Eastern Busway, Melbourne

The Eastern Busway is a bus rapid transit line under construction in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. It will operate alongside the Eastern Freeway, from Hoddle Street in Abbotsford to Doncaster Road in Doncaster. As a part of the North East Link project and Eastern Freeway upgrade, the entire busway is expected to commence construction in 2024 and be completed by 2028.

History
The concept of a busway between the Melbourne CBD and Doncaster was first proposed by Transdev, a French transport company that operated buses in Melbourne from 2013 to 2022, running from Donvale Hospital then along Doncaster Road, through the median of the Eastern Freeway, Hoddle Street, Victoria Parade and Lonsdale Street to a new underground bus terminus at Southern Cross Station. It also included stations at Chandler Highway, Burke Road and Bulleen Road. Originally known as the Doncaster Busway, the project was estimated to cost over 500 million Australian dollars. However, the proposal was rejected by the Victorian State Government. There has also been a proposal to use trackless trams for the busway.

In November 2017, Andrews government announced the government's proposal of the busway as a part of the North East Link project. It will run from Doncaster via dedicated bus lanes on the Eastern Freeway to Hoddle Street, with a new bus station at the Bulleen Road intersection. It had been planned for the busway to run along the median in the Eastern Freeway, but has since changed to be built adjacent north of the freeway to better integrate with the intermediate station at Bulleen. The Manningham Council had expressed their support for the facility due to its public space inclusion and public transport benefits.

The first part of the busway, Bulleen Park and Ride, has opened in April 2023. Construction of the main busway will commence in 2024.

Doncaster Park and Ride
The park-and-ride was opened in January 2003 by the Bracks government partnered with the former National Bus Company. It will be rebuilt as part of the construction of the project to enable entry to the busway.

Bulleen Park and Ride
The station cost $69 million AUD, and opened on 30 April 2023 four years ahead of schedule along with timetable and route changes. It is fast-tracked due to expected impacts to Doncaster Park and Ride, which will be closed during its rebuild for the construction of the busway, and completing the facility early will remove the need for building a temporary park and ride station at the Doncaster interchange.