Lot's Wife Edition 2 2016

STUDENT
Running at 601 percent
by George Kopelis
Illustration by Amber Francis
It’s fair to say Huntingdale station and the nearby 601 bus
stop are rudimentary, and not as sophisticated as most
other train station and bus interchanges. Lack of shelter at
the interchange, poor accessibility, car parks and roads to
cross would be bearable, if the actual service itself was up to
scratch.
But back to the bus interchange for a second. Weren’t
we promised a nice shiny new upgrade that would solve
all our woes? That was back in 2014, before the November
State Election. The Victorian Labor Party promised $5
million for the Huntingdale upgrade. In September 2015,
Monash University said it would contribute $200,000 to
this upgrade. An integrated bus, taxi, car and train interchange
was promised to better connect transport links,
provide shelter and improve safety.
It’s 2016 now and we still haven’t seen any significant
progress. The local Member of Parliament for Oakleigh,
Labor’s Steve Dimopoulos, said on Twitter “planning work
was well advanced” and a final design could be expected
in June. Construction will begin later this year, with work
to be finished by late 2017. Public Transport Victoria did
not respond to queries regarding construction or proposed
designs.
One and a half years since the election isn’t a long
time to wait, so let’s not point the finger at whichever
party was or is now in power. It’s the lack of consultation
and information that is more problematic, but the issue of
upgrading some facilities is minor compared to the actual
problem – the 601 bus service is not good enough.
Monash does a survey of the 601 every March and
August, and between 2011 and the March 2015, patronage
grew by 74% and is now the busiest bus route in Victoria.
More than 6000 Monash students use the route each day.
But in that time, the service has never changed from a bus
frequency of every four minutes.
Back in 2014, Monash’s then Vice-Chancellor
Margaret Gardner said the 601’s “existing facilities are
already at capacity”. If it was at capacity two years ago, then
that explains why the queue for the 601 stretches around
the corner and up Huntingdale Road on an average day. A
bus every four minutes in the morning and evening peak
doesn’t cut it – students should not be stuck at Huntingdale
waiting in line and missing classes because they can’t get on
multiple buses in a row. With the car parking pressures increasing
at Clayton campus this year, poor public transport
services will only become worse if they are left neglected.
12 | Lot’s Wife