Melbourne bus route 901

Melbourne bus route 901 is a bus route operated by Kinetic Melbourne between Frankston station and Melbourne Airport in Melbourne, Australia. It is part of the SmartBus network.

History
In the late 2000s and early 2010s, orbital bus routes began being introduced in Melbourne as an alternative form of public transport to trains which allowed people to get to major areas without needing to go via the city. SmartBus Route 901 was introduced on 24 March 2008 as the yellow orbital and operated from Frankston station to Ringwood station, absorbing route 665 (operated by Invicta Bus Services) and routes 830 (operated by Grenda's Bus Services). The new route was initially jointly operated by Grenda's and Invicta, and the latter was bought over by Grenda in 2009.

In September 2010, route 901 was extended to Melbourne Airport, replacing part of East West Bus Company route 571, making it Melbourne's second longest bus route by distance and longest by total journey time. East West then also became an operator of the route.

In 2012, the route became operated by East West and Ventura Bus Lines, after Ventura bought Grenda. The route was then fully taken over by Transdev Melbourne in 2013, and then by Kinetic Melbourne in January 2022.

Route
Route 901 operates from Frankston station to Melbourne Airport via the outer eastern and northern suburbs of Melbourne. It travels via Dandenong station, Westfield Knox, Ringwood station, Blackburn station, The Pines Shopping Centre, Greensborough Station, South Morang station, Epping station, Broadmeadows station and Gladstone Park.

Vehicles
Route 901 was initially operated by a dedicated fleet of Volgren bodied Mercedes-Benz OC500LEs painted in SmartBus silver and orange livery. These have been supersed by Gemilang and Volgren bodied Scanias in standard Public Transport Victoria livery.