The middle Melbourne rail loop – Cheltenham to Box Hill for starters – will go on through the west and north and on toward the Airport, Sunshine, and Werribee. And all underground too, costing billions that Victoria cannot possibly afford.

Yes, say the protagonists, but it’s ‘infrastructure’ and we have got to have it or die of suburban atrophy. We have to join up a Clayton transport hub, Monash education hub, Waverley medical centre, industry and office compounds, and the Box Hill business hub which is rearing up already.

Dan’s Folly or Dan’s Vision?

On a street corner in Brighton, I see a bus terminal. 703 – Brighton to Blackburn. That’s almost the eastern rail loop route, which will be up and about by 2035. That is a long time, but I’ve got little time today, so let’s see what happens along this 30km stretch of middle Melbourne.

One thing about a bus, you know you’ve been on one… They rattle, they shake, they swerve, and they brake. This is no joy ride, but a bump and grind from solitary start to lonely finish.

The driver has me as his lone passenger for the first 20 minutes as he sweeps through the wide and leafy Brighton streets and into Centre Road. Then we stop for a couple of students, hoods up, eyes down, and iPhones front and centre.

Centre Road, past Bentleigh station, and through to East Bentleigh we find one of the great strip shopping lanes of Melbourne – with everything any human or pet might need. There is also an amazing number of Asian restaurants along the stretch – Ripples, Mr Fong, Pho Ga, Ping’s Dumpling Kitchen, Wang’s, Formosa’s, Silky Emperor, Mai Hing, Spicy Dragon, Tasty BBQ – on and on. On a rough count of population versus restaurant, there seems to be a restaurant for every 400 Bentlarians.

The same ratio runs right through the bus route, so we know where they go on a Friday night.

The shopping street is busy with foot traffic and cars duelling for parking spaces. Then we are right through Bentleigh and East Bentleigh – all four of us, plus the driver.

We roll into golf course country – signified by high fences shielding the precious sand-belt precincts of Commonwealth, Huntingdale, and Metropolitan. Here the bus stops … and stays. It idles for 10 minutes before lurching off again through lowly Clarinda and Clayton. This area, as seen from the bus, is mostly run-down houses and barren gardens, just ripe to be stripped away for a modern housing precinct.

Now the stops are frequent as a crowd of citizens struggle on with baskets, bags, and shopping trollies.

It’s a flurry of life – we turn (at last!) into Station Street, Clayton and a gaggle of shops (plenty of Asian restaurants of course) which includes the Clayton Market. They are pouring on and off here, the newcomers laden with produce. The driver has a tough job as he struggles a ramp out and a legless man in a wheelchair is hauled aboard.

Aah, here is a hook up to modernity – the new Clayton Station and the pride of Dan’s big build, the mighty overhead rail which has cut out all those level crossings. It’s impressive and its walkway and gardens belie all those doomsayers who predicted a wasteland of weeds and needles.

After a few stops the shoppers are gone and we are left with students and the wheelchair man as we cross North Road, into Wellington Road, and into the campus of Monash University.

How this place has grown. The windy wilderness of the past is now a real campus, with intertwining buildings and squares, walkways and gardens! The wind shear winds have been blocked out by an academic benevolence.

This is what the rail loop will be all about! We pull into a huge bus terminal with students lined up at various posts for buses going every-which-way. The rail station in the loop of the future will collect and deliver students from all parts south (Cheltenham and Clayton), east and west (Melbourne city and surrounds), north (Box Hill), and beyond into the north and west. That is, when all is consummated by 2050. Too far away in time for most of us, but just right for the city of the future.

The bus empties of the accumulated students and the wheelchair man is lifted off and rolls himself slowly into the nest of buildings. We hope there is comfort awaiting him.

Around the campus is a big compound of university-based accommodation and yet another transport-starved complex of importance, the great medical hub on Blackburn Road. The Monash Hospital is the centre of Victoria’s largest public health network, which includes the nearby Heart Hospital and many specialist services.

Add to that are business centres, big box retailers, and factories. It’s all crying out for a better means of transport other than our rickety old bus to convey students, patients, workers, and customers.

Our trip is running out of steam as it wanders into the outer suburbia of Mulgrave and Forest Hill. The last big stop is the Forest Hill shopping centre. Nothing doing. I suppose if you are going to buy a Fridge at Harvey Norman you don’t go by bus.

On through to Blackburn, a genteel garden suburb of homes in the Arts and Crafts manner, tinkling streams and bellbirds amid the gum trees. Again, as we started, we are the only passenger on this last leg to Blackburn station. The journey has taken an hour and 40 minutes.

Then we have the comfort of a gliding train to the city, and then back to Brighton, from whence we came.