Darra to Loganlea orbital bus

[Gazza]

Im not sure if this has ever had a topic about it.

Would RBoT support and orbital super express that runs along the Motorway from Darra to Loganlea, connecting the Ipswich and Springfield lines with the Gold Coast and Beenleigh lines.
Such a route would have high visibility liveried buses, perhaps call the route the "Southern Orbit"

Such a route would improve connectivity between Ipswich and the southside and the Gold Coast.

Currently the journey via Roma St between those points takes 1h 20 and 1h 40 mins.

A direct bus would take under 30 mins, shaving an hour off the journey.
If it pulled off and serviced Browns Plains, it would take 35 mins.

Both scenarios would offer a substantial time saving, but the key is that you treat it a bit like the SRL in melbourne, and focus on speed getting across town, and resist the temptation to stop everywhere.

[nathandavid88]

I guess the question would be if there is enough demand for that particular connection to make it viable.

While I can see why you're choosing to run it from Darra, to cater for the Springfield residents, for speed I would consider running it from Goodna, because from Goodna the bus can get straight onto the Ipswich Motorway, straight onto the Logan Motorway, and to Loganlea in a hair over 20 minutes non-stop, so 25mins if you stop at Browns Plains.

For Springfield, I want to see improved bus connections between Springfield and Browns Plains. Something like taking the existing 534, take out the little loop through Carole Park and the meander through Forest Lake, run it down the Motorway and property connect the two centres in 20 odd minutes. This would give Springfield residents better access to areas like Sunnybank Griffith Uni, and Logan Central via connections to the 140, 150, 550 and 545 at Browns Plains. They could also interchange to the Goodna - Loganlea rail connection bus here as well.

[achiruel]

I think Darra to Loganlea is a better choice, because despite the slightly longer trip, it gives commuters a lot more options. Not only people from Springfield, but people from stations between Auchenflower and Oxley (excl. Toowong and Indooroopilly) during peak times when all Ipswich services run express.

It still should amount to about a 40 minute saving for commuters going from outer Beenleigh/Gold Coast to outer Ipswich/Springfield lines, and probably even some time savings for those going to the middle part of the Ipswich line (Oxley-Graceville). Definitely a need for improved connections between the Beenleigh line and Browns Plains too IMO, which at the moment are pretty infrequent, disappointing considering the amount of buses which can be transferred to at Browns Plains (140 BUZ, 150 BUZ, and all the local feeder routes, along with bus to Jimboomba & Beaudesert.

[SurfRail]

I think maybe Wacol and Richlands instead of Darra - it seems that would be shorter, still cover both the Ipswich and Springfield lines and allow an immediate jump onto the M5 to facilitate a sub-30 minute trip, or 35 minutes via Grand Plaza.  The bus connections at Darra are nothing great, and this would plug a gap that currently requires 2 single station train journeys.

[#Metro]

I'm open-minded.
Let's come up with some test routes, refine and shortlist and then go from there.

The concept seems sound, it just needs proof of concept in a trial and some market testing.

Gazza et al. could we have some route maps or images please?

[achiruel]

Here's a couple for Loganlea-Darra via Browns Plains and Loganlea-Wacol via Browns Plains and Richlands. Looks like the Richlands/Wacol route ends up being slower.

[SurfRail]

That also needs to account for less journey time for those travelling from the south and west by not having to travel as far as Darra.

Richlands and Wacol also have superior bus connections to the wider network while Darra only has a handful of local feeders, most of which use the north side of the station rather than the southern side this example is set for.

[#Metro]

Do you want to run it via Inala and Forest Lake as these are major bus hubs and pickup points.
Darra could be used as the rail pickup point.
No need to stop at intermediate stops between these locations - local buses will do that.

[Gazza]

I think if it starts getting weighed down with too many stops then it just becomes another GCL.

Yeah I dont mind Wacol and Richlands, but ideally Darra should be more of a hub anyway.

[#Metro]

Express buses need to balance speed against stops. Too many stops and it becomes pointless, too few and nobody can get on the thing.

By stopping at bus hubs, you can capture the bus transfer passengers. At this point people only seem be be thinking about rail transfer pax.

Update - we could call this Regional Rapid Bus

[SurfRail]

I think Inala is too far off-line for what this is trying to do.

If you could do both, you would have the kind of service being contemplated above (with mostly motorway running), plus another one I've toyed with which would go from Wacol Station to Springwood Station via
- Progress Road
- Richlands Station
- Inala Station
- Acacia Ridge Station (when it exists)
- Beaudesert Road
- Compton Road (including connection to the new Trinder Park / Karawatha station)

If you wanted Loganlea from Inala, you would get this to Trinder Park / Karawatha, change to a train and go 3 stops.

We already have multiple overlapping orbital type routes in the BCC area, some of which are at high frequency, so I see no reason why we couldn't have both.

[Gazza]

At this point people only seem be be thinking about rail transfer pax.

For a couple of reasons yes...

-That's what this idea is about

-Rail passengers are potentially going from Ipswich to the Gold Coast, so making the bus leg too slow is quite rough on passengers making those longer trips.

-A route like this shouldn't/wouldn't exist in isolation, in fact you'd have other cross town routes specifically connecting other hubs as you suggest.
See below:

Looks like Surfrail beat me to it.

[#Metro]

Here is a variant to add to the list:

Wacol (Ipswich Rail Pax)
Richlands (Springfiled Rail Pax)
Inala (BCC Bus Pax)
Heathwood (opportunistic stop)
Browns Plains (BCC & Logan Bus Pax)
Woodridge (Beenleigh Rail Pax)
Springwood Busway Station (Logan Bus Pax)

Route length 36 km. Click Image To Enlarge

[achiruel]

Not a fan of Woodridge station rather than Loganlea, as it isn't on the Gold Coast stopping pattern.

Express buses need to balance speed against stops. Too many stops and it becomes pointless, too few and nobody can get on the thing.

By stopping at bus hubs, you can capture the bus transfer passengers. At this point people only seem be be thinking about rail transfer pax.

Update - we could call this Regional Rapid Bus

Browns Plains is a bus hub.

[#Metro]

Thanks for the feedback.

I don't think there would be much demand from GC pax but if it was a critical thing then you could just swap or add this station to the GC stopping pattern.

[Gazza]

The goal is basically to connect important regions...Ipswich, GC and Logan.

Browns Plains is a significant centre (Hence so many Logan routes run there)...Forest lake and Inala kinda aren't IMHO, so they can be picked up by other cross town routes.

[Gazza]

Not a fan of Woodridge station rather than Loganlea, as it isn't on the Gold Coast stopping pattern.

But there are already several Loganlea routes in the catchment.

[#Metro]

Inala is important as it's the main bus hub. Adding it means we don't have to invent multiple low quality bus routes. We can just have one decent one.

[achiruel]

I think maybe there's really two routes needed here:

• a super-express from Loganlea to Darra or Richlands/Wacol via Browns Plains
• a regular express from Woodridge via Springwood to Darra via (mostly) State Route 30

I think having both terminate at Darra allows easy interchange to get to Inala from the super-express, thereby removing the need for yet another route deviation (Browns Plains is kind of unavoidable, though, IMO).

Not sure about the Acacia Ridge deviation on the second route. It does seem to give a lot more interchange opportunities, at the expense of a few minutes. Maybe I'm misreading the maps, but the only bus along Learoyd Rd between Watson Rd & Beaudesert Rd is the 115, where as Mortimer Rd has 110, 115, 117, and 122. Seems there's no existing stop infrastructure along Beatty Rd south of Mortimer Rd, or Bowhill Rd. As for what they serve, Bowhill Rd and Learoyd Rd seem much the same, as in large swathes of nothing.