the council will continue to advocate for more public transport improvements across the municipality.

yarra ranges bus review - the next instalment

Today I attended two follow up workshops for the Yarra Ranges Bus Services review, one in Upwey, the other in Mooroolbark. These workshops enabled the consultants running the review (Booz & Co) to present Draft Network Improvements Options to the community for their consideration.

(for history on the Yarra Ranges Bus Services review visit this blog entry).

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The removal of the 694 service from Sherbrooke Road is unacceptable. Low patronage has been given as a reason, but I suspect if frequencies were increased there would be greater take up of this service. One resident reported to me she often has to wait up to one hour in Belgrave to connect with this service. There is a direct correlation between the patronage of a service and the frequency in which it runs. We want more services in the hills not less.

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At the Upwey workshop there were some excellent recommendations that were well accepted by community members, being:
The extension of the 695 route to Knox City (currently running Gembrook to Belgrave).
The extension of the 663 route so it would provide a direct service from Belgrave to Lilydale taking in Monbulk and the Swinburne campus in Lilydale.
A new service which runs from Boronia to Sassafras through to Olinda and onto Monbulk then Emerald, providing the much needed missing link between Monbulk and Olinda.
Changes to the 697 route that will see the service run through to Fountain Gate Shopping Centre rather than terminating in Belgrave South.

The change that met with disapproval and was of greatest disappoinment was the deletion of route 694 which currently runs from Belgrave to Olinda using Sherbrooke Road as its route from Monbulk Road to the Tourist Road. Later conversations I had with the consultants revealed they will re-look at this issue but I will be bringing it up with our local member as the loss of services in this area is of great concern.

More frequency and greater span of hours were seen as key issues in services across the Dandenongs.

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Changes presented at the Mooroolbark workshop were generally received as positive moves, particularly the change to route 683A which will run via Clegg Road past the retirement village located there and also the proposal to increase peak services between Yarra Glen and the Lilydale Station. Many other options also presented in this workshop were seen as positive moves.

The span of hours of operation and frequency of services continue to be an issue raised across the board at both workshops. There are still two workshops to go, one in Yarra Junction tomorrow (1pm at the Upper Yarra Family Centre), the other in Healesville on Monday 22nd June at 1pm (Memo Hall).

If you're concerned about the bus services in Yarra Ranges and want to have your say I encourage you to go along to one of the remaining workshops.

From this round of workshops, Booz & Co will then refine the network improvements and provide a final report for consideration by the Department of Transport. However the consultant did make it clear that service improvements for Yarra Ranges would be implemented based on metropolitan priorities, lets hope that the Yarra Ranges does not get lost in a sea of competing priorities across Melbourne.

healesville rounds out bus review

Today saw the final bus service review workshop for Yarra Ranges. Since my last entry about the workshops in Upwey and Mooroolbark (see blog), further workshops have been held in Yarra Junction and Healesville. It has been an interesting process attending all four workshops across Yarra Ranges. The community and their needs are broad, however everyone wants to see greater frequency and span of hours for our bus services.

Changes proposed to route 697 include the service going through to Fountain Gate Shopping Centre - this change was well received by the community at the Upwey workshop.

The community of Yarra Junction had these things to say on the recommendations presented by the consultants, Booz & Co:
The span of hours and frequency of service must be increased on route 683 (the bus from Lilydale to Warburton/East Warburton). This service is seen as a good service for the community, however so popular at peak times that overcrowding was a significant issue.
The country fare continues to be one of the most critical issues to the community along the Upper Yarra corridor and it was mentioned many times as unfair and inequitable.
note: people travelling on this route have to pay the 'country' fare and also purchase a met ticket for the latter part of their journey to Lilydale.
There were concerns about the safety at the transport terminus at Lilydale.
There should be more low floor buses available.
The alternate route 683A along Clegg Road was seen as very positive change for those in the retirment village in Mt Evelyn.

The Healesville community had these things to say about the recommendations:
There needed to be an increase in frequency and span of operation on route 685 (Healesville to Lilydale) and route 663 (Lilydale to Monbulk to Belgrave) needed to operate 7 days a week.
The proposed 685 express was seen as a good idea, running from Lilydale to Healesville.
There were concerns about the loss of service to Chum Creek.
There was mention of the need to improve connections with rail services.
The issue of the country fare was also raised at this workshop (along with Yarra Junction).

The buses lined up on Belgrave Gembrook Road. It is proposed that route 693 terminates at Upper Ferntree Gully (instead of Belgrave) as the new extension to route 695 will run from Gembrook to Belgrave and through to Knox City. The community was very pleased with this recommendation.
Route 694 is proposed to be discontinued, this will see no bus service along Sherbrooke Road, this was met with a great degree of opposition from the community at the Upwey workshop.

Now that the workshops in Yarra Ranges have concluded the consultants will review and consider all the feedback from the community and draft a final report for the Department of Transport.

The recommendations from that report will be measured up against the transport priorities across Melbourne. I hope from this process that our community will see some improvements to local services. I am concerned that an expectation has been built that may never be delivered. We must make sure that our local MPs are reminded that this review is about improving local services which mustn't be traded off against other Melbourne priorities.

where did route 694 go?

Is it right that the community has to wait till the end of the year to know the fate of route 694? NO. At the recent bus review this service was proposed to be deleted due to lack of patronage.

If we had a service that was frequent and well connected the patronage numbers would be much higher. This route provides a key orbital link between Belgrave and Olinda, to suggest that in the future Belgrave commuters travel to Olinda via Upper Ferntree Gully defies any logic and makes for a very cumbersome journey.

I read in the local papers that one girl cried to learn that her only access to public transport was to be taken away. These decisions have long lasting significant effects on our local community and their ability to fully participate in society.

What happens to those who have limited transport options? How do they get to school, to work, to medical appointments, to shops, to socialise? It is unacceptable to lose this service in the Dandenongs.

At a time when we should be encouraging take up of public transport this mooted ‘improvement’ seeks to turn even more people off using public transport.

Why should we be denied access to fast, frequent and well connected public transport? I want to see serious investment in our bus services, not juggling the books of the current budget which will never deliver significant improvements to services in the hills.