After sitting on the request made by Trung Luu, the Liberal member of the Upper House in the state parliament since March 2024, the state government released documents relating to Victoria’s Bus plan on 16 September.
Before we talk about the bus plan / reform (particularly in Melbourne’s West, it is critical to get the context. If you live in Melbourne’s West, you know getting to and from work using the public transport is a nightmare to put it mildly. The peak hour trains are bulging fat, ‘almost bursting at seams’, scenes only reminiscent of trains of rural India (Bihar, Bengal and parts of UP and Punjab) with people seen sitting on the roof at times. And the arterial roads leading to the metro stations to catch them, well, a photographer’s dream shot for a car park, each one of them. Throw in the mix, the very ad hoc, un-connecting bus times, add the much-needed salt to the wounds of those who have chosen to live in the area.
Trung Luu, Liberal member for Western Victoria, with his office in Werribee, took up the case for his constituents in March last year and pushed for the documents on Victoria’s Bus Plan to be released. In March 2024, Mr Luu, speaking in the House alleged that the Allan Labor government had failed to release, in full, Victoria’s bus network plan review announced in 2021. Mr Luu, quoting standing order 10.01, sought the government to table in parliament within three weeks copies of:
(a) Victoria’s bus network plan review and bus reform implementation plan;
(b) all submissions to the bus network plan review process;
(c) all supporting documents from Victoria’s bus network plan review; and
(d) all briefings to the current Minister for Public and Active Transport and each former Minister for Public Transport regarding Victoria’s bus network plan review.
On 16 September 2025, more than 18 months later, around 2000 pages of material related to the review of Victoria’s Bus Plan were released by the Government on Tuesday.
According to Sustainable Cities and Friends of the Earth spokespersons, these documents show that significant bus reform was recommended by the Department of Transport and rejected by cabinet in 2023.
According to the documents, they claim, the Department had in fact recommended a new bus network with buses every 10 min on a 1.6km grid throughout the city, supported by some local routes. This proposal is in line with Melbourne University research which indicates that these bus grids are affordable and create a fast, frequent and reliable service, connecting suburban Melbournians to local activity centres and train lines.
Big Build preferred
They further claim, the papers show that Labor’s Cabinet rejected transformational bus reform that would bring life-changing new services to Melbourne’s fastest growing suburbs including the West, in favour of ‘big build’ projects designed for political point-scoring.
“We finally know why we don’t have ten-minute frequencies on fast direct routes – it’s the Labor Cabinet. It’s not that it’s expensive or impractical, in fact they were flooded with evidence that better buses are the answer. If their own department is putting forward the solution, why is Victorian Labor rejecting the Bus Plan?” said Senthill Sundaram of the Point Cook Action Group, local business owner and bus advocate.
“The rapid population growth, combined with years of neglect from the Labor government and poor urban planning, has resulted in inadequate public transport services and limited connectivity in this region. Most bus routes are concentrated along major roads, leaving many areas in our expanding suburbs without easy access to reliable transportation”, Mr Luu told Bharat Times.
“To ensure a better future for our region and to foster a more connected community, we urgently need government investment to expand and improve bus services. This should include the creation of new routes that extend beyond major roads, as well as the delivery of frequent and reliable services that keep up with the rapid population growth in the west”, Mr Luu added.
“The people of the west are being punished because the Allan Labor Government doesn’t care. The Allan Labor Government is incapable of providing even the most basic of services to support families achieve a decent work-life balance”, Bard Battin, the state opposition leader told Bharat Times.
“The Government’s incompetence is forcing people to spend more time than they should commuting or waiting for a service to get them to and from work.”
The state opposition says the Government’s inaction sends a clear message to people in the west. “You don’t count”.
Lack of public transport services, underfunding of road maintenance and lack of upgrades at new estates are causing severe pain in the growing communities.
“Investing in better bus services is not just about transporting people; it’s also about fairness, accessibility, and enabling our community to thrive without being hindered by inadequate planning”, Mr Luu added.
As the population in Melbourne’s west continues to grow, this issue is likely to worsen. Residents have little choice but to rely on cars, which leads to excessive traffic congestion, longer travel times, and increasing frustration for both families and commuters.
Communities in Melbourne’s West have been advocating for a fast, frequent and connected grid of buses to replace the current broken network. Existing slow, winding bus services leave people waiting up to an hour for a bus that rarely gets them where they need to go. These same communities have expressed growing frustration at the lack of action and accountability, with the department, government and bus companies all pointing the finger at one another for why network reform wasn’t happening according to the Plan’s timeline.
“After years of talk, it’s deeply frustrating that the reform sitting under their noses has been ignored, leaving us with piecemeal changes masquerading as progress. It is long past time that the government followed the advice of its own planners and a host of independent experts. The government must act now and give the people of the west what they desperately need: a fast, frequent grid network”, said Dr John Stone, honorary senior fellow at the University of Melbourne and author of the “Better Buses for Melbourne’s West” report.
The reason is obvious to the politically savvy. Melbourne’s West is doused in RED – votes Labor; it always has. All seats in the area are ultrasafe for Labor. That can have a big, unintended consequence of neglect of its constituents.
Some observers believe understanding the pain of its constituents – can be optional for a member of parliament representing an ultra-safe seat. To be re-elected, the party in government will always be more focused on securing return of marginal seats. That may explain why the West does not seem to be very high on the priority or spending list at the moment.
The state opposition, however, promises to deliver safer communities and better services and has made it a priority.
“Along with Safer Communities and ending waste, Better Services will be a priority for a Liberal Nationals Government”, Mr Battin added.