lack of expansion since 2010, particularly in Melbourne's west, north and outer south-east. slower than ideal travel speeds due to car traffic, and c. still low frequencies, particularly weekends, b. SmartBus' three big remaining challenges include a. These are, I think, its two biggest achievements. And it showed conclusively that if you improve service more people will use buses. It helped change the public transport network from a CBD-centred asterisk to a more versatile web. Also Doncaster area SmartBuses gained long-overdue Sunday evening services and in some cases Night Network and weekend frequency boosts as well. These saw small weekend service upgrades on routes 703 and 900. And there's been some good news on the service front in the last few years. But that didn't stop it losing the operating franchise to Kinetic which has since maintained better standards. Transdev then smartened its act, with the COVID pandemic assisting already improving cleanliness. SmartBus probably reached its low point under the disgraced former bus operator Transdev Melbourne who ran dirty and/or unsafe buses on its routes until pinged by Transport Safety Victoria in 2017. Government and bus operator commitment to even the existing routes has lessened with the use of specially liveried SmartBus vehicles, though effective in promoting the service to car drivers, declining. And a bold $1.5b 2015 BusVic proposal for 20 new SmartBus routes got no further than this TV news report. The proposed Blue Orbital and western part of the Green Orbital didn't happen despite even bigger PPTN plans existing. Ex-Met routes that already closely meet or exceeded SmartBus service standards (eg 216, 220, 223, 234, 246 etc) remain outside the SmartBus house.
Then nothing new for the decade-plus since. SmartBus had a huge growth spurt in election year 2010. See my 18th birthday write-up for a more detailed story. And the increased service it brought was a prime reason for the commensurate boom in bus patronage encountered. It changed how thousands get around Melbourne, adding to previously sparse evening and weekend service on major roads, particularly in the eastern suburbs. Starting as a pilot project on Blackburn and Springvale Rd its first decade saw an expansion to include new university, orbital and Doncaster area routes.
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