Yarraville - a little changed bus terminal

[system improver]

At Yarraville Railway Station, there is a bus terminal on the western side of the station which accommodates three services. While it is not new, I have often wondered just when it was constructed. With the help of Frances at the Footscray Historical Society in providing a photo from the 1948/49 city engineer's report which was captioned A Modern Bus Terminal, I am closer to the answer. In this series of pictures, you can see what it looked like 60 years ago (probably soon after it was constructed) and what it looks like today, both as a structure and as a working terminal.
60 years ago

Today in B&W

Today in colour


And whilst the services that arrive at the terminal have not changed too much over the years, the operators have. Here is a 1969 shot by Graeme Turnbull which shows Hi-Way Busways operating the Footscray-South Kingsville route 105A , renumbered route 429 in 1971 and subsequently replaced by route 432 (date?). The vehicle is a Piper bodied Bedford VAS which was new 11/64 and reg JCV 475. Behind it, is McConnell's Bus Lines Cheetham & Borwick Bedford SB3 new 3/65 reg JES 941 operating route 101A, Yarraville to Geelong Road, renumbered as route 430 in 1971 and subsequently replaced by route 431 (date?). Both renumberings resulted in route changes as well. On the opposite side of the terminal, is a Sitch CAC Bedford(reg HHW 284) of 2/61operating the 109A Yarraville to Footscray route, renumbered 409 in 1971.



Forty years on, these three routes still arrive at the Yarraville terminal, although the bigger buses have a little more trouble fitting in on the eastern side. Route 409 operated by Westrans is now owned by CDC, only this month passing from Keffords. Route 432 is now operated by Sita having acquired C Nidis in 1979, which had acquired Hi-Way in 1974 and now goes to (circuitously) Newport. Route 431 is also operated by Sita, which was acquired from Murray Coaches which, in turn, had purchased McConnell's BL in 1969.



There has been some lighting added, some alterations to the seating and an update to the toilets. Oh, and there is some obligatory graffiti! Other than that, I note that, like so many suburbs, the local Woolworths (before they sold food) has been replaced - this time by trees (partially). The railway gates (hidden in the original photo) have been replaced by booms and people no longer park their cars at the terminal. Perhaps they didn't have inspectors 60 years ago or the installation of a sign did the trick.

[leopard1543]

That's amazing after all those years. I looks nearly identical

[mjja]

I used Yarraville once and the overwhelming impression I got was that it was too small for modern buses. It would suit minis or midis just fine, but the corners are too tight for 12m jobs.

Interesting pics, thanks SI.

[RailwayBus]

Here is a 1969 shot by Graeme Turnbull which shows Hi-Way Busways operating the Footscray-South Kingsville route 105A , renumbered route 429 in 1971 and subsequently replaced by route 432 (date?).

Behind it, is McConnell's Bus Lines Cheetham & Borwick Bedford SB3 new 3/65 reg JES 941 operating route 101A, Yarraville to Geelong Road, renumbered as route 430 in 1971 and subsequently replaced by route 431 (date?). Both renumberings resulted in route changes as well.

I think it was the 30th of June, 2008.

[Coach_Captain]

and people no longer park their cars at the terminal. Perhaps they didn't have inspectors 60 years ago or the installation of a sign did the trick.

Haha... When I worked at Sita, you would come into Yarraville Station between 4-6:15pm, and you would get cars parked at the bus terminus waiting for people from the train. I would then beep at them, to which they would move right up to the end of the terminus area.
Then when I worked at Westrans on the 409, it was the same. But then you would be turning from Canterbury Street into the terminus, most times during afternoon peak, a car would drive up the wrong way through the bus terminus.

Just a question for others... How many other suburban terminus' have an Australian Flag flying??

[system improver]

...Just a question for others... How many other suburban terminus' have an Australian Flag flying??

Dunno about the flag, but many Rly Stns in Melbourne do not have bus stops anywhere near them. The routes of the past, which still mainly operate today, have stops in side streets or no where near the train station.

Rule 1: every station should be serviced by a local bus running at the same frequency as the train. Sadly, Rule 1 is largely ignored in old systems like Melbourne because any review refuses to address the hard issues, because someone from PAE (People Against Everything) will complain to the local news rag about their local bus service, which has only one passenger (them), being changed, which will then be picked up by Ratbags Tonight on Seven and, that will be that.

[RailwayBus]

...Just a question for others... How many other suburban terminus' have an Australian Flag flying??

Dunno about the flag, but many Rly Stns in Melbourne do not have bus stops anywhere near them. The routes of the past, which still mainly operate today, have stops in side streets or no where near the train station.

Rule 1: every station should be serviced by a local bus running at the same frequency as the train. Sadly, Rule 1 is largely ignored in old systems like Melbourne because any review refuses to address the hard issues, because someone from PAE (People Against Everything) will complain to the local news rag about their local bus service, which has only one passenger (them), being changed, which will then be picked up by Ratbags Tonight on Seven and, that will be that.

At least rule 1 is met at Moonee Ponds and Essendon, on routes 467 and 465 respectively. (Go Ryans!)

[VQ]

That JCV475 looks like the donut bus that is at Victoria Market.

[krustyklo]

Rule 1: every station should be serviced by a local bus running at the same frequency as the train. Sadly, Rule 1 is largely ignored in old systems like Melbourne because any review refuses to address the hard issues, because someone from PAE (People Against Everything) will complain to the local news rag about their local bus service, which has only one passenger (them), being changed, which will then be picked up by Ratbags Tonight on Seven and, that will be that.

The latest reviews seem to address these issues. In the Banyule review the final report makes comments that routes serving railway stations where significant numbers of people interchange should have 20 or 60 minute clockface frequencies. It notes that this issue is not specific to Banyule so I'm guessing that all the reviews will have this recommendation along with the long explanation using parts of research reports. The justification might be interesting to some of you into planning as it discusses the effects of poor service frequencies on interchange opportunities and other similar stuff.

As for the latter part of the quote above, the Banyule report includes in full the short submissions and a summary of the longer ones and there is a smattering of 'don't improve the buses as they go past my house and it is annoying having buses make a noise late at night' type submissions.