Melbourne tram route 86

Route 86
Bundoora RMIT - Waterfront City Docklands
B class tram on Bourke Street
Overview
System	Melbourne
Operator	Yarra Trams
Depot	Preston
Vehicle	B class E class
Night-time	Friday & Saturday
Route
Locale	Melbourne, Australia
Start	Bundoora RMIT
Via	Reservoir Preston Thornbury Northcote Clifton Hill Collingwood Fitzroy East Melbourne Bourke Street
End	Waterfront City Docklands
Service
Journey time	65-90 minutes
Operates	Daily
Zone(s)	Free Zone: Stops D11-D1, 1-11 Myki Zone 1: Stops 12-51 Zone 1/2 overlap: Stops 52-71
Timetable	Route 86 timetable
Map	Route 86 map
Route map ← Route 82  {{{system_nav}}}  Route 96 →

Melbourne tram route 86 is operated by Yarra Trams on the Melbourne tram network. It operates from Bundoora RMIT to Waterfront City Docklands. The route is operated by B and E class trams from Preston depot.^[1][2]

History

A cable tram line operated by the Melbourne Tramway & Omnibus Company (MTOC) opened on 10 August 1887, operating along Bourke Street, Gertrude Street, Smith Street and Queens Parade to Merri Creek.^[3] On 18 February 1890 a group of Northcote land speculators built a line between the MTOC terminus and Dundas Street, the line was not as successful as they had hoped, closed down and reopened twice before the municipal government bought it in 1901 and leased out its operation.

At the end of the lease council took over operation for a short time. The MTOC line was taken over by the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board (MMTB) on 1 November 1919 with the Northcote Cable Tramway line coming under MMTB control on 20 February 1920.^[4]

The Fitzroy, Northcote & Preston Tramways Trust had started constructing a system but it wasn't until after its takeover by the MMTB that services first ran, on 1 April 1920, part of this system included a line from Dundas Street to Tyler Street.^[5] This network was orphaned from the rest of the electric network until 24 March 1925 when a line along Holden Street, Pilkington Street and Barkly Street was built by the MMTB to allow access to the CBD via Lygon Street.^[6]

The two cable lines were through routed by the MMTB, and operated until 26 October 1940, when the Bourke Street cable lines were abandoned in favour of double decker buses.^[7] The Bourke Street cable lines were the last cable trams to operate in Melbourne.

The MMTB, unhappy with the performance of the buses, decided to rebuild the lines as electric tram services when the buses became life expired. Trams first ran on route 88 (predecessor to the modern 86) on 26 June 1955, with Brunswick East starting operating on 6 May 1956.^[8][9]

On 18 May 1983, the suburban terminus was extended 1.2 kilometres from Tyler Street to Boldrewood Parade,^[10] then to 2.1 kilometres to La Trobe University on 10 January 1985, 2.9 kilometres to Settlement Road on 26 April 1987^[11][12][13] and to the current terminus at McKimmies Road on 12 October 1995.^[14] This final extension was funded as part of the Federal Government's Building Better Cities program.^[15]

As part of the Docklands redevelopment project, La Trobe Street was extended west over the Spencer Street railyards on 26 March 2000, and with this extension route 86 was extended along Spencer Street and La Trobe Street to Docklands Stadium.^[16][17][18]

On 27 July 2008 route 30 and route 86 swapped termini, with route 30 terminating in Harbour Esplanade at Central Pier, and route 86 being extended to Waterfront City.^[19]

In August 2008 route 86 was the first route to see tram based testing of the Myki ticketing system, using special services not open to normal fare-paying passengers.^[20]

A project to improve access through platform stops, perform track and overhead renewal and improve speed and reliability on a 6.8 km section of route 86, along High Street and Plenty Road, between Westgarth Street, Westgarth and Albert Street, Reservoir commenced in 2011.^[21][22]

Since April 2012, there has been a campaign for route 86 to be extended to South Morang station. This campaign has been run by community group the Friends of South Morang. The proposed extension is for the tram to go north on Plenty Road, turn left on Bush Boulevard and go towards the South Morang station, from there it will go through the Mill Park Lakes Estate to the intersection of The Lakes Boulevard and Plenty Road. This proposal can be seen on The South Morang future transport network map.^[23]

In January 2016, route 86 began operating through the night on Fridays and Saturdays as part of the Night Network.^[24]

In late November 2016, E-class trams commenced operation on the route.^[25] These trams are beneficial on the route which has the highest amount of superstop platforms of any route in Melbourne.^[26]

Route

Two route 86 trams pass each other on Plenty Road, Preston

Route 86 runs from Bundoora RMIT, travelling south on Plenty Road through the suburbs of, Reservoir and Preston, passing La Trobe University.

Plenty Road ends in Preston at Dundas Street and High Street, route 86 turns slightly into High Street and continues south through Thornbury and Northcote. It then crosses Merri Creek, continuing along Queens Parade Clifton Hill, heading south-west, turning south into Smith Street passing between Fitzroy and Collingwood.

Just before the end of Smith Street it turns west into Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, and south into Nicholson Street, Carlton, past the Royal Exhibition Building.

It enters the CBD on Spring Street turning west into Bourke Street at Parliament House, travels through the Bourke Street Mall and turns north into Spencer Street, passing Southern Cross station, it turns west at La Trobe Street, passing over the Spencer Street rail yards into Docklands, it travels north briefly on Harbour Esplanade before turning west into Docklands Drive, where it terminates at Waterfront City Docklands.

Operation

Route 86 is operated from Preston depot by B class trams and E class trams, although it is not uncommon for A class trams to be rostered.^[27]

Map

Route 86
Bundoora RMIT - Waterfront City Docklands via Preston, Northcote, Collingwood and City Free Tram Zone covers stops D11 to 11. Fare zone 1 applies from stop 12 to 71.
Suburb Street Stop No. Bundoora RMIT Connections Bundoora Plenty Road 71 McKimmies Road 562, 564, 566 570, 572, 573 70 Janefield Drive 572 69 Taunton Drive 68 Greenhills Road 67 Bundoora Square Shopping Centre 66 Settlement Road 902 65 Grimshaw Street 566, 902 64 Mount Cooper Drive 63 Greenwood Drive 566 62 Bundoora MFB 61 Bundoora Park 60 La Trobe University 250, 301, 350, 548 550, 551, 561, 566 Kingsbury Plenty Road 59 Prestonn Cemetery 58 Browning Street Reservoir Plenty Road 57 Reservoir High School 56 Loddon Avenue 55 Boldrewood Parade 556, 566, 567 54 Wilkinson Street 53 Ethel Grove Preston Plenty Road 52 Tyler Street 555, 562, 566, 567 Zone 1+2 Zone 1 51 Wood Street 50 Sylvester Grove 49 Murray Road 527, 903 48 Gower Street 47 Gower Street East Preston Depot (closed) 45 Bell Street 513 44 Osborne Grove 43 Raglan Street 42 Dundas Street 552, 553 Miller Street No Service Preston Depot/Workshops   Thornbury High Street 41 Collins Street Thornbury ● 40 Mansfield Street 39 Gooch Street 38 Normanby Avenue 510 37 Woolton Avenue 36 Darebin Road Croxton ● Northcote High Street 35 Dennis Street 34 Bent Street 33 Arthurton Road 508 Northcote ● 32 Mitchell Street 567 31 Northcote Town Hall 510 30 Clarke Street Westgarth ● 27 Westgarth Street 250, 251, 506 26 Walker Street Clifton Hill ●● Clifton Hill Queens Parade 25 Clifton Hill Interchange 246, 250, 251, 504 24 Michael Street 504, 546 23 Wellington Street 22 Smith Street 546 Collingwood Smith Street 21 Alexandra Parade 20 Keele Street 19 Johnston Street 200, 207 18 Hodgson Street 17 Charles Street 16 Peel Street 15 Gertrude Street Fitzroy Gertrude Street 14 Napier Street Brunswick Street Tram 11 West Preston   Collins Street 13 Brunswick Street 11 Nicholson Street Tram 96 East Brunswick     Nicholson Street 12 Melbourne Museum 96 Zone 1 Free Tram Zone Victoria Parade Tram 30 St Vincents Plaza   La Trobe Street 11 Victoria Parade Victoria Pde Melbourne Nicholson Street 10 Parliament Station Parliament Station City Loop Suburban Lines Spring Street Tram City Circle Flinders Street  La Trobe Street   Bourke Street 9 Spring Street City Circle 7 Russell Street 605 Swanston Street Tram 1, 3, 5, 6, 16, 64, 67, 72 Domain/St. Kilda Road   Melbourne University 6 Swanston Street 1, 3, 5, 6, 16, 64, 67, 72 5 Bourke Street Mall 19, 57, 59 Elizabeth Street Tram 19, 57, 59 Flinders Street Station   Haymarket/North Melbourne 4 Queen Street Queen St 3 William Street 58 Williams Street Tram 58 Domain/Toorak   West Coburg 1 Southern Cross Station 96 Spencer Street Tram 96 St Kilda Beach   Southern Cross ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●   Spencer Street 120 Lonsdale Street Lonsdale St 119 La Trobe Street 30 City Circle ; 216, 219 684 La Trobe Street Tram 30, City Circle     Melbourne Central La Trobe Street Bridge Docklands La Trobe Street D1 Etihad Stadium Docklands Harbour Esplanade Tram 70, 75, City Circle Flinders Street     Harbour Esplanade D2 Central Pier Harbour Esplanade 30, 70, 75, City Circle Footscray Road Siding   Docklands Drive D10 NewQuay D11 The District 70, City Circle Suburb Street Stop No. Waterfront City Docklands Connections
Note: Green denotes free tram zone

In popular culture

In 2010 Melbourne-based musical comedian The Bedroom Philosopher released an album Songs from the 86 Tram inspired by the tram route as well as an award-winning comedy show of the same name.^[28]

Route 95

Until 27 July 2014 additional capacity through the Melbourne CBD was provided by route 95 short workings from Melbourne Museum to Spencer Street via Bourke Street between 12:00 and 14:00 on weekdays.^[29][30]

References

External links

• Media related to Melbourne tram route 86 at Wikimedia Commons
• Route 86 map
• Route 86 timetable