Bikes on V-Line Bus- Coaches

 

A Bus-Coach taking copious amounts of luggage on a garden club tour. 

My bike on a V-Line Train-Coach on the recent Coleraine trip - no problems! 

Hi

Recently I returned from a train and bike trip to Coleraine which is documented here . There is a bus - coach service to Coleraine, but most bikes aren't allowed to be taken on it. I believe this is only for bureaucratic reasons, not because the Bus - Coaches can't, or can't safely carry a wider variety of bikes. Recently, the whole bikes  - on - public - transport - debate has been dominated by discussions on the safety of ebikes on public transport. Just to keep it simple, I'm leaving ebikes out of this blog post.

 The government should change the rules permanently and  allow bikes on all Vline bus-coaches. ( a few lines already allow this, see here for details.) These are different from city buses in that they have a long wide luggage bay below the passenger seats where bicycles can easily be - and are stored. During my trip along the Great Southern Rail Trail from Yarram, I thought how great that trip would be if it started with public transport to Yarram, rather than being forced to ride the busy roads from Traralgon to Yarram and the start of the rail trail.The regular Vline rules for bikes on bus-coaches mimic those for city buses. They allow bikes with 20" and smaller wheels all the time. Full size bikes are only allowed on V-line bus-coaches when the service is replacing a train service.

I have carried my recumbent on train replacement bus-coaches on at least two trips, once on my way back from an Otways Audax ride, and also on a return trip to Federation University in Ballarat. The sky did not fall in when the bus-coach carried a bike, nor would it if it carried bikes on regular services. 

For the recent trip to Coleraine, I arrived by bike and public transport but for many local, interstate and international tourists this would not be possible - I rode more than 100k in a day on trafficked roads to and from the nearest train stations. There is some great riding and touring to be done on quiet roads and a rail trail around Coleraine but getting there without a car is quite hard.

The Victorian state government is doing all it can in the current time of war and fuel crises to appease motorists, country people and commuters and keep them travelling, and getting to work affordably. It is not just about affording to get to work, people from the cities are needed in country pubs, motels, caravan parks, restaurants, cafes and shops to support tourism and towns. Subsidising diesel fuel is important too, as diesel engines run agricultural machinery and runs trucks which transport our goods.

Current Victorian measures to keep things moving include

Free public transport for April and May, and half price public transport for the rest of the year, 

A 25 c per litre reduction in petrol tax

Rebates on car registration fees. 

Allowing bicycles on all country bus-coaches would cost nothing but provide a great service to city and country dwellers and tourists alike. At the same time it would benefit country towns economically. The change would simply be a smart way of doing it with already made stuff.

 

2025 Great Southern Rail Trail

This post is retrospective! Last year I took a trip on the Great Southern Rail trail, but have only ever documented it on Instagram. So quite a bit later, I have decided to retrieve it and put it on my blog.

Why? Well I think this was one of the only trips on my Cruzbike Quest fitted with a tailbox, and the photos should give a feel for what its like. As well, I am suddenly keen to advocate for bicycles to be allowed on V-Line coaches, and this is good source material. I have included bonus photos at the end, but otherwise this is mostly as it appeared on the Insta. 
 

A week or so ago I took the train to Traralgon and rode to Yarram to ride the great Southern Rail Trail. This post is day 1, on the train to Traralgon, Traralgon to Yarram, and in Yarram.

 

Day2 of Great Southern Rail Trail trip was Yarram to Leongatha, about 107k. Its a great rail trail, no traffic except for the occasional dog walker and a few bikes. Was delighted to get into Meeniyan and see the other (ie not Ceres) bike rim dome. Knew it was there but had forgotten about it!

Fish Creek had the best facilities, toilets, tools shelter all right there on the rail trail. Author and illustrator Allison Lester has an entire shop about 100m from the track.

There was great, consistent signage from Port Albert to Leongatha, but this fell away from Leongatha to Nyora.

 

Day 3 started at the Leongatha pub where I stayed, continued on the rail trail to Nyora, where I stopped for coffee, a ham and cheese sandwich, dim sims, a visit to the op shop. Nice setup for the start of a rail trail, with the old train station in the centre of a big park with toilets, and a shop nearby.

After Nyora, I went North. Navigation from Nyora to Tynong was old school, using a map from RACV Vicroads Country Street Map of Victoria. Some rough roads - the best of the dirt roads was about the same as the worst of the rail trail. Unfortunately there was no train or bus from Tynong to Melbourne for a few hours, but I was able to phone-navigate via less trafficked roads to the start of the Melbourne local train network. Glad I had the big rest at Nyora.

There are plans for bike / rail trails to link Nyora to the rail trail at Anderson, and also to continue to Pakenham. Bring on these bike paths! Costs would be a pittance compared to https://bigbuild.vic.gov.au/ projects like the Suburban Rail Loop and Northeast Link.