Bus improvements westside suburbs

[ozbob]

Couriermail Quest --> Push for new bus to connect westside suburbs

Bardon retiree Yvonne Ritson's push for a Bardon to Toowong bus service is gaining traction in the community, with a state parliamentary petition now launched.

But TransLink, which authorises bus services (Council only runs them) is not convinced, saying residents could use the Great Circle routes 598 and 599, which operate every 30 minutes, Monday to Friday, and hourly on Saturdays.

Ms Ritson said many residents faced a 1-2km, hilly walk to get to the nearest point on the Great Circle line – Coopers Camp Rd.

"Since we moved here in 1990 there have been four (developments) with (nearly 300) townhouses, but no improvement in bus services,'' she said.

"In that time many people have moved into various stages of retirement or their children have grown up and are going to university or high school.

"It's fine getting into the city, but if you want to go to Toowong most people drive.''

State Greens MP for the area, Michael Berkman, has raised the issue with TransLink and started a parliamentary petition.

Mr Berkman said his office had been "barraged'' with requests for such a service.

"This new route should be delivered ASAP,'' he said.

"At the very latest, the State Government and Council should include this new route in the bus network review when Cross River Rail and Brisbane Metro are delivered.

"We also know that Bardon families need a bus link to Kelvin Grove State College, and I'll keep fighting for that as well.''

Greens candidate for Paddington ward, Donna Burns, also backed a new service.

"Bardon and Paddington residents know how unreliable buses can be. That translates into peak hour traffic jams,'' Ms Burns said.

"A new high-frequency bus linking up Paddington, Bardon and Toowong will help students heading to UQ, retail workers heading Indooroopilly and office workers heading to Toowong.

"As more new residents move in, it's time to fix the Bardon black hole of public transport.

"Brisbane desperately needs more cross-suburban links, instead of travelling into the city and back out again.

"Getting the bus should be easier, quicker and cheaper than driving.

"That's why we're also pushing for "turn up and go" services for the 375, 475 and Great Circle Line.''

https://www.michaelberkman.com.au/bardon_buses_375_475 > https://www.michaelberkman.com.au/bardon_buses_375_475

[STB]

I'm not terribly convinced either about those extensions to be honest that Michael Berkman's office is pushing for (and has for a while now).  In saying that, the inner west network does need to be redone from scratch, rather than simply extending the network as it is.  I actually have some ideas using my planning knowledge, but so far his office has refused to even let me see him, they've said that this is a political issue and aren't interested in the technicalities .  Completely opposite response to Jonathan Sri's office who is happy for me to visit to have a chat about his area, including having a chat to him about his glider ideas - to which I've got some ideas attached to that, along with other stuff.

[verbatim9]

Couriermail Quest --> Push for new bus to connect westside suburbs

Bardon retiree Yvonne Ritson's push for a Bardon to Toowong bus service is gaining traction in the community, with a state parliamentary petition now launched.

But TransLink, which authorises bus services (Council only runs them) is not convinced, saying residents could use the Great Circle routes 598 and 599, which operate every 30 minutes, Monday to Friday, and hourly on Saturdays.

Ms Ritson said many residents faced a 1-2km, hilly walk to get to the nearest point on the Great Circle line – Coopers Camp Rd.

"Since we moved here in 1990 there have been four (developments) with (nearly 300) townhouses, but no improvement in bus services,'' she said.

"In that time many people have moved into various stages of retirement or their children have grown up and are going to university or high school.

"It's fine getting into the city, but if you want to go to Toowong most people drive.''

State Greens MP for the area, Michael Berkman, has raised the issue with TransLink and started a parliamentary petition.

Mr Berkman said his office had been "barraged'' with requests for such a service.

"This new route should be delivered ASAP,'' he said.

"At the very latest, the State Government and Council should include this new route in the bus network review when Cross River Rail and Brisbane Metro are delivered.

"We also know that Bardon families need a bus link to Kelvin Grove State College, and I'll keep fighting for that as well.''

Greens candidate for Paddington ward, Donna Burns, also backed a new service.

"Bardon and Paddington residents know how unreliable buses can be. That translates into peak hour traffic jams,'' Ms Burns said.

"A new high-frequency bus linking up Paddington, Bardon and Toowong will help students heading to UQ, retail workers heading Indooroopilly and office workers heading to Toowong.

"As more new residents move in, it's time to fix the Bardon black hole of public transport.

"Brisbane desperately needs more cross-suburban links, instead of travelling into the city and back out again.

"Getting the bus should be easier, quicker and cheaper than driving.

"That's why we're also pushing for "turn up and go" services for the 375, 475 and Great Circle Line.''

https://www.michaelberkman.com.au/bardon_buses_375_475 > https://www.michaelberkman.com.au/bardon_buses_375_475

I'm not terribly convinced either about those extensions to be honest that Michael Berkman's office is pushing for (and has for a while now).  In saying that, the inner west network does need to be redone from scratch, rather than simply extending the network as it is.  I actually have some ideas using my planning knowledge, but so far his office has refused to even let me see him, they've said that this is a political issue and aren't interested in the technicalities .  Completely opposite response to Jonathan Sri's office who is happy for me to visit to have a chat about his area, including having a chat to him about his glider ideas - to which I've got some ideas attached to that, along with other stuff.

Would it be better just to improve bus stop locations for the 599 and 598 in Bardon? Services can be extended to Sundays as well as Frequency improved on Saturdays to every 30 mins. This service was designed to connect the shopping centres before Sunday shopping took off. Now Sundays is one of the biggest shopping days of the week.

[Cazza]

Not sure if extending the 375 is a wise choice at all. It is already long enough and is prone to heavy delays that aren't helped by the slim recovery times at both ends of the route. The best outcome for the inner west now is the new route from Mitchelton to UQ or Indro via Enoggera, Ashgrove, Bardon and Toowong that has been a long time proposal by us (not me personally but this group in general). It would definitely provide much better coverage and connections to the area than trying to unexplainably extend 2 routes for pretty much the sake of changing the bus services.

[Gazza]

Now Sundays is one of the biggest shopping days of the week

This guy can't stop talking about shopping at every opportunity.

[verbatim9]

Now Sundays is one of the biggest shopping days of the week

This guy can't stop talking about shopping at every opportunity.

The Great Circle line was marketed to connect the shopping centres when first envisioned. Sunday trading didn't exist. Now it does and more successful than other days. More car use now too on a Sunday. Just like Sydney and Melbourne, where it now requires 7 day clear ways. It would be good if 599/598 became a 7 day service of 20 mins or better..

[SurfRail]

I don't think incrementalism will work, otherwise you end up with band-aids on top of band-aids.

The real issue is that the network is broken.  It needs to be rewritten and better cross-suburban links are part of that.

[verbatim9]

I don't think incrementalism will work, otherwise you end up with band-aids on top of band-aids.

The real issue is that the network is broken.  It needs to be rewritten and better cross-suburban links are part of that.

Yes definitely, As I remember the 599/598 were to become.a full-time.service with the previous review. Let's hope that this will be the case when more buses are dispatched and available when Bne Metro is up and running.

[SurfRail]

I don't see any reason why we need to stick with the 598 and 599 - even if we kept to exactly the same alignment I'm not sure how having them operate non-stop end-to-end is an advantage.  Break them up and do more useful things with them - for instance there's no reason to run yet another bus from Toowong to Indooroopilly when we could instead route buses from north of Toowong to UQ.

[James]

The real issue is that the network is broken.  It needs to be rewritten and better cross-suburban links are part of that.

^ this.

The network is broken, little band-aid fixes are only going to make things worse overall. They may fix small issues here and there, but fundamentally major issues remain.

[Paul B]

Problem is that no politician has the balls to do a complete re-write.
Imagine the scare campaigns. The only way I could see it happening is on the hourly routes (adding 3 feeders to every 1 hourly all-stopper)

[Cazza]

That's where public consultation and transparency are key to allowing big network changes to happen as smoothly and seamlessly as possible.

[City Designer]

The 2005 southern region network changes are a good example. At the time TransLink had a policy of no worsening.

For example the former Brisbane City to Loganholme bus station service (every 30 minutes) was replaced by the 555 (every 15 minutes) and the 572 (every 30 minutes).

[#Metro]

Improvements can be done but the new service must be in place first, left for a few months, and then the old services withdrawn.

This is how BCC used to do it.