The Victorian Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) has responded to the state’s auditor-general for a recent report suggesting its Bus Plan is off track.
The report, released by Andrew Greaves last week, says the DTP won’t achieve its ambitions based on present indications while also taking aim at the government’s transparency, patronage reporting methods and lack of access in growth areas.
Within the report, DTP secretary Jeroen Weimar provided a response, partially accepting recommendations made.
“While the report raises a number of constructive observations, aspects of the analysis are based on incomplete or flawed assumptions that do not adequately account for the variability and constraints associated with the bus network,” Weimar’s response says.
“The report does not appropriately recognise the significant progress that has been made in delivering the Bus Plan and improving access to high quality public transport for Victorian communities.”
Weimar says the department follows industry practice in assessing punctuality, with punctuality for metropolitan buses in 2024-25 being 89.6 per cent. This contradicts the report’s suggestion that it measures selected timing reports, with the Auditor-General’s audit of every stop on routes finding punctuality figures sat at around 70 per cent.
“The report’s analysis of punctuality does not fully account for the operational, customer and safety considerations of the metropolitan bus environment, or the intent and limitations of the underlying performance network,” Weimar says.
“We are not aware of any major jurisdiction that assesses bus service performance using the methodology applied in the report.”
The DTP partially accepted the recommendation to review public reporting and data collection practices, saying it considers its data collection practices “fit for purpose” to understand user demand and service delivery experience. It says it is rolling-out Automated Passenger Counters and reviewing its patronage modelling and will consider the report’s findings in its development of performance measures for 2027-28.
It also partially accepted Bus Plan objective recommendations, saying it already uses analysis of coverage gaps to inform the prioritisation of new and extended services.
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“However, DTP does not currently plan to a specific coverage target, as there is nuance required to balance coverage and directness of bus services. Purely planning for coverage leads to indirect, inefficient routes,” the DTP says.
“DTP will continue to publicly report on the delivery of the Bus Plan in its annual report, state budget papers and on the Engage Victoria website.”
The DTP told ABC the report also doesn’t capture a major focus on growth areas in recent budgets where other forms of public transport may not be locally accessible.
Almost $100m in additional funding was recently announced in the most recent budget towards further improvements to Victoria’s growing bus network, including significant investment in new and improved services for growth areas of Melton and Casey.
This is on top of $162 million for new and improved bus services in the previous year’s Victorian budget 2025/26 which had a focus on connecting communities in Melbourne’s growing suburbs to key local destinations including train stations, schools, health services, shops and jobs.
DTP says these services have either been introduced since VAGO’s assessment was completed in June 2025 or are in progress to be delivered later in 2026 and early 2027.
“We recognise the importance of buses to Victorian communities, which is why we’ve invested more than $440m to improve the bus network in the last three years,” a DTP spokesperson told ABC.
“Victoria’s Bus Plan has already improved more than 129 bus networks and added more than 11,000 services across the state, with more on the way.
“We continue to make significant progress in reforming our bus network to provide a better service for Victorians which also takes advantage of and compliments the once in a generation investment in transport infrastructure being delivered through the Big Build project.”
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