I travelled to the city of the replacement bus for route 19 today.

It was an utter shambles.

The journey from Brunswick Rd to the Haymarket took about 5 minutes - about right.

My fellow passengers and I then spent another 15 minutes winding around the streets of Carlton and North Melbourne before finally being allowed to disembark in Victoria St near Vic Market - where the route 19a shuttle from Flinders St station was terminating.

I attach a couple of pics - one of 5021 on shuttle duty making the unusual turn into Victoria St and another of the same car half way through the same turn in the opposite direction and holding up traffic because it had been held up by another tram in discharging passengers at the Vic Market stop.

I am at a loss to understand why they used the shunt in Victoria St rather than the shunt in Elizabeth St and why they routed the buses through the most congested part of the city on Sunday market days.

Mal Rowe - wondering if the diversion planning was done by head office in France.