Bundoora's traffic, campuses and trams
Plenty Road at the M80
Plenty Road meets the M80 at an interchange in Bundoora, and the stretch near it carries upwards of 60,000 vehicles a day. On the ring road itself the limit drops to 80 km/h between the Greensborough Bypass and Plenty Road. Merging and queuing in that much traffic works brakes and automatic gearboxes hard.
Route 86 in the median
Through the six-lane section of Plenty Road the 86 tram runs down the middle, with limits between 60 and 70 km/h, and it ends at Bundoora RMIT. Turning across wet tram tracks is where tyres low on tread let go first.
Two campuses
La Trobe's Bundoora campus and an RMIT campus are both here, with the University Hill business park beside them. Buying an older car privately for uni? Have a mechanic look it over first. Used car inspections in Melbourne.
A big park in the middle
Bundoora Park covers 180 ha and takes in Mount Cooper. Fifteen bus routes serve the suburb too, so a car here might sit for days between drives.
When a mobile mechanic suits a Bundoora job
A flat battery in a campus car park, a service at home after work, a car that won't start after the long summer break: those suit a mobile mechanic. Brake jobs that need a hoist, gearbox work and anything big underneath go to a workshop.
If the car can't move, choose "Come to me" in the card and say exactly where it's parked. Mobile mechanics in Melbourne covers what they can and can't do on the spot.
If it were our car
If the car sits at uni or home for days at a time, we'd ask for a battery test at the next service. A battery that's on its way out shows it first in a car that's left idle, and it's far easier to swap in a driveway than in an empty car park after a late class.