Doncaster Park and Ride an overcrowded nightmare for long-suffering bus commuters

THINK your morning commute is a nightmare? Spare a thought for the long-suffering people in Melbourne’s east. No trains or trams, scarce parking and deep queues for overcrowded buses.

Queues at the Doncaster Park and Ride are often 70-people deep.

IF YOU’RE wondering why passengers of the Doncaster Park and Ride are fed-up with the service, just jump on a bus — that’s assuming you can.

Leader reporter Andrew Rogers enjoys the view of bus graffiti.

After a series of complaints to Leader from irate commuters who catch the bus into the city daily, I was left with the simple assignment of checking it out for myself.

Only it turned out not to be simple: it was crowded, frustrating and potentially a safety hazard.

My day started much as I expected — stressing out over finding a park.

I’d been warned I would be unlikely to find a free spot after 8am.

And I didn’t.

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I got there around 8.15am and the only free spot was on a nearby side street about 1km away.

I wasn’t doing much parking at the Park and Ride.

Worse was to come.

The queue to the bus was long — about 30 people deep.

The bloke in front of me told me I should be grateful. This was a lot shorter than the 8am queue, which could blow out to 70-people long.

What a way to start the day.

Employing some much-needed assertiveness [read, Yours Truly elbowed his way in with the rest of them], I was able to get on the bus, although I quickly realised I wouldn’t be getting a seat.

Or even particularly far into the vehicle.

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You get to REALLY know your fellow commuters on the crowded buses.

Initially I stood in front of the safety line, potentially obscuring the driver’s view.

For the uninitiated, like myself, this is a line painted on the floor that you have to stand behind — if you don’t you might be obscuring the driver’s view of his mirrors.

Leader reporter Peter Strachan tells a tale of commuter woe on the terrible Thompsons Rd carpark

I wasn’t the only one who made that mistake.

Two more passengers did exactly the same thing, forcing the driver to tell them to move.

But they were lucky to be on the trip at all — our driver had told those behind them in the queue that the bus was full. He promised them another city-bound service was only a few minutes behind him.

Get a grip — if you can.

I often catch the train and so I know a kind of camaraderie develops among those who catch public transport. A kind of us against the system.

I hoped they weren’t late for work.

Ensuring you have a rail to hold onto to avoid bumping into fellow passengers also proved a challenge — here I feel compelled to apologise to the tall bloke in front of me.

If you’re reading this, mate, sorry.

The journey in along the Eastern was a breeze — a 40 minute trip all-up.

Once in the city, traffic slowed to a crawl and as we headed down Victoria Pde.

I'm grateful the bus has a priority lane as we turn in to Hoddle St and I check out the gridlock.

More people hopped off, meaning although there was still no sitting room, we were a bit less squashed.

Around Queen St, a few seats became vacant and I managed to grab one and give my feet a break.

On the trip back the bus was virtually empty, affording me a panoramic view of the graffiti covering almost every square inch.

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No seat in the back section of the bus was spared.

There was tagging on the walls, windows, and even the roof of the bus.

Graffiti is costing Transdev more than $1 million a year to clean up. Picture: Kylie Else

It’s pretty depressing to think that Transdev is forced to fork out a cool million dollars across its fleet cleaning up after vandals.

And it’s pretty depressing for Manningham commuters that this is the only area in Melbourne that has no tram or train. The bus is all they have.

I can see why they’re fed-up.