Doncaster Busway
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The Eastern Busway is a bus rapid transit line under construction in the eastern suburbs of
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. It will operate alongside the Eastern Freeway, from Hoddle Street in Abbotsford to Doncaster Road in
Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...
. As a part of the
North East Link The North East Link is an under construction 10–kilometre tolled highway scheme in Melbourne, Australia. It will connect the Metropolitan Ring Road at Greensborough, Victoria, Greensborough with the Eastern Freeway (Melbourne), Easter ...
project and Eastern Freeway upgrade, the entire busway is expected to commence construction in 2024 and be completed by 2028.


History

The concept of a busway between the
Melbourne CBD The Melbourne central business district (colloquially known as "the City" or "the CBD", and gazetted simply as Melbourne) is the city centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. As of the 2021 census, the CBD had a population of 54,941, and is ...
and Doncaster was first proposed by
Transdev Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a France-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020. Transdev was formed on 3 April 2011 via the merg ...
, a French transport company that operated buses in Melbourne from 2013 to 2022, running from Donvale Hospital then along Doncaster Road, through the median of the Eastern Freeway, Hoddle Street, Victoria Parade and
Lonsdale Street Lonsdale Street is a main street and thoroughfare in the Melbourne central business district, Australia. It runs roughly east–west and was laid out in 1837 as one of Melbourne's original boundaries within the Hoddle Grid. The street ext ...
to a new underground bus terminus at Southern Cross Station. It also included stations at Chandler Highway, Burke Road and Bulleen Road. Originally known as the Doncaster Busway, the project was estimated to cost over 500 million
Australian dollars The Australian dollar (currency sign, sign: $; ISO 4217, code: AUD; also abbreviated A$ or sometimes AU$ to distinguish it from other dollar, dollar-denominated currencies; and also referred to as the dollar or Aussie dollar) is the official ...
. However, the proposal was rejected by the
Victorian State Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as the Victorian Government, is the executive government of the Australian state of Victoria. As a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, the State Government was first formed in 1851 when Vic ...
. There has also been a proposal to use trackless trams for the busway. In November 2017, the Andrews government announced the government's proposal of the busway as a part of the North East Link project. It will run from
Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...
via dedicated bus lanes on the Eastern Freeway to Hoddle Street, with a new bus station at the
Bulleen Road Bulleen Road is a 4 kilometre long road in north-eastern Melbourne, Australia serving the suburbs of Bulleen and Balwyn North, which can be seen as an alternative thoroughfare between Heidelberg and Doncaster via the Eastern Freeway. Since t ...
intersection. It had been planned for the busway to run along the median in the Eastern Freeway, but has since changed to be built adjacent north of the freeway to better integrate with the intermediate station at Bulleen. The Manningham Council had expressed their support for the facility due to its public space inclusion and public transport benefits. The first part of the busway, Bulleen Park & Ride, has opened in April 2023. Construction of the main busway will commence in 2024.


Stations


Doncaster Park & Ride

The park-and-ride was opened in January 2003 by the Bracks government partnered with the former National Bus Company. It will be rebuilt as part of the construction of the project to enable entry to the busway.


Bulleen Park & Ride

The station cost $69 million
AUD The Australian dollar ( sign: $; code: AUD; also abbreviated A$ or sometimes AU$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; and also referred to as the dollar or Aussie dollar) is the official currency and legal tender of Au ...
, and opened on 30 April 2023 four years ahead of schedule along with timetable and route changes. It is fast-tracked due to expected impacts to Doncaster Park & Ride, which will be closed during its rebuild for the construction of the busway, and completing the facility early will remove the need for building a temporary park and ride station at the Doncaster interchange.


See also

*
Doncaster railway line The Doncaster railway line was a long-proposed suburban railway in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, that was anticipated to be built by the late 2020s, as a branch, along with the Hurstbridge line, of the planned future ...


References

{{Melbourne public transport Proposed buildings and structures in Melbourne Bus rapid transit in Australia