Dandenong residents are demanding more buses and weekend services on the popular 800 route

Frustrated commuters in Melbourne’s southeast are demanding an urgent fix to a vital bus route they have slammed for being “stuck in the 1950s”.

Public transport users in a fast-growing Melbourne suburb are lobbying for improvements to a busy bus route “stuck in the 1950s”.

The 800 bus route from Dandenong railway station to Chadstone shopping centre, via the Princes Highway, does not run on Sundays and offers a limited Saturday service, with buses arriving hourly until noon before switching to every two hours until 5.12pm.

The last bus from Dandenong station on weekdays terminates at 7.12pm at Chadstone, while the one going back towards Dandenong terminates at 8.02pm.

Residents along the route have taken to online petitions and social media to advocate for changes, including a seven-day service and longer operating hours during the week.

Regular 800 commuter Peter Parker, of Chelsea, said the route needed to be modernised.

“People complain about the parking and congestion at Chadstone and the bus could be a perfect way to get people to use other transport,” he said.

“It’s a service that gets used when it runs but the problem is it hardly runs when people need to use it.

“The last bus that leaves Chadstone is 3.50pm on a Saturday and all retail jobs go until at least 5pm or later and the bus just isn’t there. It’s basically got like 1950s type working patterns and the bus doesn’t really respond to modern travel needs.

“But the most important thing is a seven-day service on the route 800 and longer operating hours as well.

“We think a 9pm finish that’s a good starting point and would bring bus services in line with what you’d expect in other suburbs”.

The 800 bus is one of the services that has not returned to seven-day service since cuts were made in 1991.

Dandenong’s population has increased by 27,000 people in the past 20 years and was expected to grow by another 28,000 in the next 10 years, taking its population to more than 200,000.

The bus goes past Monash University and Oakleigh railway station, as well as through neighbouring suburbs Mulgrave, Clayton, Noble Park and Springvale.

The 800 makes up part of the 47 per cent of Dandenong buses that do not operate on Sundays, including the 802, 804, 814 and 844.

An online petition has gained 200 signatures from locals.

One person commented that they “work at a call centre on the Princes Hwy and would like to use it to travel to and from work but often cannot due to infrequent departures or none at all on Saturday afternoons and Sundays”.

Monash councillor and Eastern Transport Coalition chair Stuart James said it was “critical” that more bus services be added in the southeast.

“Bus reform across metro Melbourne needs to occur but particularly the 800 service. You’ve got Monash University just down the road, M-City has just been built with thousands of apartments and there’s no regular service to get people around,” he said.

“We’ve got a major transport corridor here and a particularly wide road, we should be running services really until 10 or 11pm”.

A state government spokesperson said: “We regularly review our public transport network to identify where improvements can be made and welcome feedback from the community,”

“We’re developing an integrated transport network including adding more train services and new High Capacity Trains to the Cranbourne-Pakenham line in recent years to enhance services for Dandenong residents.

“We’re better linking Dandenong to the city and local services including Chadstone shopping centre with high frequency services operating seven days a week.”