Transport tip of the month – travelling to the CBD from North Balwyn and East Kew

tl;dr version – if you live in parts of North Balwyn and East Kew, you can get to the city quicker by changing from the 200 to the 905 rather than staying on one bus for the whole journey.

Living in northern Boroondara means learning to travel without a train. If you are heading towards this city, this usually means catching the 48 tram along Doncaster Road/High Street.

For other journeys, the bus is your best option. The 200/207 corridor provides services that run to Lonsdale Street via Studley Park Road, Johnston Street and Lygon Street. However, this may not be the fastest route.

The main option, if you live near Bulleen Road between the Eastern Freeway and Doncaster Road, is to catch the 200 and ride that into the city. But if you are willing to make one change and the timetables line up, you can save yourself a good 10-15 minutes (depending on the day and time).

The trick is to counterintuitively catch the 200 away from the city (i.e. towards Bulleen) and get off at the last stop before the Eastern Freeway. Then it’s a 200 metre (2 minute) walk to the bus stop on the on ramp for the Eastern Freeway, where you can catch the 905.

The 905 will run express along the Eastern Freeway to Hoddle Street, where it turns left and continues along Victoria Parade and into the CBD. This can shave precious minutes off your journey and, once again, if you are changing at Victoria Park or Collingwood Stations, that could mean the difference between catching your train or missing it.

This is a pretty niche transport tip, but if you live in this area or are just in the neighbourhood, it hopefully might help you get around a little bit quicker.