Joint Statement: New bus stop at GoMA opened

[ozbob]

Joint Statement:

Premier and Minister for Reconstruction
The Honourable Anna Bligh

Transport and Multicultural Affairs
The Honourable Annastacia Palaszczuk
03/06/2011

New bus stop at GoMA opened

Brisbane's art lovers will now benefit from improved access to the Cultural Centre at South Bank as part of Queensland's largest upgrade to public transport services.

Premier Anna Bligh said passengers could make use of the GoMA stop for convenient access to the gallery, library and surrounding cultural precinct, and easy connections from South Brisbane to other TransLink services.

"High frequency route 444 (Moggill to City) will service the new GoMA stop, which is located on Stanley Place outside the State Library, seven days a week, with a service at least every 10 minutes in peak and 15 minutes off peak," she said.

"Outbound services will start at GoMA, and inbound services will terminate there instead of the Cultural Centre busway stop.

"Other improvements also included a dedicated charter service bus stop, which will provide safe and convenient access for schools students and other tour groups wishing to visit the cultural precinct."

Arts Minister Rachel Nolan said new public transport services to GoMA are welcome news for the arts precinct and visitors alike.

"Approximately 4 million people visit the Cultural Centre each year and these new services will make it even easier for people to get there," Ms Nolan said.

"Having this bus stop at Stanley Place means people can arrive virtually at the front door of both the GoMA and the State Library of Queensland," Ms Nolan said.

"The timing couldn't be more perfect with a major new exhibition, Surrealism: The Poetry of Dreams opening at GoMA on 11 June, and The Torres Strait Islands: A celebration opening 1 July and incorporating the entire Cultural Centre.

"I have no doubt this extra service will be well received for people accessing these events and exhibitions to come.

Commuters can view the new route 444 timetable or use the journey planner function on the TransLink website www.translink.com.au to check their journey times and connections.

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[#Metro]

Methinks this is nothing to do with GOMA, and everything to do with the fact they are running out of bus layover space and have to find somewhere to put all those cultural centre terminators.

[cartoonbirdhaus]

What about the 385? Will that stop serving GoMA? I clicked on the "printable timetable" link for the 385, only to have the site show an "out of date" message. (Don't they check anything thoroughly? I think we know the answer to that one...)

[somebody]

What about the 385? Will that stop serving GoMA? I clicked on the "printable timetable" link for the 385, only to have the site show an "out of date" message. (Don't they check anything thoroughly? I think we know the answer to that one...)

Probably decided that could have issues when a bus runs late and another bus is there at the same time.

[SurfRail]

What about the 385? Will that stop serving GoMA? I clicked on the "printable timetable" link for the 385, only to have the site show an "out of date" message. (Don't they check anything thoroughly? I think we know the answer to that one...)

Probably decided that could have issues when a bus runs late and another bus is there at the same time.

The big thing stopping this happening when it was originally due was poor capacity at the stop, so I'd say that may be correct.

There are also issues with too many out of service buses going right into Grey Street, which was partially ameliorated by the opening of the Go-Between Bridge and diversion of the outbound western expresses over it.  (Truncating to Toowong or Indooroopilly would be even better for that...)

[ozbob]

The bus stop at GoMA











Photographs R Dow 26th June 2011

[somebody]

There are also issues with too many out of service buses going right into Grey Street, which was partially ameliorated by the opening of the Go-Between Bridge and diversion of the outbound western expresses over it.  (Truncating to Toowong or Indooroopilly would be even better for that...)

Don't know that I've ever seen the right hand turn lane foul the straight through path, so I'm not sure what issue you are thinking of.  I think there are issues with running straight through blocking access to the Melbourne St portal.

[Golliwog]

There are also issues with too many out of service buses going right into Grey Street, which was partially ameliorated by the opening of the Go-Between Bridge and diversion of the outbound western expresses over it.  (Truncating to Toowong or Indooroopilly would be even better for that...)

Don't know that I've ever seen the right hand turn lane foul the straight through path, so I'm not sure what issue you are thinking of.  I think there are issues with running straight through blocking access to the Melbourne St portal.

If you're unlucky enough to have 2 or 3 buses go to use it at the same time and they get stopped by opposing traffic then they do block it. I've seen that happen a few times, though not so often as it'd be a significant issue.

[somebody]

What I meant though was that when there is a red light for straight through traffic along Melbourne street, but a green arrow to turn in to the busway, that the traffic stops if a bus is waiting to go straight.  Right turns in to Grey St as lanes for right turn and straight ahead.

[aldonius]

Here at GoMA at 6:30 and a 385, 306, 345 and 330 have all used the stop as a turnaround.

Surely at least one other BUZ could stop there permanently.

[Cazza]

Here at GoMA at 6:30 and a 385, 306, 345 and 330 have all used the stop as a turnaround.

Surely at least one other BUZ could stop there permanently.

All buses that terminate at the Cultural Centre turn around here (unless they go through some other backstreets of South Brisbane which is a tad odd). I think the reason why only the 444 stops at GOMA and not all of them is that there are no layover bays that would be easily accessible for routes terminating/starting at GOMA.

E.g. There are 3 (approximately- just going off a guess from what I have seen/Google Maps street view) bus layover bays of the southern side (SS) of Grey St (across the road from the Science Centre) and 6 (again, just approximate) on the northern side (NS) of Grey St (next to the Science Centre). So this means, if a bus was to terminate at GOMA and start a new route at GOMA 20 mins later (for instance), it would have to:

1: Stop at the Cultural Centre, turn right onto Grey St (passing SS), right onto Stanley Pl and drop off passengers at GOMA.
2: Leave the GOMA bus stop (other buses will need to use it in the next 20 mins) and find a layover bay. The driver has 2 layover bay options he can choose from- NS and SS. Lets say he chose the NS.
3: (NS) After about 10 mins or so of layover, the driver would then have to drive back around to the GOMA stop. This is a very long and tedious task as he cannot just quickly jump around the block. He can either go left through the Cultural Centre, through the city and back across the William Jolly Bridge and left into Stanley Pl (this would take about 10-15 mins with GOOD traffic levels) OR can go straight down Grey St, right Glenelg St, right Cordelia and right Peel St to get back to the GOMA stop.
4: If he was to park at the SS, he would have to go Peel St, left Merivale St, left Melbourne St then left Grey St. Yes, this would be much easier and quicker BUT as I said before, there are only 3 bus bays on the SS. This means that 5 BUZ services + 4 others would have to share just 3 layover bays. It just wouldn't work.

In no way, shape or form am I having a go at you, I strongly support this and at first, wondered why they haven't already extended them to GOMA but then I just realised this major problem. If the council could add extra layover bays on the SS or a new turnaround closer to Stanley Pl, then by all means, this would work perfectly. But at the moment, the roads just aren't laid out correctly for this to happen.

[aldonius]

All good points Cazza -- I wasn't thinking at all of dropoff, only pickup!