Victoria’s Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder reminded Monash Uni students this week the Clayton campus express bus service starts Monday
Announced in June and confirmed this week, students travelling to Monash University’s Clayton campus by express bus on Monday will be among the first to take part in a year-long trial from Huntingdale rail station.
Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder repeated his June announcement earlier this week, confirming that the $1.25 million one-year trial of the express Route 601 bus service will go ahead from Monday as planned.
Mulder says buses would depart from Huntingdale Station and run express along North Road/ Wellington Road to Monash University.
“The new Route 601 bus will be the most frequent and direct public transport option for students travelling from Huntingdale Station to Monash University, with services approximately every four minutes during semester time,” Mulder says.
“With the introduction of Route 601, there will be three bus routes and nearly 400 trips a day between Huntingdale Station and Monash University, which means shorter wait times and more frequent connections to the University.”
He says the bus will run express which means the journey time will take only around four minutes.
The new Route 601 would add another 226 bus services a day, bringing the total number of weekday services to 395 services each day.
Mulder says the year-long trial of the new bus service was based on a similar successful service operating between North Melbourne Station and Melbourne University.
“The Route 401 express service between North Melbourne Station and Melbourne University has been up and running for three years,” he says.
“It has proven very popular with students, carrying around 20,000 passengers each week and cutting passengers’ journey times by about 30 minutes a day.”
Mulder says he hopes the new Route 601 bus will prove as popular with Monash University students.
“The new Route 601 bus will operate on a pre-pay system, so passengers will need to have a ticket before boarding the bus, which means quicker boarding times and fewer delays in peak times,” he says.
“It will operate in the Zone 1/2 overlap, which means passengers can travel with either a Zone 1 or a Zone 2 ticket,” Mr Mulder said.
During university semesters, Route 601 will operate approximately every four minutes from 7am to 7pm on weekdays only, and every 12 minutes between 7pm and 9.30pm.
Like the 401 to Melbourne University, this is designed to be a ‘turn up and go’ service.
SmartBus Route 900 and local Route 630 will continue to provide services on weekends and public holidays between Monash and Huntingdale.