By Tyler Wright
With buses replacing trains between Camberwell and Box Hill stations until late May 2023, disruptions on the Belgrave line are already increasing travel times for commuters.
Monbulk resident Marjorie Hau travels into the city twice a week to work as a teacher, and said fewer trains and bus delays have left her with a three hour long commute.
“I’ve always used the line, and when the disruptions were happening I heard about the express bus and I thought ‘oh, look, it might be an extra half an hour, and I’ll just take an early everything and I should be fine,'” Ms Hau said.
“It takes me an hour and a half, so it’s double the time, which is not what I expected; and the main problem has been the fact that there were fewer trains running from Belgrave in the morning and also the fact that the buses in the hills are consistently late.”
Ms Hau decided to try an alternative route; taking a bus to Oakleigh and catching the train on the uninterrupted line; leaving her home at 5.50am and arriving at work at 8.30am.
“It’s becoming like the weather. We talk about train problems and delays and frustration shared,” she said.
“It shouldn’t be like this.”
On her commute into Parkville from Mount Dandenong, Samantha Corbin said Monday and Friday commutes are smooth, with traffic volumes “progressively worse” on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
“The patterns have changed a bit since Covid…it used to be quite bad before Covid on all days, now it’s very it’s very day dependent; you can tell when people are taking their hybrid and flex days, and that’s usually towards Monday and Friday,” Ms Corbin said.
However what would usually be a 45 minute trip via the eastern freeway recently become an 80 minute journey on Monday 27 February, since works began on the Lilydale and Belgrave lines, Ms Corbin said.
“I don’t know whether people will get sick of driving and go back to the temporary public transport or whether I will just be leaving earlier until May 30 to get around It.”
With only one car in her family, Ms Hau said she is considering reaching out to other Hills locals to organise a carpool.
“We’re quite happy to have only one car because we do want to lower our impact. But looking at things right now, I am the one working in the city, so if I can’t rely on public transport, I’m going to have to end up having a car, whether it’s to drive to the city the whole way or even drive to a nearby station,” she said.
