A number of new SmartBus services start soon with the advantage of more frequent services. Of interest to Templestowe residents will be the SmartBus route 901 which appears to go from Frankston via Templestowe to the Airport.
I can only imagine the journey will take quite a long time from Templestowe to the Airport, but at least we now might have a cost effective option. A two hour Metcard certainly beats the taxi fare.
The other service is the SmartBus Route 903 which goes to and from the City. From what I can see on weekends the existing 301 bus came more frequently during peak times, but then comes around every half hour during the day with a change of bus required after hours. On weekends you needed to change buses at Manningham Road. A pretty poor service really.
I recently used the SmartBus 908 service via Eltham to catch the train to go to the city. It isn't quick at around an hour and a half (transport time 52 minutes with the rest of the time waiting and walking), but at least the service is now more regular.
The 903 bus will obviously be the quicker way to get to and from the city as it goes via the freeway. The current 301 bus I would estimate would take around 45 minutes.
I'm often wonder about how environmentally friendly buses are. From what I read the average occupancy is around 10 people (we all see the empty buses travelling around) and their fuel consumption is very high.
The best option of course is to do as much as possible locally, which is why I started JustLocal.
I'm looking forward to giving the new buses a go and in particular seeing how the more regular weekend bus service goes.
Kelvin Eldridge
TIP: Daily Metcards are good value on Sundays. If you buy the 5 x Daily appears you can also use them on Saturday which means travelling by public transport on the weekend to and from the city can be very good value for one or two people.
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