Tara Murray
Bus services from Sunshine, St Albans and Taylors Lakes to the airport are among potential routes suggested in the Melbourne Airport’s master plan.
In the recently released plan, the airport said they were interested in understanding opportunities to expand the service levels and network coverage of PTV buses.
As reported by Star Weekly in November, the airport, the Victorian Transport Action Group and Public Transport Users Association all called for better services.
Currently, there is no direct bus service between Sunshine and the airport and many people within Brimbank need to drive to get to the airport.
“For example, the frequency and hours of operation of most existing bus services (excluding the 901 SmartBus) could be improved by increasing the service frequency and expanding the service time-spans (to accommodate the needs of shift workers),” the airport plan said.
“Furthermore, there are very few residential areas within five to 10 kilometres of the airport connected to the airport by a direct bus service.
“Improving connectivity to nearby residential areas and activity centres, with reasonable levels of service on the routes, will help improve travel options for passengers and employees travelling from these local areas.”
The plan said the airport would work with the Department of Transport to look at what opportunities are available.
Among the possible locations for better bus services straight to the airport include Taylors Lakes, Sunshine and St Albans, along with better services to Airport West and Niddrie.
“In the next five years, Melbourne Airport will work with the Department of Transport to investigate opportunities to improve local public transport connectivity, either in terms of improved service provision of existing routes or expanded network coverage,” the plan said.
“The latter could potentially be achieved by modifications to existing bus routes (such as route extensions) or from all-new routes.”
