July will see an improved network of buses servicing Melbourne’s northern suburbs
Public Transport Victoria (PTV) has announced plans to provide more frequent services to the Plenty Valley area north of Melbourne.
The new buses will service the Kinglake and Whittlesea townships, Northland and Greensborough shopping centres, as well as RMIT and La Trobe’s Bundoora campuses.
The PTV brochure for the changes boasts services will run “every 10 minutes during peak from Mernda to Bundoora RMIT, and every 20 minutes at other times”.
The services will be focused around Bundoora and South Morang with services stretching both north and south, though two new routes- 381 and 385- will replace the previous 520 route covering Greensborough and Diamond creek.
PTV lists the new services as including a new route between Diamond Creek and Doreen, more routes for Kinglake, and better connections between South Moorang station and the Bundoora RMIT tram terminus.
With more connections between rail stops and major campuses, residents and commuters will have less reliance on cars as busses will be more regularly servicing other transport hubs.
The new routes will be operated by Dyson Buses, which has also published a summary of the changes on its website.
The network upgrade will not only be good for transport, but also for the area’s economy.
There will be 50 new jobs in the Plenty Valley area stemming from the changes, as well as 20 new buses built by Volgren in its Melbourne manufacturing plant.