Fawkner needs much better public transport. Currently there is a big push to upgrade the Upfield rail corridor to enable train services to run every 10 minutes. This upgrade is essential. It is one of Merri-bek Council’s main advocacy priorities for the 2026 state election.

But is it enough? The distance between train stations is long (over 1.5 km between Fawkner and Gowrie stations). Moreover, the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) is to have a station in Fawkner, so it will be increasingly important to have good public transport links.

Many train users take a bus (or tram) to reach the station. But Fawkner bus services are poor. So what about also having a frequent service running along Sydney Road? Council was discussing it in 2022 and 2023. So what has happened?

Currently Fawkner residents have access to infrequent, unreliable services on the Upfield line, and two inadequate bus services. The 530 bus runs between Coburg and Campbellfield Plaza every 30 mins (or 40 mins on Sundays). The route is very indirect, so the journey is long. The 531 bus is more direct, so travel time is short. It starts at the terminus of tram route 19, and runs up straight up Sydney Road through to Upfield Station (with a small detour in Campbellfield). But it runs only once an hour on weekdays and not after 8pm, with no service at all on the weekends.

There has long been talk of extending tram route 19 up to Gowrie Station or beyond. See here and here. However, there is a large interstate gas main running through the centre median of this section of Sydney Road. So extending the tram line would be very costly.

Enter the Fawkner Tram Link. The Fawkner Tram Link is a proposal to run a frequent shuttle bus service from the terminus of tram route 19 up Sydney Road. In effect, this means running the 531 bus route far more frequently, from early morning to late at night, seven days a week.

The proposal was described in a 2022 report entitled “Analysis of Route 531” published by the Consultancy Movement and Place. You can read it here. The report noted that there was such a “tram link” in the eastern suburbs: bus route 732, which is an extension of tram route 75, and runs frequently.

The Northern Region Transport Study Stage 2 published in 2022 proposed:

The service level on Route 531 should be increased to include a service every 15 minutes seven days a week – noting that tram Route 19 operates every 6 minutes on weekdays and every 8 minutes on Saturday and Sunday. This solution would lead to roughly every second tram meeting a Route 531 bus for passengers to continue their journey.

In August 2022, Council endorsed the Northern Region Bus Strategy, and resolved that it would write to the Minister for Public Transport for a Fawkner Tram Link shuttle bus service. Council’s Transport Projects page states:

Council resolved to advocate for a ‘Tram Link’ shuttle bus service to significantly increase frequency and operational hours of bus route 531 to align with the operation of tram route 19. The key benefits of upgrading route 531 to the shuttle service include:

• The equivalent of an extension of the route 19 tram service in a cost effective and timely manner.
• An effective transit link to address some of the urban population growth in the corridor.
• Direct and frequent access to high quality east/west bus services for Fawkner and other residents on/near Sydney Road.
• Reliable access to employment in the Campbellfield industrial area.
• A reliable means of returning home for Fawkner and other residents on the occasions the Upfield Train Line has unscheduled cancellations north of Coburg.
• Reduced traffic congestion on Sydney Road.
• An effective increase of public transport services in the Upfield transport corridor.
• An interim service measure that addresses a service shortfall caused by the absence of a railway station at Campbellfield.
• Providing a high-quality transit “spine” on Sydney Road that enables other Fawkner bus services to be considered for the provision of direct east west oriented transport connections that connect to Glenroy and Merlynston Railway Stations.

In March 2023, a report on the Fawkner Transport Study went to Council. While noting that the Upfield line upgrade was Council’s leading transport advocacy item, it also discussed the Fawkner Tram link.

Extending Tram 19 to Fawkner
While residents suggested advocating for an extension of Tram 19 to Fawkner,
Council recently investigated this idea and it is not considered to be as high a priority as the extension and duplication of the Upfield Line and is not included in the advocacy plan at this time.

However, the idea of a ‘Tram Link’ service of high frequency, long span buses was considered to be a cost-effective alternative. This would enable a significant boost to services north of the tram terminus in Bakers Road as a medium-term measure.

Bus service review and improvement
Many respondents cited low frequency, slow running and lack of evening and weekend services as barriers to using the local bus service. The two routes in Fawkner (530 and 531) suffer from a lack of directness, low spread of hours, lack of services in evenings and weekends, and do not provide a broad choice of destinations.

In August 2022, Council wrote to the Minister for Public Transport seeking consideration of upgrading all bus services in the municipality to provide full weekend and full evening operation, as well as consideration of an upgrade of bus route 531 to act as a ‘Tram Link’ service (as above), following Council’s consideration of the Northern Region Transport Strategy (bus).

Apart from a caretaker noting response received during the State Election 2022
caretaker period, no response has been received. The matter will be followed up by Officers.

In September 2022, the State Government announced a Northern Bus Reform Review for services in the municipalities of Darebin, Hume and Merri-bek. Staff from the Department of Transport met with Council officers to introduce the review. The key objective of the review was to create route services that were more direct, faster and more frequent. Transport officials have not been in touch with Council on this work since the Victorian State Election on 26 November 2022, and it will be raised at the next regular meeting between Council and the Department of Transport and Planning. The matter of the ‘Tram Link’ bus service will also be raised at that time.

Since then, we haven’t heard much. We have written to the Council asking for an update, and will publish it when it arrives.

Another consideration is road safety. The terminus of tram 19 is at the intersection of Sydney Road and Bakers Road. This intersection is one of the worst in Merri-bek for pedestrian crashes. Two pedestrian have been killed there in recent years, one in 2016 and another in 2022, and there have been numerous pedestrian injuries. They main cause has been vehicles turning right from Bakers Road south into Sydney Road and failing to give way to pedestrians going to and from the tram terminus. Public transport users transferring between tram 19 and bus 531 need to be safe. This whole intersection needs to be redesigned for pedestrian safety. See also Liveable Sydney Road campaign. They are currently running a petition to parliament.