The authority cancelled the service more than two years ago because it carried less than one passenger per kilometre, but did so in the face of a spirited community campaign that argued the short bus run provided a vital lifeline to the area's many elderly residents.

Shane McDermott, a pensioner who played a large role in the campaign, said the return of the bus would make life easier.

"I'm very hopeful that the bus will return because its loss has made it much harder to get around. I'm having to pay for taxis more often now, and I as a pensioner can't afford it," he said.

Labor has promised to extend the Hope Street bus route to Moreland station in Coburg as part of a $100 million bus policy it released on Thursday, which includes a long list of new and boosted routes, particularly in the outer suburbs. But the policy makes no commitment on when any of the promised new services would begin.

Included is a promise to trial a shuttle bus between Latrobe University's Bundoora campus and Reservoir railway station - following the establishment of highly successful bus shuttles between North Melbourne station and the University of Melbourne and Huntingdale station and Monash University.

"Missing links in our growing suburbs are discouraging people from catching public transport and forcing more traffic onto the road," Labor's public transport spokeswoman Jill Hennessy said.