UN 247: Councils advocate major bus upgrades

Executive Summary: Councils across Melbourne have united to back major bus network improvements in an advocacy paper published recently. The Metropolitan Transport Forum group of councils has followed BusVic and the Public Transport Users Association is requesting party and candidate support for improved bus services across Melbourne. Such upgrades deliver benefits across a wide area, can be quick to implement and are very cost-effective. They are also something that this government has planned more than delivered with progress slow against Victoria's Bus Plan according to the Auditor General. MTF's priorities include simpler routes, longer operating hours and higher frequencies, particularly on weekends. MTF's priorities, with input from most councils across Melbourne, are set down in a detailed Bus Services Analysis (pdf with everything - including maps) prepared by Movement and Place Consulting. General comments The Analysis starts by making a case for investment in bus services.…