The PTUA has publicly opposed the bike ban from the start and it raised plenty of alternatives that appear to have not even been considered by the anti-bike pencil pushers in the department (like re-using the underused wheelchair spaces in the last carriage as bicycle space).

If the government was serious about making amends, it’d simultaneously move to fit folding bicycle racks to the front of every V/Line road coach in the state, like they use on the front of metro buses in plenty of urban areas in north america. The main reason people don’t use V/Line for intercity travel is the need for a car at one or both ends of the trip. Even just 2 to 4 spaces per coach would be a massive improvement. Put them on a reservation system, and if there are more than 4 reservations, the coach needs to operate with a trailer on the back that day.