Minimum frequencies and span of service

[STB]

Guys,

I've been thinking lately about the minimum frequencies and span of service, in particular with making it easier for people to travel and to negate the issue of connections between services.

What are your thoughts on standard frequencies and span of service across the board.  In particular:

- Local services in the outer regions (Southern, Eastern, Sunshine Coast etc)
- Link 'feeder' services to trains, and in the case of the Redlands, ferries.
- The 'BUZ' services
- The crosstown services
- University services
- Peak hour services
- Citycats and inner city ferries
- And if there should be a standard that every major road/corridor in Brisbane should have a minimum high frequency service 7 days of the week.

My thoughts is that:

Every local and crosstown service should run at least every 30mins during the week, and 60mins on weekends.
Every train and ferry should be met by a link 'feeder' route from key interchanges from first service to last service.
Every corridor ideally should have a clearly branded high frequency service between the city and the main interchange (eg: Carindale to City)
Every secondary corridor should have a service running at least every 30mins during the week and 60mins during the weekends (eg: I actually think route 205 should be upgraded to run all day everyday and remove routes 202 and 203)
Trains should be running at least every 15mins where possible
Citycats and Inner City ferries should be running at least every 15mins 7 days of the week and every 30mins at night until last service

I also think there should be standard population density cut offs for levels of service and treat it like the road system and can just identify a corridor and upgrade the corridor from using road terms from a 'highway' to a 'freeway' - the SE Busway for example would be an example of a 'freeway' level of service.

I say this as I know that to at least get new passengers on board local services, they really need to be running more frequent than every 60mins, even if some services carry mostly air, so at least the local population knows a service exists and will be available for when they need it.  Running it every 60mins as happens now, only captures those who have no choice but to use public transport, and so can tolerate it running hourly.

By the way, I also think these corridors should have those as minimum frequency and span of service cut offs where the only rise in frequency would happen depending on the density of the corridor. Otherwise they will not change.  So in other words, to focus on the corridor density rather than the actual patronage directly.  Obviously if the patronage doesn't cut it, reduce the service level on that corridor at targeted times.

Thoughts?

[somebody]

Not going far enough to get people out of cars.

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[STB]

Not going far enough to get people out of cars.

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So, what do you think should be the baseline frequency and span of service to get people out of cars?

[somebody]

15 minutes for frequency. Additional frequencies for peak aren't necessary if rockets provide the additional capacity.

I reckon until 11pm

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[STB]

Just as a side note (slightly off topic), thinking about Carindale, route 205 should replace the 200 south of Carindale interchange, and route 200 removed with route 222 to be the main primary Old Cleveland Road corridor, and route 205 to cover Chatsworth Rd corridor through to Cribb Rd.

[aldonius]

I would add that a world-class city never sleeps, and so if one takes that rhetoric seriously in relation to SEQ, there ought to be NightLink services running hourly along the primary corridors all night every night.

Mt Gravatt, Indooroopilly, Carindale, Chermside, 199, 700. Probably 600, 555 & 515 as well.

[Old Northern Road]

Feeder buses need to run as frequently as the trains. You'd think that considering the trains only run every 30mins that we would already have this but no. Most feeder buses only run hourly or worse and many only run hourly during peak.

[James]

I would add that a world-class city never sleeps, and so if one takes that rhetoric seriously in relation to SEQ, there ought to be NightLink services running hourly along the primary corridors all night every night.

Mt Gravatt, Indooroopilly, Carindale, Chermside, 199, 700. Probably 600, 555 & 515 as well.

I hate to say it, but this is Queensland. I would much rather see current span of hours expanded than seeing services like this run. The only 24-hour/7 days a week service I'd like to see is either the 199 or the CityGlider, to cover the inner city areas. The rest of Brisbane hardly has the demand for it. These shopping centres are closed and will all go towards paid parking - that is, deterring Park n Ride.

I'll respond to each type of route individually:
- Local services in the outer regions (Southern, Eastern, Sunshine Coast etc)
These services should be strictly coverage services, however they do need to cater towards peak traffic.
- Link 'feeder' services to trains, and in the case of the Redlands, ferries.
There need to be two types of feeder services:
1. The ones which meet every train on a co-ordinated schedule
2. The ones which meet some trains (low-patronage coverage routes only)
- The 'BUZ' services
BUZ standard should be minimum 6am - 9pm, with no worse than half hourly frequency through to 11:30pm. BUZ services should no longer be forced to go to the CBD - feeding to other BUZes or rail should be suitable.
- The crosstown services
Depends on the kind of service and whether it is an awful windy route or a straight, direct route. Coverage routes should be daylight hours only, with a slight extension to span if there is the need to cover peak hour. Patronage routes should try and meet city-bound services.
- University services
University services should not be CFN routes unless there are other reasons that justify it (412 gets strong loads, 428 gets a lot of general Swann Road traffic, 109 is a core busway service). I would argue that 209 should be cut completely on weekends.
- Peak hour services
P-rockets should only exist for capacity and speed reasons (e.g. routes via Centenary Motorway/Western Freeway, via CCB routes etc.)
- Citycats and inner city ferries
Give CityCat BUZ frequency, inner city ferries are fine as is.
- And if there should be a standard that every major road/corridor in Brisbane should have a minimum high frequency service 7 days of the week
No, waste of money. Sandgate Road doesn't need a BUZ, nor does Milton Road, nor does Fairfield Road and nor does OCL past Carindale because it is nothing but acreage between Carindale and Capalaba. The list goes on.

[SurfRail]

I think the idea of a one-size-fits-all approach to headways and frequency is a bit sub-optimal.  The standards need to be flexible otherwise you end up with situations like the 340.

[STB]

What I'm trying to put to you guys, and get you thinking about, is what TL had to do back in the early days of TL coming together, when they released the TNP, they released a broad minimum of service and span of service with different factors linked to that, which has since seems to have been disregarded for some part, where there are part time routes(think route 260 and 262 for example, or heck, even the 314!)  and passengers have to actively search and/or think about when a route operates to work out when they can travel, which discourages passenger use.

To me, a full time route is one that operates all day from a certain time to a certain time, and that encourages patronage as the passengers don't need to actively think of when they can leave to catch the bus.