SmartBus

The SmartBus program was originally a policy initiative of the Kennett Liberal (conservative) state government of Victoria, Australia in the late 1990s. However it has been slowly implemented under the current Labor government headed by Steve Bracks. Undertaken as a part of Metlink, the program seeks to eventually establish a series of key suburban bus routes, and orbital bus routes, around Melbourne. Key aspects of this program include more frequent services, extended hours of operation to include late evening and Sunday services, improved timetable information at bus stops, and priority at traffic lights.

Current SmartBus Routes

At present, the 703, 888/889, and 700 bus routes have been upgraded to SmartBus status. Some "Smartbus" features also feature on the Skybus route linking Melbourne Airport & Southern Cross Station in the Melbourne CBD, however this service is still not officially stated as a SmartBus service. In the near future, there will be up to 3-5 more Smartbus routes which will operate in Melbourne, the soonest to be the Rowville-Caulfield route 900 service run by Eastrans Bus Service commencing operation on the 1st of October 2006. In context, SmartBus routes are chosen because of their excellent 'cross-town' abilities, linking numerous train/tram lines, as well as offering more services to major arterial roads, along with extended hours of operation to suit retail trading hours.

Orbital Bus Routes

According to the Melbourne Transport Plan,^{[ 1 ]} in the coming years, Metlink plans to roll out a series of Orbital Bus Routes around Melbourne. These routes will include:

• Blue Orbital: Around Melbourne's inner suburbs
• Red Orbital (including current 700 and 291): Moordialloc to Altona via Chadstone, Box Hill, Doncaster, and Northland.
• Green Orbital (including current 888/9): Chelsea to Werribee via Nunawading, Eltham, Epping, keilor, Deer Park, and Greensborough
• Yellow Orbital (including current 665 and 293 north of Doncaster): Frankston to Melbourne Airport via Dandenong, Knox, Ringwood, Doncaster, and Greensborough

SmartBus Features

SmartBus services offer:

• Services at least every 15 minutes during weekdays in the daytime (from 5:30am-around 7:30pm/8pm), with services to carry on every 30 minutes till around midnight. Saturday services range from every 20 minutes during the daytime (700 Mordialloc-Box Hill), 30 minutes (703 Middle Brighton-Blackburn) and 40 minutes (888/889 Nunawading-Chelsea). However, the 700 is the only SmartBus route to run until midnight on Saturday nights, while the 703 and 888/889 run only until around 9:00pm, and because of this, it has received a bit of criticism, with people stating that since it is a 'SmartBus' route, it should run until 12am to help party-goers, late night travellers from the city etc. On Sundays, frequencies range from every 30 minutes to 40/45 minutes from 6:30am (Route 700), or 7:30am (Routes 703 and 888/889) till arond 9:30pm. Sunday services on the 703 have also been critised, with people staing that the Sunday service should run it's full route, instead of Terminating at Bentleigh Railway Station, nightly weekday services have also been critised, with residents saying that night services should not terminate at the Ventura Bus Lines Depot in South Oakleigh, and should continue to run to Middle Brighton till 10-11pm at night.
• Real-Time passenger displays, which will soon be available at all SmartBus stops along the 3 routes once infrastructure is available (Orange Bus Totems and existing PID's), and when the new 'robust technology' is put into place. All current PID's have been turned off since November 2005, after they continuously malfunctioned.
• The ability to request a traffic light green extension or an early green to allow the bus to pass through an intersection when it is running late, in turn assisting the driver to help to keep on time and to reduce journey times for passengers.
• Bus stops that are in conjunction with the Commonwealth Discrimatory Act, with tactile tiles and better signage, as well as lower ground to allow the elderly or wheelchair bound passengers easier access to buses.
• More low floor buses with ramps to accommodate for the elderly and wheelchair bound passengers as stated above.

Footnotes

1. ^  State Government of Victoria / Department of Infrastructure, "Melbourne Transport Plan", 2004: p. 47.