CAM is campaigning for better bus services in Merri-bek. And campaign wins must be celebrated. On Sunday July 26, we celebrated the start of Sunday and evening services on the 536 bus route, which runs from Glenroy Station to Gowrie Station. We presented the bus driver with chocolates to share at the depot and a souvenir brochure about the 536 bus, and then took a bus ride from Glenroy to Gowrie and back.
Before the recent upgrade, the 536 bus did not run on Sundays. There were no weekday services after 8pm, and no Saturday services after 6pm. The 7 day service on 536 bus campaign started in 2023, calling for Sunday services and longer hours. The campaign was supported by Kathleen Matthews-Ward, MP for Broadmeadows, and from 2025 by Climate Action Merri-bek. The May 2025 state budget included funding for the the upgrade.
The new timetable means that 536 bus runs till abut 11pm on weekdays and Saturdays, and till about 10pm on Sundays. Unfortunately the frequency has not been improved (it’s still ever 30 minutes on weekdays and every 40 mins on weekends.) But the extended operating hours will help Glenroy and Hadfield residents get around more sustainably and cheaply.
Peter Parker prepared a souvenir brochure on the history of the 536 bus route, which we handed out to passengers. Here is the history.
What we now know as bus route 536 dates back to 1955 when it ran from Glenroy to Glen St East Glenroy as Route 133A. Its operator was W King who later traded as Westbreen – Glenroy Bus Service.
The route was extended to Justin Street in August 1957. Then Broadmedows Station in October 1957 under the Northern Bus Service name. Jacana station opened in 1959. Route 133A was shortened back to Glenroy – East Glenroy. However the route was extended to Gowrie in 1969.The new bus route numbering system of 1971 saw the 133A become the 536. Both 534 and 536 used Glenroy Rd, View St and Bourchier St at the time. Both routes changed to run via Daley St instead of View St in 1972.
Route 536 got extended to K-Mart Campbellfield in August 1973 but this was withdrawn a couple of years later. Also in the 1970s Route 534 was removed from Daley St. Night and public holiday services operated between Glenroy and West St only.
The 1987 timetable shows that these short trips applied on Sundays as well. Other features of this timetable included buses running every 20 minutes on weekdays and Saturday mornings, a 15 minute peak frequency and a number of buses operating via Evell St to improve coverage of the northern part of Glenroy. Evening and Saturday afternoon service was typically every 30 minutes. Service on the full route finished around 6 or 7pm with buses continuting to approximately 9pm between Glenroy and West St. The Sunday service, also on the short route, operated between about 2 and 6pm though buses were every 20 minutes.
Similar to buses across Melbourne, a major timetable cut on 11 November 1991 deleted all Sunday, public holiday and after 7pm trips from the 536. Saturday frequency got reduced to every 30 minutes. In later years weekday frequency was similarly reduced from 20 to 30 minutes, removing regular connectivity with trains every 20 minutes.
This makes the 26 July 2026 timetable the first in nearly 35 years to upgrade service on the 536 bus with restored Sunday service (along the whole route) and extended operating hours.
Truly a day to celebrate!
CAM is now running a campaign for a frequency upgrade on the 534 bus, which runs from Glenroy to Coburg. You can follow the campaign here and sign the petition.
More historical information on the 536 bus here:
- BCSV route histories https://bcsv.org.au/vm/melbourne-private-bus-routes-until-1990-500-599/
- Victorian Govt Gazette 6 Jan 1955 https://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/images/1955/V/general/1.pdf
- Melbourne on Transit article Short on hours long on usage – Glenroy’s 536 bus