Something interesting out of the Australian Open tennis this year – 15 special “AO25 night bus” routes will run Sunday to Thursday night, if play runs after 11:30pm.
The buses depart from the Russell Street side of Federation Square, 40 minutes after play finishes. This means many tennis fans have an option if they miss their regular public transport service, on nights that the weekend-only Night Network isn’t running.
No doubt this is in part in response to problems with taxis in previous years.
The bus routes are interesting, and listed here, but I’ll copy/paste them below as this information will probably vanish once the AO is over.
- SandringhamÂ
Express from Federation Square to Prahan Station, then stopping as requested at train replacement bus stops at Windsor, Balaclava, Ripponlea, Elsternwick, Gardenvale, North Brighton, Middle Brighton, Brighton Beach, Hampton and Sandringham. - Bus route 600 St Kilda to Cheltenham  Â
This bus is the quickest way to Brighton, Hampton, and Sandringham. Express from Federation Square to St Kilda, then follows the bus route 600 stopping as requested through parts of Elwood, Brighton, Hampton, Sandringham, Black Rock, Beaumaris and Cheltenham.  - FrankstonÂ
Express from Federation Square to Glen Huntly Station, then stopping as requested from Glen Huntly to Frankston at train replacement bus stops at Ormond, McKinnon, Bentleigh, Patterson, Moorabbin, Highett, Southland, Cheltenham, Mentone, Parkdale, Mordialloc, Aspendale, Edithvale, Chelsea, Bonbeach, Carrum, Seaford and Frankston.âŻÂ - Pakenham
Express from Federation Square to South Yarra, then stopping as requested at train replacement bus stops a Hawksburn, Toorak, Armadale, Malvern, Hallam, Narre Warren, Berwick, Beaconsfield, Officer, Cardinia Road and Pakenham. - CranbourneÂ
Express from Federation Square to Caulfield Station, then stopping as requested at train replacement bus stops at Carnegie, Murrumbeena, Hughesdale, Oakleigh, Huntingdale, Clayton, Westall, Springvale, Sandown Park, Noble Park, Yarraman, Dandenong, Lynbrook, Merinda Park, and Cranbourne. - Western suburbsÂ
Express from Federation Square to Seddon Station, then stopping as requested at train replacement bus stops at Yarraville, Spotswood, Newport, North Williamstown, Seaholme, Altona, Westona, Laverton, Aircraft, Williams Landing, Hoppers Crossing, Werribee, Tarneit and Caroline Springs. - Sunbury via bus route 216  Â
From Federation Square, follows bus route 216 serving parts of West Melbourne, Footscray, West Footscray, Braybrook, and Sunshine stopping as requested. The bus will continue stopping as requested at train replacement bus stops at: Albion, Ginifer, St Albans, Keilor Plains, Watergardens, Diggers Rest and finishes at Sunbury.âŻÂ - CraigieburnÂ
Express from Federation Square to North Melbourne Station, then stopping as requested at train replacement bus stops at Kensington, Newmarket, Ascot Vale, Moonee Ponds, Essendon, Glenbervie, Strathmore, Pascoe Vale, Oak Park, Glenroy, Jacana (near Hungry Jacks), Broadmeadows, Coolaroo, Roxburgh Park, and Craigieburn. - LilydaleÂ
Express from Federation Square to Canterbury Station, then stopping as requested at train replacement bus stops at Chatham, Union, Box Hill, Laburnum, Blackburn, Nunawading, Mitcham, Heatherdale, Ringwood, Ringwood East, Croydon, Mooroolbark and Lilydale. - Belgrave via bus route 907 Â
Express from Federation Square to Bunnings in Collingwood, then follows bus route 907 stopping as requested at bus stops in Collingwood, Doncaster, East Doncaster, Donvale and Mitcham. It continues from Mitcham stopping as requested at train replacement bus stops at Heatherdale, Ringwood, Heathmont, Bayswater, Boronia, Ferntree Gully, Upper Ferntree Gully, Upwey, Tecoma and Belgrave. - Mernda
Express from Federation Square to Rushall Station, then stopping as requested at train replacement bus stops at Merri, Northcote, Croxton, Thornbury, Bell, Preston, Regent, Reservoir, Ruthven, Keon Park, Thomastown, Lalor, Epping, South Morang, Middle Gorge, Hawkstone and Mernda. - Eltham
Express from Federation Square to Collingwood Station, then stopping as requested at train replacement bus stops at Victoria Park, Clifton Hill, Westgarth, Dennis, Fairfield, Alphington, Darebin, Ivanhoe, Eaglemont, Heidelberg, Rosana, Macleod, Watsonia, Greensborough, Montmorency and Eltham. - CoburgÂ
Express from Federation Square to the Royal Melbourne Hospital, then stopping as requested at kerbside tram stops along tram route 19 in Parkville, Princes Hill, Brunswick, Coburg and Coburg North. - Vermont SouthÂ
Express from Federation Square to Richmond Town Hall, then stopping as requested at tram kerbside stops along tram route 75 in Richmond, Hawthorn, Hawthorn East, Camberwell, Burwood, Burwood East and Vermont South. This bus stops near Hawthorn, Camberwell, Willison, Hartwell, and Burwood train stations. It is also a short walk from the tram stops to reach train stations at Glenferrie and Auburn. âŻÂ - Glen Waverley Â
Express from Federation Square to Burnley Station, then stopping as requested at train replacement bus stops at Heyington, Kooyong, Tooronga, Gardiner, Glen Iris, Darling, East Malvern, Holmesglen, Jordanville, Mount Waverley, Syndal and Glen Waverley.
So it’s basically bus routes shadowing most (but not all) of the Metro train network and some of the busier bus and tram routes, plus V/Line suburban stations at Tarneit and Caroline Springs.
Some of the trams and buses covered, 19, 75 and 907, normally run 24 hours on weekends.
As usual, tram route 70a which serves the Melbourne Park tennis centre will also run until at least an hour after play is finished.
The AO25 buses have some interesting stopping patterns to reduce travel time, for instance the Pakenham bus runs express Malvern to Hallam, with the Cranbourne bus serving the stations between.
The down side of this is the lack of overlapping services means it really is targeting trips from the tennis/CBD to the suburbs – any trip from suburb to suburb or involving interchange would be very difficult.
And of course the routes are unfamiliar, so information and customer service needs to be excellent. You don’t want a passenger for Oakleigh getting on the Pakenham bus, for instance, even though they could normally catch a Pakenham train.
Presumably these routes use just 15 buses and their drivers, with just one nightly departure, plus some customer service staff at the stop.
Still, I wonder if this might have potential as a starting point for design of a future Sunday to Thursday overnight basic network – nowhere near as extensive as the regular weekend Night Network, but more-or-less covering the Metro train lines, so definitely useful, at minimal cost.
Such a network – with more regular departures, both inbound and outbound service, and allowing some at least some interchange points – would be pretty handy for shift workers and others trying to get around when regular public transport or the weekend Night Network isn’t running.
It’ll be interesting to see if the special AO25 buses get much patronage.
Also this week: the PTUA’s study into bus routes serving the State Government’s planned housing/activity centres.
9 replies on “Night Buses every night?”
Regarding Craigieburn night buses, note that the PTV bus stop info has not been updated to the latest locations since the Craigieburn Road Upgrade Project commenced (and is now finished except for minor works). The 953 bus stop had been located outside the Craigieburn Police Station (for safety and security?) but is now located 340metres away on the other side of a signalised intersection. Note also the PTV bus stop info (such as route maps and journey planner) have not been updated! Many bus stops along Craigieburn Road are now different to the info provided by PTV.
Thanks for your informative post – I missed the AO/PTV announcement.
Years ago, I left a Sunday night match before completion as I rushed to catch the last train to Brighton Beach.
Interestingly, I would now have three late-night options to get home: Sandringham, bus route 600 and Frankston (with 40 minute walk from Moorabbin station)
A promising small step. This will be very helpful for plenty of AO attendees.
Melbourne is still frustrating and embarrassing when it comes to convenient mass transport from major events. There are some things which don’t even require additional funding – like effective marshalling at railway stations after a big crowd at the MCG or Marvel. Running some trains as expresses (like during peak times) after large events would also encourage more people to use the rail network. But the possibilities with buses are endless. Forty years ago the bus arrangements for transporting tens of thousands to Waverley Park were effective, reliable and involved changes to road operation to prioritise public transport.
Good they are running something like this for a major event, but it does expose the lack of overnight public transport in Melbourne. This is an issue for other events too – comedy festival, music and so on.
Sydney runs public transport 24/7, with roughly 30 bus routes running overnight every night of the week. Patronage obviously won’t be substantial on a Monday morning, for example, but I think it is an important part of the network. It isn’t uncommon for certain hospitality jobs and other shift workers to start or finish outside of PT service hours even on weekdays.
24/7 services are quite common in North America too.
Does PTV not provide route maps for these? That’s disappointing. A map is a lot more parsable than a list of stops or “via bus route 216” (many people may not have ever taken these bus routes before)
@Josh
Yeah it’s really unfortunate PTV normally don’t provide maps for these types of announcements.
However, I saw an unofficial map that someone had made, here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MelbourneTrains/comments/1hr2ngm/australian_open_special_night_bus_map/
It’s a much better and clearer way to communicate service and route info, showing which services go where.
I just wish PTV had produced these maps in the first place.
I remember back in 2006, there were additional services during the Commonwealth Games with several routes running until 2am (my local bus route, route 425 was one of the routes that ran until 2am Monday-Friday, despite at the time finishing at 6:30pm Monday-Saturday). I think there were like 30 routes running until 2am during the Commonwealth Games). This could be a sign of things to come with a potential 24/7 network (hopefully sooner rather than later).
These services would be a lifesaver for the casual staff working at the Australian Open, some of whom have to work until whenever the matches end up finishing.
I remember working there in the food and drink stands in the 2010s, and my then-employer used to schedule staff on shifts that were notionally say 15:00 – 00:00, but in reality the finish time was completely at their discretion, and they made a big fuss about wanting people to drive in because there would always be people who inconvenienced them by asking to leave so they could make the last train.
But people were continually burnt by having driven in and paid for expensive CBD parking, thinking they’d be working a long shift that could go until 2am, then were told by the supervisor 2 hours into their shift at 5pm “it’s quiet today, you can go home now”.
The pay was something like $22/hr as a casual back then, and you only got paid for 2 hours in that case, so with the cost of CBD parking and fuel/driving you’d end up making a loss on the shift if that happened to you. If only these buses had existed.
Maybe politicians and transport bureaucrats actually are starting to read social media. I ripped the government a new one on a forum during the Australian Open a few years ago, where the only services at 1:30AM when the tennis finally finished were a couple of shuttle trams going back and forth from Melbourne Park to a closed Flinders Street Station, with no other public transport until 5AM. Rafael Nadal was playing so even well after 2AM there were still thousands of people stuck in the CBD with nothing but taxis, Uber and private cars heading in all directions. Not quite New Year’s Day 2004 levels of bad, but getting there.
Hopefully this is a step toward 24/7 Night Bus services like Sydney has had for eternity and not just a one-off publicity stunt to keep once-a-year tourists happy, which is more likely the case. At the very least, we should be pushing for Night Network services on public holiday eves and during all major events like concerts.