The North East Link Project will include a new dedicated Doncaster Busway which will link Park & Ride locations along the Eastern Freeway at Doncaster and Bulleen to Hoddle Street and central Melbourne.
The Doncaster Busway Bus Planning Study sets the vision for the reform of 25% of Melbourne's metropolitan bus network to deliver more attractive, customer-friendly bus services, including a review of bus routes within the Melbourne's CBD. The Doncaster Busway Bus Planning Study ('Study') involved a comprehensive review of all facets of network and service design, together with a comprehensive analysis of bus fleet and depot requirements, road network and traffic congestion issues, bus interchange needs and consideration of any inner-city infrastructure changes to support efficient operation of Busway services.
In 2020, SmedTech was engaged by Victoria's North East Link Project (now part of VIDA Roads) on behalf of DTP to act as an overall project and technical lead for this significant two-year Study, working collaboratively with NELP, DTP and other consulting firms as part of a large project team. The Study, which culminated in the delivery of a bus network development plan ('Plan'), which presented new vision for the bus network, was delivered across several stages by the SmedTech team, leveraging our experience and expertise in developing public transport plans, including:
Considered a range of critical aspects such as legibility of the network, performance of existing routes in providing access and mobility for users and associated reviews of fleet utilisation and bus depot location and capacity.
Developed new network plans for the Study area, involving an innovative, collaborative Design House approach with DTP to design the network in a layered approach across the Study area.
Prepared a strategy for the fleet to respond to the proposed network, focusing on the transition of zero emission buses into the Study area, including significant research and analysis to articulate the implementation challenges unique to the local environment.
With the proposed implementation of zero emission buses and existing capacity constraints, the SmedTech team developed a comprehensive strategy for depots for the Study area to support the network vision and fleet requirements.
Our comprehensive understanding of the issues affecting bus network planning, customer experience needs, development, procurement and implementation; together with our significant experience working with Government, uniquely positioned us to provide authoritative advice and support to DTP in the development of Victoria's Bus Plan. This ultimately resulted in new requirements and capacity provisions for the Doncaster Busway and Park and Ride sites. This provided the blueprint for the ongoing rollout of services and changes to franchises and subsequently led to the first detailed thinking in Victoria for Zero Emission Buses roll out and depot considerations.
