A Dandenong-based community campaign has expressed disappointment that the latest Victorian state budget has neglected bus services in the region.
Despite funding substantial bus service upgrades in other parts of Melbourne, the budget this year has a lack of funding for services out east.
FixDandyBuses convenor Peter Parker says the government’s decision to concentrate bus upgrade funding in Melbourne’s north and west would leave Dandenong area passengers without much-needed seven day upgrades to local bus routes 802, 804 and 814.
Parker says the upgrades, which would have improved access to Dandenong Market, Dandenong Hospital, Monash University and Chadstone Shopping Centre, would have changed lives and saved people money. They would also introduce a full all week bus service to neighbourhoods in Dandenong North and Mulgrave.
“While we agree the funded bus upgrades in Melbourne’s north and west were much needed, the government should also have found money for Dandenong bus improvements,” Parker says.
“There were even quieter routes in the east and south-east whose timetables could have been adjusted to help pay for improvements on busier but underserviced Dandenong routes if the government was genuinely hard up.”
Less than a month ago, Victorian public and active transport minister Gabrielle Williams, as reported by ABC, told the Public Transport Association of Australia and New Zealand (PTAANZ) conference that “the time for bus is now,” highlighting the government’s commitment to enhancing public transport services.
“However, the exclusion of vital upgrades from the 2025 budget suggests a disconnect between the government’s talk and its actions in Greater Dandenong,” Parker says.
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“Not only is Dandenong the minister’s own seat, but it remains the part of Melbourne with the least seven day bus service relative to its social needs.”
He says six Greater Dandenong routes did not operate on Sundays, with these also having only limited Saturday and evening service.
“Unlike in some other areas you can almost guarantee that added bus service in Greater Dandenong will have high usage from day one, as demonstrated by the massive success of last year’s Route 800 upgrade,” he says.
He added that Routes 802, 804 and 814 had strong existing usage and a seven day upgrade could be done by working the existing bus fleet harder.
“FixDandyBuses urges the state government to find ways to fund seven day buses across Dandenong. These upgrades are essential for meeting the transport needs of the Greater Dandenong community and redressing the gap relative to other suburbs that already have seven day service on all bus routes,” he says.
Parker says the FixDandyBuses campaign would continue until bus services in Dandenong were improved.
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