Obvious gaps in the timetable

[ozbob]

If you know of obvious gaps with the present timetables please post here:

To start with.

Monday to Friday Ipswich to Rosewood.

Train leaves Ipswich for Rosewood at 4.38pm, the next service for Rosewood is 5.51pm.  Amazing!!  Worse peak frequency than off peak.  See http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=173.0  as well.

[Derwan]

Shorncliffe Line:

Departing Central in afternoon peak:  3:51 and then 4:29.  That's a 38-minute gap!  The following service is 22 minutes later so an extra service and reshuffle would be the ideal solution.

Departing Shorncliffe in morning peak:  7:23 and then 7:49.  26-minute gap that could be solved by shuffling the next 3 trains forward by 10 minutes.  (The last of the 3 currently arrives at Central at 9:01am, with the following service 17 minutes later.)

[stephenk]

Off-peak:
Every hour gap is totally unacceptable. Ferny Grove Line has hour gaps preceding the last train Mon-Thu, between the 1st and 2nd trains Sat am, between 1st,2nd, and 3rd inbound trains Sun am, and between 1st,2nd,3rd,4th, and 5th outbound trains Sun am. I'm sure there are plenty of examples of hour gaps on other lines too.

Peak gaps:
Anything more than 15mins on a busy line is unacceptable and makes public transport unattractive. 20mins or more is a disgrace.

Ferny Grove has a 21/23min gap between the 06:45am ex Ferny Grove and 07:06am ex Ferny Grove(exp)/07:17am ex Mitchelton. The 07:06 ex Ferny Grove is often very overcrowded by Enoggera. The is also an reasonably annoying 18 min gap in the late am peak caused the 2nd inbound express (which has loads of spare capacity).

The two pm outbound Ferny Grove expresses cause a 20min gap between 4:37 and 4:57 ex Central, and 21min gap between 5:03 and 5:24 ex Central for stations that it skips (Windsor-Gaythorne). Really annoying!

Cleveland Line has a 23min gap for stations Wynnum Central to Buranda which are skipped by the 1st inbound am express.

Caboolture Line has a 30min gap between 6:06pm and 6:36pm ex-Central to Caboolture.

[mch]

Shorncliffe Line
I understand that QR are talking about duplicating the track between Sandgate and Shorncliffe, but more trains are more important.  The 10 minute space requirement of single track does not cause any problems as yet. (Timetable way to sparse)
Quite a few holes everywhere

The current morning peak timetable from Shorncliffe is as follows: Note: the numbers in brackets indicate time to next train.
AM Trains departing Shorncliffe first train 5.16 am (31) then 5:47,(31) 6:18,(27) 6:45,(24) 7:09,(14) 7:23,(26) 7:49,(15) 8:04,(21) 8:25,(18) 8:43 (30)am next train not until after 9.00.
 
PM Trains to Shorncliffe departing Roma street between 4pm and 7pm.
4:25,(22) 4:47,(18) 5:05,(11) 5:16,(13) 5:29,(20) 5:49,(28) 6:17,(27) 6:44pm (35).  Next train not until after 7.00pm.

You can see quite a few long gaps.

Noel Haynes

[DBL]

If you know of obvious gaps with the present timetables please post here:

I commute by train from Salisbury to the City each day and over the years the City service has deteriorated.  Nearly 30 years ago in 1980 (shortly after electrification began) there were services from Salisbury to the City at 7.28am, 7.38am, 7.51am, 8.05am and 8.21am with no gap greater than 16 minutes.  Today there are services from Salisbury to the City at 7.23am, 7.36am, 7.54am(3 cars), 8.16am(3 cars) and 8.22am with gaps in the services of up to 22 minutes (an increase from 16 mins).  This is made worse by the trains before and after the 22 minute gap only being 3 car sets.  I believe Translink needs to mandate that peak hour train services need to run at least every 15 minutes and that 6 car sets be used unless it can be demonstrated the loading only warrants the use of a 3 car set (such as Doomben & Rosewood).

Coming home in the afternoon, back in 1980 there were trains from Central to Salisbury at 5.04pm, 5.18pm, 5.23pm and 5.40pm with no gap bigger than 17 mins.  Today trains depart Central for Salisbury at 5.03pm, 5.10pm, 5.33pm and 5.45pm with gaps in services of up to 23 minutes (an increase from 17 mins).  And in the meantime the population of Brisbane has increased significantly.

I believe an answer to this problem is to run a 10 or 15 minute memory timetable (depending on the line) and then slot in extras (expresses and short workings) as loadings and rollingstock permit.   The maths to achieve this would be:

50 units (6 car sets) for a 10 min Caboolture - Ipswich - Caboolture service
  5 units for a 15 min Ipswich - Rosewood - Ipswich service
44 units (6 car sets) for a 10 min Ferny Grove - Beenleigh - Ferny Grove service
32 units (6 car sets) for a 15 min Airport - Robina service
18 units (6 or 3 car sets) for a 10 min Bowen Hills - Cleveland - Bowen Hills service
14 units (6 or 3 car sets) for a 10 min Shorncliffe - Roma St - Shorncliffe service
  9 units for a 15 min Caboolture to Nambour service
  8 units for a 15 min Doomben - Roma St - Doomben service
  1 ICE unit for the Roma St to Gympie North Service
  9 units allowance for repairs & maintenance
---
190

The QR web site says there are 212 units (either in service or still awaiting delivery) however I understand that at least one EMU set was scrapped following some accidents which would bring this down to 211.  I don't know how many units are still to be delivered however QR must be getting close to having on hand the number needed to run the above frequencies.  I suspect QR may not have enough crews available at present to run at much higher frequencies so there would need to be a ramping up in this area similar to the way Brisbane Transport has had to advertise for more bus drivers so they can increase frequencies.   

[Arnz]

 5 units for a 15 min Ipswich - Rosewood - Ipswich service

Theres lack of patronage and population out in the Lockyer Valley to maintain more than the current hourly service.  Also to my understanding the last report I read, it was proposed that Rosewood would be increased to half-hourly via an extension of the existing Ipswich service (with platform extensions to stations west of Ipswich.

9 units for a 15 min Caboolture to Nambour service

Theres already a lack of track capacity north of Beerburrum, with buses filling in the gaps where freights/traveltrains usually run.  

Also most Sunshine Coast services except for the (ex-Caboolture departures of 9:47am/3:53pm, and some afternoon weekend services) are for the most part Express with limited stops into the City.  Not to mention you'd see riots from Sunshine Coast commuters if all services were converted to shuttles, as overcrowding on a number of peak services beyond Caboolture (due to a few services only being 3-car IMU or 4-car ICE) are bad enough.

[somebody]

Here's a gap in the counter peak direction: At Indooroopilly there's a city train at 5:03pm followed by 5:30pm.  Given that this station is 15min frequency daytime off peak, that's a bit of a shocker.  It's caused by a train leaving Corinda for the city via Tennyson.

[stephenk]

Here's a gap in the counter peak direction: At Indooroopilly there's a city train at 5:03pm followed by 5:30pm.  Given that this station is 15min frequency daytime off peak, that's a bit of a shocker.  It's caused by a train leaving Corinda for the city via Tennyson.

Personally I think the counter peak service needs to be improved on many lines. I quite often get a train into town from the suburbs around 5:30-6pm for various events, but despite there being trains running empty every 10mins or so, the service is still only every 30mins. Again, this is quite annoying, unnecessary, and does not make public transport attractive.

If Queensland Government want themselves and other companies to decentralise, then there must be an improvement to the counter peak services.

[david]

Here's a gap in the counter peak direction: At Indooroopilly there's a city train at 5:03pm followed by 5:30pm.  Given that this station is 15min frequency daytime off peak, that's a bit of a shocker.  It's caused by a train leaving Corinda for the city via Tennyson.

This gap can be easily filled without using any new sets. This is my idea -

- New service to Darra departing Central at 4:28pm - arrives Darra Platform 3 at 4:56pm
- Service departs Platform 3 at 5:04pm on a Darra to City/Shorncliffe service - this would merge with the existing 5:31pm Shorncliffe service from Central.

This train would arrive at Indooroopilly at 5:17pm, filling that gap and giving a decent service to those who work at Indooroopilly/Toowong/Milton and need to change services at the city.

This is one of those ideas where Government funding is definitely not a factor. QR would only need to employ the existing staff for 1.5 hours extra and the train set is already present. Why not implement this idea now?

[ozbob]

Great suggestion David.  We have been calling for some time for a sweeper leaving Central at 4.28pm or thereabouts to ease the overload on the 4.35 Ipswich ex Central.  TransLink must first agree to the change, therein lie the issue as I understand it. 

Summary:

Gap in inbound services PM Peak, eg.  Indooroopilly 5.03pm next 5.30pm.

New service Darra ex Central 4.28pm  arrives Darra 4.56pm.  This will assist with managing the overload on the 4.35 Ipswich ex Central.

Returns ex Darra 5.04pm, Indooroopilly 5.17pm could form the 5.31pm Shorncliffe.

[somebody]

Here's a gap in the counter peak direction: At Indooroopilly there's a city train at 5:03pm followed by 5:30pm.  Given that this station is 15min frequency daytime off peak, that's a bit of a shocker.  It's caused by a train leaving Corinda for the city via Tennyson.

This gap can be easily filled without using any new sets. This is my idea -

- New service to Darra departing Central at 4:28pm - arrives Darra Platform 3 at 4:56pm
- Service departs Platform 3 at 5:04pm on a Darra to City/Shorncliffe service - this would merge with the existing 5:31pm Shorncliffe service from Central.

This train would arrive at Indooroopilly at 5:17pm, filling that gap and giving a decent service to those who work at Indooroopilly/Toowong/Milton and need to change services at the city.

This is one of those ideas where Government funding is definitely not a factor. QR would only need to employ the existing staff for 1.5 hours extra and the train set is already present. Why not implement this idea now?

Umm, Ok, but why doesn't this require any new sets or Government funding?  They have to pay the train crew and the set has to come from somewhere.

Great suggestion David.  We have been calling for some time for a sweeper leaving Central at 4.28pm or thereabouts to ease the overload on the 4.35 Ipswich ex Central.  TransLink must first agree to the change, therein lie the issue as I understand it. 

So, who decides these things, QR or Translink?  Or do they both have a veto power over any change?

[david]

TransLink must first agree to the change, therein lie the issue as I understand it.

Oh well...there goes nothing...

Does QR have any power in timetabling? Even if minor revisions are required? If not, what is the use of the QR conducting CRGs, meetings with RBoT, "listening to customer feedback" etc. Surely it would be better if Translink took responsibility of such matters?

[ozbob]

Yes, does seem a bit convoluted.  I have forwarded your suggestion on to QR Passenger David.   TransLink must approve all service changes all modes.  The operators put forward changes.

Patience ...

[david]

Umm, Ok, but why doesn't this require any new sets or Government funding?  They have to pay the train crew and the set has to come from somewhere.

The set is already in use. It currently services the 5:31pm Shorncliffe service. I believe that this is the only run that the set currently makes (it comes out of Mayne in the afternoons). Plus, I have read that most drivers are full-time, so some money can be found somewhere in the QR budget to pay for the extra 1.5 hours per day (they won't have to employ a new crew in other words...).

[ozbob]

Gap on the Sunshine Coast line weekday evening.

7:29pm Nambour, next is 9:30pm Nambour service.  This is very inconvenient to punters heading past Caboolture.

Three car leaving at 8.30pm or thereabouts would be a big benefit.

[Derwan]

Personally I think the counter peak service needs to be improved on many lines. I quite often get a train into town from the suburbs around 5:30-6pm for various events, but despite there being trains running empty every 10mins or so, the service is still only every 30mins. Again, this is quite annoying, unnecessary, and does not make public transport attractive.

I think one of the limitations is the number of sets available.  Trains have to return to the CBD area as quickly as possible to become additional services out of the CBD.

Also, I boarded a counter peak service to attend the meeting with the Minister.  Numbers were about the same as off-peak service - so the demand (at least in the number of passengers) isn't there.  Of course this is only the Shorncliffe line.  I'd say other lines would be have much higher counter peak demand.

If Queensland Government want themselves and other companies to decentralise, then there must be an improvement to the counter peak services.

There would have to be a huge improvement in PT overall - or people will simply drive.

Funny enough, thanks to the GFC, the push for decentralisation has somewhat died down - with more accommodation becoming available in the CBD due to businesses going under.  (So I've been told.)

[O_128]

In the mornings on the cleveland line outbound services are always packed the main option would be for the empty trains to stop aswell. Also all roma street services from in peak should continue to corinda aas there are always heaps of peopel waiting at roma street for these trains

[Arnz]

I would like to bring back my suggestion I have posted earlier in regards to the 11:11am Nambour to Caboolture and 3:53pm Caboolture to Nambour ICE shuttle service.

For those 2 services, my suggestion is to is to extend the 11:11am as a standard express service into Brisbane (stopping at Petrie and Northgate per usual).  The train/crew returns to Mayne for about 2 hours.  

Same ICE (or SMU/IMU) comes from Mayne to form the 3:03pm Roma Street to Nambour express service (stopping at Northgate and Petrie per usual, arrive Caboolture around 3:48pm, depart at 3:53 and follow existing timetable).

Its a bit of a waste for the ICE sitting at Caboolture for 3hours when it could be easily cut to under 2 hours at Mayne (cleanup, etc).

[somebody]

TransLink must approve all service changes all modes.  The operators put forward changes.

That isn't that bad in principle, but it does depend on how troublesome the translink approval process is.

[dwb]

Quote from: ozbob on September 06, 2009, 04:19:26 PM
TransLink must approve all service changes all modes.  The operators put forward changes.
That isn't that bad in principle, but it does depend on how troublesome the translink approval process is.

An operators suggested change would also have to be financially feasible within the existing budget. In many cases they just wouldn't have the money and in others operator suggested changes may more than pay for themselves and increase profit. Not all cases are going to be the same though and Translink has to make hard decisions about where very limited funds get spent across the entire region.

That's why partially I think the current fare increases have a good side to them, in that they will have more money to invest in the services they know are needed. And believe you me, they know they are needed, it doesn't mean that they're agreed and funded tho!

[STB]

Yes, does seem a bit convoluted.  I have forwarded your suggestion on to QR Passenger David.   TransLink must approve all service changes all modes.  The operators put forward changes.

Patience ...

With QR it's a bit of both, the changes are worked on by both organizations.  QR generally create an initial draft of the timetable, which is then looked at in detail by TransLink, in terms of like for like, impacts on existing bus connections, for example, what can change and what can't, and any gaps.  TransLink then gives QR the feedback and QR go back and review the timetable again.  This continues until TransLink agrees to sign off the timetable.

With the private bus operators, all changes are devised by TransLink, they then take the proposed changes to the operator for feedback, then it's altered by TransLink based on that feedback.  Timetables and routes are created by TransLink, that is, they are done in house by the TransLink Planners. The exception tends to be with larger operators such as BT and Surfside where they tend to put more work into the timetables and routes that are proposed by TransLink and send their own suggestions to them, which are then reviewed and looked at based on the TransLink guidelines for minimum service levels.

BT tend to do their own thing, TransLink don't really have much influence on what they do.

[Jon Bryant]

Does that explain whybthe BT buses have not taken on the Translink livery?  BT need to become more like QR i.e a valued partner who is improving their customer service.

[somebody]

With QR it's a bit of both, the changes are worked on by both organizations.  QR generally create an initial draft of the timetable, which is then looked at in detail by TransLink, in terms of like for like, impacts on existing bus connections, for example, what can change and what can't, and any gaps.  TransLink then gives QR the feedback and QR go back and review the timetable again.  This continues until TransLink agrees to sign off the timetable.

...

BT tend to do their own thing, TransLink don't really have much influence on what they do.

Sounds like it would probably be better for Translink to be completely out of the QR process. 

How do BT collect Translink funding then?  Or do they only on certain routes?

[mufreight]

All funding be it rail, bus or ferry goes to Translink who then doles it out to the operators who are under contract to Translink.

[STB]

With QR it's a bit of both, the changes are worked on by both organizations.  QR generally create an initial draft of the timetable, which is then looked at in detail by TransLink, in terms of like for like, impacts on existing bus connections, for example, what can change and what can't, and any gaps.  TransLink then gives QR the feedback and QR go back and review the timetable again.  This continues until TransLink agrees to sign off the timetable.

...

BT tend to do their own thing, TransLink don't really have much influence on what they do.

Sounds like it would probably be better for Translink to be completely out of the QR process. 

How do BT collect Translink funding then?  Or do they only on certain routes?

Not entirely, bus operators need significant time to allow timetable changes to occur, a minimum of 3 months, and there is a process involved in changing a train timetable, at least 10 months I think from inital draft to finalisation. 

When TransLink looks at the impacts, they look at the train to bus connections and what changes need to occur with that (market impact, other existing connections).  The bus operator then needs time for the new timetables to be recieved then, costed (will the new timetable require more buses to be ordered if it's not as operationally efficient as previously), then rostered.  The bus operator then needs to alert the drivers and provide training if required, generally a few weeks as not all drivers are available at all times of course.

The other things that needs to be looked at is if the connectivity is impacted at another interchange, eg: if route 272 changes to meet the new train times, how will that impact on connections at Victoria Point, can changes occur or will it disrupt the market too much, and in route 272's case, will this affect route 278 which connects with a ferry operator (route 272 and 278 have dedicated connections for Victoria Pt and Coochie Island residents to have access to Redland Hospitals), and if so, is the ferry operator willing to change their timetable, knowing that they are out of TransLink's control, TransLink can only recommend but not change the ferry operator's timetable and for the ferry operator this can have costs on their own including issuing the new timetable, marketing to alert the residents that use this service etc. 

Changing a bus timetable can be a bigger deal then it seems at first in some circumstances.

BT recieve the funding from TransLink in the same way as every other operator as I understand it.  Only difference is BT have their own full time planners who do all the work and on top of that there is a lot of political interference as they work to their political masters, Campbell Newman and co, not the State Government.  Hence there is a bit of friction between the two organisations, some of it quite well known in the general community and was exposed publically in the recent audit done by the Government's AG last year, the one where Rachel Nolan said about Main Roads not working with the Transport department that they had them on 'Speed-Dial'.

[#Metro]

Three months OK, but 10 months sounds a long time.
And how does this explain the very rapid alterations that occured for the construction of the Hale St Bridge (new services added, existing one extended)?

[STB]

Some of the services were pre-planned many months before implementation.  The others were addtional 'Ghost' services that could be put on if needed.  That is, they are pre-approved, IIRC.  Other ad-hoc services generally can be put on quickly if they do not impact on existing connections.

[mufreight]

Now that is the price of progress, it is not so many years ago that private operators could change timetables in less than 30 days, they would work out what changes were needed to handle the loadings and where they had to coordinate with other modes of transport such as trains, trams other buses or ferries, submit the proposed changes to QT who would approve them.
On the Ipswich line there is little if any coordination between bus and train and coordination of services would be less of a problem if rail was allowed to operate on 15 minute frequencies off peak but as things exist the ?Transport planners at Translink have to justify their existence so there are passenger counts, reports evaluations, cost benefit assessments. interim reports and final recomendations by which time the money needed to pay for the additional services has been spent so Translink is then unable to fund the services or timetable proposed and needed while the circus believing that it has justified it's existence awards itself a pay increase and bonus.            

[#Metro]

The QR web site says there are 212 units (either in service or still awaiting delivery) however I understand that at least one EMU set was scrapped following some accidents which would bring this down to 211.  I don't know how many units are still to be delivered however QR must be getting close to having on hand the number needed to run the above frequencies.  I suspect QR may not have enough crews available at present to run at much higher frequencies so there would need to be a ramping up in this area similar to the way Brisbane Transport has had to advertise for more bus drivers so they can increase frequencies.

This is good news. I can just see advertisements on the glass and announcements "We want you to drive this train."

Some of the services were pre-planned many months before implementation.  The others were addtional 'Ghost' services that could be put on if needed.  That is, they are pre-approved, IIRC.  Other ad-hoc services generally can be put on quickly if they do not impact on existing connections.

Pre-approval sounds good. Lets hope they pre-approve 15 minute frequencies for as many lines as they can.
Ghost trains? 

[Mozz]

There is no way in this world that there aren't enough train drivers ready to staff the new trains and new services which will be delivered this year.

Seriously the new trains have been years in the planning and ordering and making. The new tracks have also been years in the planning and delivering. From at least 2006/07.

Don't tell me that QR have just sat on their hands and not organised enough drivers or other ancillary resources required to meet the demand which was obvious as a result of the new trains and tracks.

BECAUSE this would be a scandal of the highest level which would require many heads on plates not just one.

[#Metro]

Seriously the new trains have been years in the planning and ordering and making. The new tracks have also been years in the planning and delivering. From at least 2006/07.

Rachel Nolan reckons that she can deliver 301 000 new services in just six months!
Better start a recruitment drive/campaign and advertise in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth...perhaps even internationally.
Might we have a train driver shortage added to the list (up there with with Teacher, Nurse and Doctor shortages).

Not sure if QR has something similar to MTM's idea...

By the end of its first year of operations, MTM will establish a Metro Training Academy and Rail Careers Centre to enhance the skills and training of employees with an eye to building a pool of railway professionals to meet future needs. As part of the programme, new apprentices will be employed and offered three-year fast-track apprenticeships.

"Ongoing employee training and development is a cornerstone to establishing a team keenly focused on providing high quality and sustainable customer service," said Mr Lezala.

"The MTM Training Academy and Rail Careers Centre idea is based on a similar concept successfully implemented by the MTR Corporation in Hong Kong," Mr Lezala added.

http://www.metrotrains.com.au/About-Us/News/MTM-confirmed-as-the-new-Franchisee-for-Metro.html

[longboi]

There is no way in this world that there aren't enough train drivers ready to staff the new trains and new services which will be delivered this year.

Seriously the new trains have been years in the planning and ordering and making. The new tracks have also been years in the planning and delivering. From at least 2006/07.

Don't tell me that QR have just sat on their hands and not organised enough drivers or other ancillary resources required to meet the demand which was obvious as a result of the new trains and tracks.

BECAUSE this would be a scandal of the highest level which would require many heads on plates not just one.

Mozz, I can assure you they are putting through a lot of train crew at the moment. There is going to be a lot of schools this year and there are many people working only one year or less as a guard before moving into driving or even going straight in.

[Sir Loin]

Probably not so much a gap, as poor scheduling.

Cleavand line trains departing Roma Street

4:07pm: Not anywhere near full, can always get a seat and people can get on at South Brisbane, South Bank, Park Road and Buranda without any hassle.
4:32pm: Absolute full to the brim every day with people who knock off at 4pm. Get on at Roma St and always standing. People getting on at South Brisbane, South Bank, Park Road and Buranda always end up jammed in up against the door.

[somebody]

Sir Loin, that one definitely counts.  A 25 minute gap is a violation of the 20 minute peak frequency standard.

[O_128]

Probably not so much a gap, as poor scheduling.

Cleavand line trains departing Roma Street

4:07pm: Not anywhere near full, can always get a seat and people can get on at South Brisbane, South Bank, Park Road and Buranda without any hassle.
4:32pm: Absolute full to the brim every day with people who knock off at 4pm. Get on at Roma St and always standing. People getting on at South Brisbane, South Bank, Park Road and Buranda always end up jammed in up against the door.

an extra service is really needed here, also a train between the 7:56a and 8:13 trains(ex manly) on cleveland line

[#Metro]

Too bad photographing people packed in like sardines might be forbidden.

Rail enthusiasts and amateur photographers are not permitted to film during peak periods and/or at busy stations and may be asked by QR staff to vacate the premises.

http://www.citytrain.com.au/about/Filming/Filming.asp

[mufreight]

There is no way in this world that there aren't enough train drivers ready to staff the new trains and new services which will be delivered this year.

Seriously the new trains have been years in the planning and ordering and making. The new tracks have also been years in the planning and delivering. From at least 2006/07.

Don't tell me that QR have just sat on their hands and not organised enough drivers or other ancillary resources required to meet the demand which was obvious as a result of the new trains and tracks.

BECAUSE this would be a scandal of the highest level which would require many heads on plates not just one.

Have to agree about the heads that should roll, in government we start with the Premier,then the Treasurer, the Transport Minister and the Minister for infrastructure which hopefull will happen at the next election then attend to the problem at the other end of George Street and remove the entire management of Translink which is soaking up funds that would be better spent on training train crew.
Just a suggestion all guards are to be trained as and qualified as drivers within twelve months of employment as a condition of their employment, this would provide the required pool of trained drivers to operate services with the replacement guards for those guards who step up to drivers positions able to be recuited and trained as guards in a matter of weeks

[ozbob]

Media Release 18 April 2010

SEQ:  Train timetable gaps and service frequency needs urgent improvement

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport commuters has said the key drivers for public transport utilisation are frequency of services, the public transport needs to be accessible and affordable.  On all three counts south-east Queensland is failing.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"The present go card fare structure with the projected 15% per annum fare increases is anti-public transport.  Pure and simple, completely out of whack with proven fare structures in places as widespread as London, Melbourne, Perth, and Boston for example.  There needs to be capping and periodical options for all users of the go card, together with a special cap for Seniors, full time students and the unemployed."

"The off peak train frequency of 30 minutes and often one hour frequency does not encourage use of public transport.  It also complicates bus rail integration.  Journeys that should be straightforward are often turned into marathons as frustrated commuters are forced to put up with constant delays and missed connections, no-shows and the real likelihood of missed appointments and flow on costs as a result."

"Anything more than 15 minute gap on a busy line is unacceptable and makes public transport unattractive. Twenty minutes or more is a disgrace."

"Listed below are some problems with the present timetable.  We had received correspondence from TransLink stating that an overhaul of the Citytrain timetable was to occur and would be implemented early 2011. Fridays media had a report that the advice concerning the new timetable was not correct and there were no plans. Incredible, just scan the list the below.  What is going on? (1)"

"We call on the Minister of Transport to direct TransLink to sort out this train timetable mess urgently.  Commuters are being hit with savage fare increases and the service standards are deteriorating, with no plans to fix it?"

"This situation is not acceptable."

"There are many timetable gaps and problems (2).  Some examples:

Monday to Friday Ipswich to Rosewood.
Train leaves Ipswich for Rosewood at 4.38pm, the next service for Rosewood is 5.51pm.  Amazing!!  Worse peak frequency than off peak.  This gap is appalling.

Shorncliffe Line:
Departing Central in afternoon peak:  3:51 and then 4:29.  That's a 38-minute gap!  The following service is 22 minutes later so an extra service and reshuffle would be the ideal solution.
Departing Shorncliffe in morning peak:  7:23 and then 7:49.  26-minute gap that could be solved by shuffling the next 3 trains forward by 10 minutes.

Every hour gap is totally unacceptable. Ferny Grove Line has hour gaps preceding the last train Mon-Thu, between the 1st and 2nd trains Sat am, between 1st,2nd, and 3rd inbound trains Sun am, and between 1st,2nd,3rd,4th, and 5th outbound trains Sun am. There are plenty of examples of hour gaps on other lines too.

Ferny Grove has a 21/23min gap between the 06:45am ex Ferny Grove and 07:06am ex Ferny Grove(exp)/07:17am ex Mitchelton. The 07:06 ex Ferny Grove is often very overcrowded by Enoggera. The is also an annoying 18 min gap in the late am peak caused the 2nd inbound express (which has loads of spare capacity).

The two pm outbound Ferny Grove expresses cause a 20min gap between 4:37 and 4:57 ex Central, and 21min gap between 5:03 and 5:24 ex Central for stations that it skips (Windsor-Gaythorne). Really annoying!

Cleveland Line has a 23min gap for stations Wynnum Central to Buranda which are skipped by the 1st inbound am express.

Caboolture Line has a 30min gap between 6:06pm and 6:36pm ex-Central to Caboolture.

Nearly 30 years ago in 1980 (shortly after electrification began) there were services from Salisbury to the City at 7.28am, 7.38am, 7.51am, 8.05am and 8.21am with no gap greater than 16 minutes.  Today there are services from Salisbury to the City at 7.23am, 7.36am, 7.54am(3 cars), 8.16am(3 cars) and 8.22am with gaps in the services of up to 22 minutes (an increase from 16 min).  This is made worse by the trains before and after the 22 minute gap only being 3 car sets. Translink needs to mandate that peak hour train services need to run at least every 15 minutes and that 6 car sets be used unless it can be demonstrated the loading only warrants the use of a 3 car set (such as Doomben & Rosewood).

Anti-peak flow:  For example at Indooroopilly there's a city train at 5:03pm followed by 5:30pm.  Given that this station has 15min frequency daytime off peak, that's a bit of a shocker.

Gap on the Sunshine Coast line weekday evening.
7:29pm Nambour, next is 9:30pm Nambour service.  This is very inconvenient to punters heading past Caboolture.
Three car leaving at 8.30pm or thereabouts would be a big benefit.

Cleveland line trains departing Roma Street
4:07pm: Not anywhere near full, can always get a seat and people can get on at South Brisbane, South Bank, Park Road and Buranda without any hassle.
4:32pm: Absolute full to the brim every day with people who knock off at 4pm. Get on at Roma St and always standing. People getting on at South Brisbane, South Bank, Park Road and Buranda always end up jammed in up against the door."

"No plans for a timetable overhaul?  You have got to be kidding TransLink!"

References:

1. http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=3703.0

2. http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=2703.0

Contact:

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org

[somebody]

A couple of critiques of this release if I may:
1) It would have been better to have said something like "the standard should be 15 minutes east of Ipswich and south of Caboolture, rather than the 20 minutes which is the current unenforced standard" before the list of examples
2) I would like caution in banging on about the hour gaps in the evenings Mon-Thu.  A worse outcome would be that the Sun evening timetable applied which has no hour gaps!  Perhaps if the early finish on Sunday evening was also mentioned.

[ozbob]

Thanks, all good additional comments for follow up.  The main message is that it a major overhaul is needed now.

I am getting a little concerned with the looming fuel prices as well.  It is essential that the timetable be able to support real sustainable public transport options.  A lot of staff at TransLink and at QR are presumably involved with timetabling.  If what TransLink said on Friday is true, then perhaps they need to be redeployed into more productive positions like collecting tickets ...  (tic).