The downside with services to Bendigo is that they don't connect with flights from SIN, so I'll be stuck with renting a car at MEL or getting to Sunbury and catching the train

On a less selfish note, seem to be geared to same day business traffic in SYD, and hope they can make a go of it. The thing going against it is proximity to MEL (1.5 hrs), but if you allow for the time and/or cost of parking at MEL these days, and petrol ... probably looking at $70-100 saving on a three day trip to SYD, and saving 3.5-4 hrs time.