TransLink Tracker quarterly report - Oct to Dec (Q2) 2015-2016 now available

[ozbob]

TransLink Tracker quarterly report - October to December (Q2) 2015-2016 now available

>> https://publications.qld.gov.au/dataset/translink-division-quarterly-reports/resource/d7568d69-25cc-4019-ad22-796cd6057b7d

[ozbob]

Finally, some bus OTP.  Game is up BCC !



Page 8

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

1st March 2016

TransLink Tracker quarterly report - Oct to Dec (Q2) 2015-2016 now available

Greetings,

TransLink Tracker quarterly report - Oct to Dec (Q2) 2015-2016 now available

>>  https://publications.qld.gov.au/dataset/translink-division-quarterly-reports/resource/d7568d69-25cc-4019-ad22-796cd6057b7d

For the first time we now have comparative public bus performance data for the regions.  Thank you Minister Hinchliffe and TransLink/TMR.

It shows how badly performing the Brisbane bus network is.  Reform is needed and it is needed now.  Are we going to wait for 10 years before anything happens?



Page 8

Fare affordability remains poor, however the fare review is reaching the final stages.

Best wishes
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

[ozbob]

Remember when they used to publish the bus fantasy OTP at around 98% for Brisbane?   

It has taken years to get the truth out publicly ..  a good day!!  Worth the fight!

[red dragin]

Interesting time to release the information, what with the "vote for whoever has the stupidest idea" election in a couple of weeks.

[Arnz]

Noticed the TransLink SNO numbers went down from 66 to 60 and QR AOs up from 16 to 23 (as expected as tipped by the job vacancies for AOs earlier).  G:Link CSOs remained the same at 30.

As was observed earlier some of the QPS Railway Squad have been seen doing go-card checks with their own go-card reader equipment (and that's without the TL SNOs or the QR AOs accompanying them).

[SurfRail]

Excellent. 

The big win from my perspective is the patronage reporting.

I still think Brisbane should be reported on a less homogeneous basis (ie divide up into the 4 points of the compass, to the extent that is practical), but this is still ight years above what they have put out before.

[bcasey]

The information they are providing in this one for Bus OTP is a bit improved from the previous quarter's report, in that they are reporting the different regions separately, so at least we can see how badly the centre of Brisbane is operating compared to the other regions of SEQ.

Still, there is still much improvement that can be made on the transparency of the report. Many of my concerns that I put forward about the previous report are still there for this one. I still think those OTP numbers are a bit too high to be realistic, but I can't really say objectively if they are, because they haven't stated how they are calculating OTP. Are they calculating it from a random sample of services, on a particular subset of services (say high-frequency, peak only, etc) or over all of the service trips that they ran?

Footnote 1: Within six minutes (after) or two minutes (before) the scheduled arrival time. I personally think this time window for being on-time is pretty lax. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it is the largest out of any city of Australia. Still, if Brisbane is only achieving around 84% on-time with this window, that is pretty poor. There is also no information about what stops are being counted for OTP. Is it all stops or just timing points, or just for a single stop on the services?

Footnote 3: On-time running for bus includes events that would normally be classified as out of the control of the operator. I'm assuming this means that they are including services that were affected by incidents, weather, etc, in calculating the OTP? What about services that were cancelled, for operational reasons (broken down buses, absent drivers, etc). I find this footnote very vague. With respect to this, they should have a reliability statistic (% services delivered) just like the trains and trams.

[bcasey]

Ozbob, should these threads on the translink tracker report go into their own subsection on here, so we can easily refer to previous ones when the new ones come out?

[ozbob]

Ozbob, should these threads on the translink tracker report go into their own subsection on here, so we can easily refer to previous ones when the new ones come out?

Yope, good idea.  I am presently at Central.  Going out to Petrie for a look later this afternoon.

Will set something up in the next day or so.

[ozbob]

The information they are providing in this one for Bus OTP is a bit improved from the previous quarter's report, in that they are reporting the different regions separately, so at least we can see how badly the centre of Brisbane is operating compared to the other regions of SEQ.

Still, there is still much improvement that can be made on the transparency of the report. Many of my concerns that I put forward about the previous report are still there for this one. I still think those OTP numbers are a bit too high to be realistic, but I can't really say objectively if they are, because they haven't stated how they are calculating OTP. Are they calculating it from a random sample of services, on a particular subset of services (say high-frequency, peak only, etc) or over all of the service trips that they ran?

Footnote 1: Within six minutes (after) or two minutes (before) the scheduled arrival time. I personally think this time window for being on-time is pretty lax. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it is the largest out of any city of Australia. Still, if Brisbane is only achieving around 84% on-time with this window, that is pretty poor. There is also no information about what stops are being counted for OTP. Is it all stops or just timing points, or just for a single stop on the services?

Footnote 3: On-time running for bus includes events that would normally be classified as out of the control of the operator. I'm assuming this means that they are including services that were affected by incidents, weather, etc, in calculating the OTP? What about services that were cancelled, for operational reasons (broken down buses, absent drivers, etc). I find this footnote very vague. With respect to this, they should have a reliability statistic (% services delivered) just like the trains and trams.

Yo, not good is it?  The figures confirm my previous estimates.  I always said that OTP for Brisbane bus would be around 80 to 85%.  Good to be proven correct.  85% in line with most major bus cities OTP. The fact that Brisbane has a fair measure of class A ROW, it is actually very bad overall.  Good evidence to support network reform and more bus priority on major arterials etc.

I think they might be getting the OTP data now from the real time system.

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Brisbane buses late 16 per cent of time: Translink report

Brisbane City Council's bus network is the least reliable in south-east Queensland and do not meet Translink guidelines according to a state government report.

Brisbane's bus fleet – while the biggest and most complex bus network in the state - is not meeting Translink's guidelines to have 90 per cent of services run on time.The Translink Tracker shows in the September to December 2015 quarter only 83.97 per cent of Brisbane's buses ran on time, compared to 94.86 per cent of Gold Coast buses and 97.63 per cent of Sunshine Coast buses.

Rail Back on Track's Robert Dow, who challenged the previous state government for publishing an aggregate south-east Queensland figure showing the buses did meet guidelines, said the low Brisbane figure was revealing.

"That has been an ongoing battle we have had for years," Mr Dow said.

Mr Dow said the real-time monitoring system on Brisbane's buses meant authorities now had to publish the real reliability.

He said Brisbane's figure of between 80 and 85 per cent was similar to other capital cities.

"The overall performance in Brisbane is pretty poor and what needs to happen is real reform of the network as Translink wanted to do in 2013," Mr Dow said.

"You simply can't keep running every bus into the city."

It also shows a declining bus performance on the southern edge of Brisbane around Logan.

The latest Translink Tracker also shows rail customers are less satisfied with trains than 12 months ago and fare affordability remains a major turn-off for customers.

The state government began a review of fares in August 2015 and is due to issue this fare review report "in the first half of 2015".

Customer satisfaction with Translink fares has been sliding since the March to June quarter of 2015 and now only around 40 per cent of customers are satisfied with fares.

The report – which covers the final three months of 2015 - for the first time allows public transport services to be compared within council areas in south-east Queensland.

This second quarter of the year – from September to Christmas time – is traditionally a lower use quarter than the previous quarter –from July to September – because it includes Christmas holidays.

However the report shows the number of people using buses, trains and ferries, overall, is increasing.
What the report shows overall

    Overall public transport use increased by 4.2 per cent, or about 1.74 million trips.
    Bus trips rose by more than 812 000 to 27.24 million trips (September to December).
    Train trips increased by nearly 450 000 to 12.13 million (September to December).
    Customers are less satisfied with trains.

    In September to December 2015 the average fare per trip paid by customers was $2.12 and the average Queensland Government subsidy per trip was $6.91.

Success stories

The Gold Coast's light rail "tram service" is highlighted as a major success story and recently celebrated attracting 10 million passengers since it began operating in July 21, 2014.

The Translink Tracker shows Queensland's newest rail line - the Richlands/Springfield line - has been very successful; a fact highlighted in a Fairfax Media earlier this week which showed it was now the fifth busiest of Southeast Queensland's ten rail lines.

It shows an extra 500 passengers each day use the Springfield rail line compared to the same time 12 months ago, with more than 850,000 trips starting or finishing at Richlands, Springfield and Springfield Central stations.
Rail satisfaction flatlines

Rail satisfaction is falling more dramatically in "comfort and ride" and flatlining when rail customers were asked "reliability and frequency".

Transport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe was cautious about the increasing numbers of people using public transport.

"While these results are positive, as I noted last quarter, we cannot be complacent," he said.

"We are aware that some of this quarter's increase relates to the impact Brisbane's G20 summit had on patronage in November 2014 during the comparative reporting period."

Labor's lord mayoral candidate Rod Harding highlighted the performance of Brisbane's buses.

"Under Graham Quirk, Brisbane buses are the worst performing across SEQ when it comes to running on-time," he said.

Mr Harding at Council level will ask for state and federal government help to build a light rail, while incumbent lord mayor Graham Quirk proposes to extend busways into an electrified underground rubber-wheeled "metro-service".

Cr Quirk is yet to comment on Brisbane City Councils' Translink Tracker results.

[bcasey]

I question how realistic some of those OTP values are, particularly the 97-99% ones. Considering buses have to deal with traffic, incidents, and so on, for them to get a similar or better OTP to rail is a bit hard to believe.

How exactly are the OTP for each region calculated? Firstly, what are the spatial bounds of each region? and how are services allocated to being considered for OTP in each region? If a service spends the majority of its trip in a region, does it count fully towards that region, or if it crosses several regions, is the performance split up between each region based on how it performs in that region?

[SurfRail]

I fully expect that "Brisbane" means Brisbane Transport.  The other operators all belong to a particular network region, CBD-bound services aside.  Once MBRL opens, the only private bus service to the city outside of peak will be the 555, and only a handful run peak hour services (all of which would be southern or eastern region routes).  Interface between BT and local private feeder services at the boundaries of the network (eg the 534) would be minuscule at best.

[BrizCommuter]

It is good to see a return of TransLink Tracker, and more accurate bus stats. QR are now even publishing skipped stations stats.

However, where is the QR Passenger Load Survey? This rather important document has gone missing in action for quite a few years again!

[Derwan]

However, where is the QR Passenger Load Survey? This rather important document has gone missing in action for quite a few years again!

From what I understand, they believe that this is no longer required as the data is now extrapolated from Go Card trips.

[aldonius]

Sure, but that's not publicly available at present.

The finest grained breakdown we have right now is network-wide weekly total.
Compare the tracker, which was station-by-station peak boardings/alightings. Very different things.

[STB]

I question how realistic some of those OTP values are, particularly the 97-99% ones. Considering buses have to deal with traffic, incidents, and so on, for them to get a similar or better OTP to rail is a bit hard to believe.

How exactly are the OTP for each region calculated? Firstly, what are the spatial bounds of each region? and how are services allocated to being considered for OTP in each region? If a service spends the majority of its trip in a region, does it count fully towards that region, or if it crosses several regions, is the performance split up between each region based on how it performs in that region?

I suspect that the regions in the TL Tracker refer to the relevant operators that are specifically contracted to those regions, that is:

Brisbane - Brisbane Transport
East - TransDev DSL, Mount Gravatt Bus Service
South - Logan City Bus Service
West - Bus Queensland
North - Hornibrook Buslines, Kangaroo Buslines, Caboolture Buslines and Thompsons Bus Services
Gold Coast - Surfside Buslines
Sunshine Coast - Sunbus

So for example, Logan City Bus Service with route 555, even though route 555 runs into the CBD all day, every day, the OTR would refer to Logan City Bus Service as a whole, regardless if route 555 runs into the CBD.

And of course, we are looking at the OTR from a macro scale, rather than a micro route by route, time by time scale.  Obviously some routes will do better than others depending on a whole range of factors from traffic to passengers, even the time of day will matter and the time of year (eg: higher patronage and traffic during school times compared to during school holidays that can impact on OTR).

Any bets that route 314 is Brisbane Transport's highest on time running route? 

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

2nd March 2016

Shred Brisbane City Council's Bus Contracts!

Greetings,

RAIL Back on Track has long called for Brisbane City Council's bus contracts to be discontinued and legislation passed banning Brisbane City Council from operating public transport. All other States and Territories organise public transport at the State level and do not subcontract a local government to deliver services.

Brisbane City Council has a long history of resisting bus reform. Its network is obsolete, enormous 'black holes' exist in coverage, there is waste, inefficiency and duplication galore. Fares have exploded, no doubt due in large part to the increasing costs at Brisbane City Council.

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk was handed carte blanche to make whatever changes he wanted to the bus network in 2013. It was made very clear that the bus network needed reform. The opportunity to reform was wasted.

Bus reform would have given Brisbane Australia's best bus network and provided excellent services to 'black hole' areas such as Bulimba, Yeronga, The Centenary Suburbs and the Northwest.

Now the bus network has collapsed, as we had been constantly warning for years. The reliability is the worst in South East Queensland by a large margin, and this is with exclusive busway infrastructure in Brisbane that all other regions do not have.

Is it just one performance standard for private bus operators, and another standard for Brisbane City Council?

What exactly has to happen before the Transport Minister and State Government act?

Transport Minister, fire Brisbane City Council as a bus operator. If Brisbane City Council knows that its monopolist contract for bus services is just going to be renewed no matter how good or bad its performance is, why would it change?

Brisbane City Council isn't even meeting TransLink performance standards!

The State Government should take over bus operations, just like it is done in Sydney with State Transit Buses.

Is there any leadership left at City Hall or George Street? We have shown that bus network reform will deliver.  Time to act!

Best wishes,
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

References:



TransLink Tracker quarterly report - Oct to Dec (Q2) 2015-2016 now available
https://publications.qld.gov.au/dataset/translink-division-quarterly-reports/resource/d7568d69-25cc-4019-ad22-796cd6057b7d

Brisbane - bus network proposal > http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=11047.0

[ozbob]

Twitter

Robert Dow ‏@Robert_Dow now

Time for action! @StirlHinchliffe @AnnastaciaMP @TMRQld @TransLinkSEQ Enough of the mediocrity .. #qldpol


^^

Twitter

Robert Dow ‏@Robert_Dow now

. @Team_Quirk BUS NETWORK REFORM is needed now!

>http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=12063.msg170124#msg170124 ...

@Rod4Bris @BenPennings #qldpol Metro is fantasy and we all know it!

[ozbob]

^

Twitter

Robert Dow ‏@Robert_Dow 8m

Robert Dow Retweeted Robert Dow

. @Team_Quirk @Rod4Bris @BenPennings Metro pipe dreams do not hide failure! It is a disgrace!! #qldpol

^

Twitter

Robert Dow ‏@Robert_Dow

. @StirlHinchliffe @AnnastaciaMP @TMRQld @TransLinkSEQ

We need bus network reform, and Cross River Rail now. Not fantasy. #qldpol

^

Twitter

Robert Dow ‏@Robert_Dow 18m

On behalf of us all. What is going to be done to sort Brisbane's bus network?

@StirlHinchliffe @AnnastaciaMP @TMRQld @TransLinkSEQ #qldpol

[BrizCommuter]

Where is the QR Passenger Load Survey (Again)?
http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/where-is-qr-passenger-load-survey-again.html

(We know it exists somewhere as bits of it were quoted in the recent BT article).

[ozbob]

Where is the QR Passenger Load Survey (Again)?
http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/where-is-qr-passenger-load-survey-again.html

(We know it exists somewhere as bits of it were quoted in the recent BT article).

thanks, distributed to all outlets.

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

2nd March 2016

An open letter to the Citizens of Brisbane

Dear Fellow Citizens,

It is with some regret and some relief that I write to you today.

Yesterday, we had the public release of the TransLink Tracker quarterly report - Oct to Dec (Q2) 2015-16.

If you recall, the TransLink Tracker has been published over the years, but was stopped by the Newman Government.  To the great Credit of the Palaszczuk Government, particularly the former Minister for Transport Ms Trad, and the current Minister for Transport Mr Hinchliffe and their staffs, publication of the Tracker has recommenced.

This Q2 report is very significant because it has for the first time some real bus on time performance data for the bus regions in SEQ has been made available. Thank you to Minister Hinchliffe and staff for making this happen.

We also find that detailed patronage is now reported as well.

I have advocated for years that the real data for bus on time performance be made available.  It has been clear to me for many years that previous data reported was not true.  How can we sort out failure if it is hidden from public view?

Brisbane bus performance as reported in the Q2 TransLink Tracker is very unsatisfactory. Particularly when we consider that Brisbane has an extensive busway network, and not all buses are running on the normal road system for all of their journeys.

What needs to happen from here is that a proper bus network reform process needs to proceed immediately.  Our RAIL Back On Track Members worked for over a year to prepare an example of how the Brisbane Bus network can be reformed for near neutral cost. This proposed network would improve connectivity and coverage, it would also deliver more frequent service to all of Brisbane. It would drive patronage and this turn means a better fare box and more scope for fare reform. It would mobilise our community and help in some part to ameliorate the worsening road congestion.

Brisbane does not need ' gold plated ' infrastructure proposals that cost many billions of dollars.  We need commonsense and the realisation that if we use what we have got wisely, profound gains can be made for little cost.

It is time to put the petty politics aside, and embrace bus network reform for the benefit of all Citizens of Brisbane.

Best wishes
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

TransLink Tracker quarterly report - Oct to Dec (Q2) 2015-2016 now available
https://publications.qld.gov.au/dataset/translink-division-quarterly-reports/resource/d7568d69-25cc-4019-ad22-796cd6057b7d

Brisbane - bus network proposal > http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=11047.0

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

3rd March 2016

Re: An open letter to the Citizens of Brisbane

Greetings,

Brisbanetimes has published today an article:

Solving Brisbane's public transport woes: experts tell

> http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/solving-brisbanes-public-transport-woes-experts-tell-20160301-gn7tol.html

It is clear what is needed.   Sadly Lord Mayor Quirk and ALP Lord Mayor Candidate Rod Harding still don't get it?

Best wishes
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

Sent to all outlets:

2nd March 2016

An open letter to the Citizens of Brisbane

Dear Fellow Citizens,

It is with some regret and some relief that I write to you today.

Yesterday, we had the public release of the TransLink Tracker quarterly report - Oct to Dec (Q2) 2015-16.

If you recall, the TransLink Tracker has been published over the years, but was stopped by the Newman Government.  To the great Credit of the Palaszczuk Government, particularly the former Minister for Transport Ms Trad, and the current Minister for Transport Mr Hinchliffe and their staffs, publication of the Tracker has recommenced.

This Q2 report is very significant because it has for the first time some real bus on time performance data for the bus regions in SEQ has been made available. Thank you to Minister Hinchliffe and staff for making this happen.

We also find that detailed patronage is now reported as well.

I have advocated for years that the real data for bus on time performance be made available.  It has been clear to me for many years that previous data reported was not true.  How can we sort out failure if it is hidden from public view?

Brisbane bus performance as reported in the Q2 TransLink Tracker is very unsatisfactory. Particularly when we consider that Brisbane has an extensive busway network, and not all buses are running on the normal road system for all of their journeys.

What needs to happen from here is that a proper bus network reform process needs to proceed immediately.  Our RAIL Back On Track Members worked for over a year to prepare an example of how the Brisbane Bus network can be reformed for near neutral cost. This proposed network would improve connectivity and coverage, it would also deliver more frequent service to all of Brisbane. It would drive patronage and this turn means a better fare box and more scope for fare reform. It would mobilise our community and help in some part to ameliorate the worsening road congestion.

Brisbane does not need ' gold plated ' infrastructure proposals that cost many billions of dollars.  We need commonsense and the realisation that if we use what we have got wisely, profound gains can be made for little cost.

It is time to put the petty politics aside, and embrace bus network reform for the benefit of all Citizens of Brisbane.

Best wishes
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

TransLink Tracker quarterly report - Oct to Dec (Q2) 2015-2016 now available
https://publications.qld.gov.au/dataset/translink-division-quarterly-reports/resource/d7568d69-25cc-4019-ad22-796cd6057b7d

Brisbane - bus network proposal > http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=11047.0

[ozbob]

Couriermail Quest Springfield Edition 9th March 2016 page 3

Passengers rate convenience of rail