Bus Route History Research

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krustyklo
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Bus Route History Research

Post by krustyklo »

Whilst one of my interests has been bus routes and timetables and the way they have changed over the years, I have no real idea how to go about researching the topic. Does anyone have any tips or clues for where to start apart from getting hold of relevant timetables or public transport maps? I have quite a number of these already that I am working my way through and once I have full time employment again may try and acquire some through the AATTC auctions. At the moment I'm exploring the 'free' options... :D

For example, I would expect that changes to bus routes would have been in the Victorian Government Gazette but a quick search doesn't seem to turn up much. Are there any tips on how to get the Gazette search to produce the information I am interested in? Or were changes published elsewhere?

Thanks in advance for any advice.
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RailwayBus
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Re: Bus Route History Research

Post by RailwayBus »

There is a book on the history of bus routes written by Graeme Cleak. Not sure where to obtain it from but I've been wondering myself, I might email Graeme in the morning and find out.
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huyie
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Re: Bus Route History Research

Post by huyie »

Perhaps try visiting the Victorian Archive Centre in North Melbourne?
I'm assuming you're after stuff like this? http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/images/12903 ... 20-210.asp http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/images/12903 ... 20-220.asp
Peter1805
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Re: Bus Route History Research

Post by Peter1805 »

Craig has some info re old bus routes on his website, accessible via his profile. Not sure how far back you're hoping to look.

Perhaps the local councils may have some info?
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system improver
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Re: Bus Route History Research

Post by system improver »

RailwayBus wrote:There is a book on the history of bus routes written by Graeme Cleak...
The History of Melbourne Bus Routes was published by the Bus & Coach Society of Victoria in its journals from 1984 to 1992 (Fleetline Vol 9, No 112 Nov 1984 and then Australian Bus Panorama to Jan 1991 for the current routes, and then during 1992 for the original routes). There is no single "book" with this information.

In a separate thread last year, volunteers were sought to transcribe the work that was done by Graeme in these journals into a Word document with the view to using it to update the route histories from 1991 to the present and to then publish the work. Much of this has been done and work proceeds as time permits. On occasions, requests regarding route histories have been individually met through a post on the board.

My intention is to tap into the knowledge of board members to assist in the update by progressively posting a route and seeking additions. Of course, over the last few years, there has been quite an "explosion" of route changes, which has somewhat delayed this process.
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krustyklo
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Re: Bus Route History Research

Post by krustyklo »

Craig has some info re old bus routes on his website, accessible via his profile. Not sure how far back you're hoping to look.
The website in Craig's profile is actually that of another member of the board :D Whilst it provides a small amount of info as far back as 2000, it probably isn't quite what I'm after as the information is brief and the links are broken anyway (I gather they're to old websites eg buslines.com.au). Thanks anyway.
Perhaps try visiting the Victorian Archive Centre in North Melbourne? I'm assuming you're after stuff like this? http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/images/12903 ... 20-210.asp http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/images/12903 ... 20-220.asp
That is certainly helpful, I'll have to hunt around and see if there is anything other than railway buses.
The History of Melbourne Bus Routes was published by the Bus & Coach Society of Victoria in its journals from 1984 to 1992 (Fleetline Vol 9, No 112 Nov 1984 and then Australian Bus Panorama to Jan 1991 for the current routes, and then during 1992 for the original routes). There is no single "book" with this information.

In a separate thread last year, volunteers were sought to transcribe the work that was done by Graeme in these journals into a Word document with the view to using it to update the route histories from 1991 to the present and to then publish the work. Much of this has been done and work proceeds as time permits. On occasions, requests regarding route histories have been individually met through a post on the board.

My intention is to tap into the knowledge of board members to assist in the update by progressively posting a route and seeking additions. Of course, over the last few years, there has been quite an "explosion" of route changes, which has somewhat delayed this process.
That sounds interesting. That is pretty much the sort of thing I was hoping to find out, although as I was hoping to post what I found on a website if it was relevant then it may not be helpful other than for personal interest! In addition I was hoping to trace the changes to timetables over time as well starting small (ie focussing on relatively recent history with the info I already have) and adding to it as I found more information. Still, it seems if you're already doing the same thing, I might be better off doing something else...
huyie
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Re: Bus Route History Research

Post by huyie »

krustyklo wrote:the links are broken anyway (I gather they're to old websites eg buslines.com.au)
You can still access some of links via http://www.archive.org/web/web.php as suggested.
e.g. http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www ... /821.shtml
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1whoknows
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Re: Bus Route History Research

Post by 1whoknows »

In between Fleet Line and ABP some of the route info material appeared in Australian Bus Heritage which was a second journal produced by the BCSV for several years after splitting from Fleet Line.
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system improver
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Re: Bus Route History Research

Post by system improver »

1whoknows wrote:In between Fleet Line and ABP some of the route info material appeared in Australian Bus Heritage which was a second journal produced by the BCSV for several years after splitting from Fleet Line.
Yep, left that out, from April 1986 to June 1990 in fact, an excellent publication with some lovely research, thanks (mainly) to Fred Coulson.
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Craig
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Re: Bus Route History Research

Post by Craig »

Image
BCSV Wednesday Routes

In a new weekly feature, the Bus & Coach Society of Victoria is taking a look back on routes and timetables of the past.

We start with Graeme Cleak's expertly researched notes on the original (pre-1971) Routes 1 to 40, all of which ran within an 8 mile radius of Melbourne's GPO.

Visit https://bcsv.org.au/vm/original-bus-routes-1-to-40/
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