Bendigo services regularly full according to commuter

The commuter, regularly takes the first service of the day - the 6.16am from Southern Cross - to Bendigo. They then cycles from the station to their day job.

"As this is the first service is it also very overcrowded by the time it reaches Castlemaine, in particular for bike riders like me," the commuter said.

"The train only has room for four bikes, but at times it will have upwards of eight to 10 needing to get on by the time it gets to Castlemaine."

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The lack of room for bicycles on the train means some people are asked to take the next service, which arrives in Bendigo at 9.23am.

"(With) even less room, the conductor will just not let those people (with bikes) on the train - suggesting we take the next one which is over an hour later," the commuter said.

"This has resulted in people getting to work late many times, or in the case of students, them having to stand on a platform in the rain and miss over an hour of school.

"We have complained many times for many years about this. V/Line says 'it is not a peak service' - even though it is the first service."

V/Line considers peak services to include trains that arrive in Melbourne before 9am or leave Melbourne between 4pm and 6am on weekdays.

The V/Line website says bicycles can be carried on trains if space is available with the conductor to determine if there is enough space.

A V/Line spokesperson said patronage on the first service to Bendigo can vary from day to day.

"We understand that the demand is high for services at busy times of day," the spokesperson said.

"We regularly monitor the popularity of services so we can allocate available carriages to meet demand across the network.

"We've introduced 38 extra weekly services on the Bendigo line in the past five years, and we're also stopping more trains than ever at Kangaroo Flat, Epsom and Eaglehawk to help people travel around greater Bendigo."

In September, the Bendigo line continued its consistent run of punctuality with 88.7 per cent of services on time to five minutes - the second highest monthly result for 2019.

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