Hinterland Connect

[ozbob]

New timetable today (1 Sep 2014) for the Hinterland Connect bus ...

-->     http://translink.com.au/travel-information/service-notices/19491/details

[ozbob]

 

Sunshine Coast Council --> Council welcomes Hinterland Connect news

Sunshine Coast Council has welcomed the State Government's public commitment to fully fund the Hinterland Connect bus service following an eight-year joint trial.

Since 2007, Council has part-funded the trial service via its Transport Levy with the current arrangements to conclude at the end of this month.

Transport Portfolio holder, Division One Councillor Rick Baberowski, said after eight years of trials, he was glad the time had come for the State Government to accept full responsibility for Hinterland Connect after passenger numbers showed it was a valued and viable service.

"In the end, the provision of public transport is a State Government responsibility and we believe the lengthy trial, 50% funded by Council, has shown it made good sense for this to become a permanent feature on the Coast's bus timetables," Cr Baberowski said.

"We flagged almost 12 months ago that we wanted the State Government to make this a permanent service at the end of the current trial period.

"We will be happy to receive the official confirmation of today's news from the Transport Minister in the near-future.

"Council will now be able to direct the Transport Levy funds used for the trial to other very worthwhile transport projects for our Coast community.

"We would encourage all Hinterland residents to continue to show their support for Hinterland Connect in the future."

Division 5 Cr Jenny McKay said the trial had shown Hinterland Connect was a service both needed and wanted by local residents.

"This was an initiative that the Council started and passenger numbers have continued to grow," Cr McKay said.

"It deserves to be a permanent service provided by the State Government just like the others we have here on the Sunshine Coast."

The Hinterland Connect service provides transport between Maleny and Nambour. It connects to TransLink bus services on the Coast, and train services to Brisbane.
- See more at: https://news.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/content/council-welcomes-hinterland-connect-news#sthash.QoSmFpbK.oDd1fDC6.dpuf

[SurfRail]

Good.  Let's have integrated ticketing, go card access and an upgrade to at least one low-floor vehicle please.  (The operator had or has some second-hand ones, but they apparently didn't like this run very much - there are more suitable buses out there though.)

[Arnz]

Perhaps Cavglass (Parent of Glasshouse Country Coaches) can have a word with TAG (parent of Sunbus, Surfside & Bustech) about getting some second hand wheelchair accessible CC bodied CB20s (the ones that are stored at the back of Marcoola depot, not the ones that are in the GC graveyard) for the run? (that is if they are not acquiring any new low floors, and they are already setup for reinstallation of the Cubic equipment if need be).

[ozbob]

Twitter

Peter Wellington ‏@pwellingtonmp 1 minute ago

The Hinterland Connect Bus Service is #Heretostay Fully funded by Qld Govt Thank you @StirlHinchliffe #qldpol

[SurfRail]

But still with separate fares...

[Arnz]

Current SC contracts kinda make that a little complicated. The weird bus coverage areas of TAG (Sunbus), Buslink and Cavglass (Glasshouse) in the overall SC region shows that.

The easier option is to pay Glasshouse Country Coaches to install Go Card machines and adjust the costs/per km contract accordingly.

Or pay out Glasshouse's parent company Cavglass out of the Hinterland Connect contract in advance (Paying them $$ in compensation/early contract exit, etc) and transfer the route contract to TAG (Sunbus) and have Sunbus takeover the service and renumber then in the 600 series.

[ozbob]

Sunshine Coast Daily --> Bus service a fixture for the Hinterland

[ozbob]

http://translink.com.au/service-updates/74516

Hinterland Connect here to stay

From Monday 4 April, the Hinterland Connect trial bus service will become a permanent part of the qconnect network and will be known as the 890 Maleny to Nambour. This is a positive outcome after serving your community for almost 9 years. From this time, service information will only be available from the qconnect website.

There will be no immediate changes to the route, stops or timetable at this stage.

New 890 Maleny to Nambour fares

When the Hinterland Connect becomes a permanent service, fares will be aligned with the 891 Maleny to Landsborough and 892 Landsborough to Beerwah services.

From Monday 4 April, depending on where you travel, fares will increase by an average of 18 cents (for concessions) and 34 cents (for adults). Fares have remained stable on the Hinterland Connect, while there have been changes to all other qconnect services.

Full details including fare tables zones etc. > http://translink.com.au/service-updates/74516

[ozbob]

Q connect  Sunshine Coast Hinterland bus services

>> http://www.qld.gov.au/transport/public/transport/timetables/qconnect/maleny/

[ozbob]

Some photographs from the trip we did in 2014.

Few random pics ...  great day! 



























Photographs R Dow 20th August 2014

[ozbob]

[STB]

As someone who worked on the original Hinterland Connect project back when it first began, creating the original timetable, worked on the financials etc, I'm ecstatic to see it become a permanent service!

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

2nd April 2016

Hinterland Connect bus here to stay!

Greetings,

Some good news for the Sunshine Coast.  The Hinterland Connect trial bus (which connects Nambour - Maleny) will become a permanent part of the qconnect network from this Monday, 4th April.

Full details here:  http://translink.com.au/service-updates/74516

There has been a long community campaign to achieve this.  Thanks to the Minister for Transport  Hon Stirling Hinchliffe, and local Members of Parliament for supporting this.

Thanks to TransLink and TMR for enabling these changes.

Best wishes
Robert

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



Hinterland Connect bus at Nambour railway station, August 2014. Photograph R Dow.