Articles: All night buses for Brisbane

[ozbob]

From the Brisbane mX click here!

All night buses for Brisbane

All night buses for Brisbane
Article from: MX

Alex Dickinson of mX

August 18, 2009 02:06pm

BRISBANE will get its first 24-hour bus service from mid-2010, with a new ``superbus'' to connect Newstead and West End around the clock each Friday and Saturday.

That is half a century after Sydney?s first 24-hour bus service, but council public transport chair Jane Prentice said: ??This is not just any bus service.??

The high-frequency, high-capacity buses to operate on the service are described as ??trams on rubber wheels??.

The distinctive new "CityGlider" buses will have sliding doors in which passengers can jump on or off without having to file past the driver to pay a fare.

Services will run from the West End ferry terminal via Montague Rd, Mollison Rd and Melbourne St, crossing the Brisbane River on the Victoria Bridge, through the CBD and through Fortitude Valley in Wickham and Ann streets ? and through to the Teneriffe ferry terminal.

The council says services will run every five minutes in peak times and no less frequently than every 15 minutes.

CityGlider buses will also receive priority at traffic lights and intersections to cut travel time.

And mX can also reveal the council plans to begin a Hamilton - Woolloongabba CityGlider line within the next decade, and have one servicing Bulimba by 2027.

CityGlider is expected to cost $4.5million and generate about $1 million a year in revenue, but there is still confusion over whether it will be integrated with TransLink and the Go Card system.

Cr Prentice said the council was in negotiations with the State Government over the division of funding and revenues, but a government spokesman said the council had not discussed integration with Go Cards or a ??premium fare structure??.

[ozbob]

Unless the these services are integrated with the rest of the TransLink network, including go card and other ticketing, there will be a need to continue the other TransLink bus services in parallel almost.  It all will be a bit silly. 

[ButFli]

The only real revelation here is that this service will be extended as far as Bulimba eventually.

[O_128]

The only real revelation here is that this service will be extended as far as Bulimba eventually.

by gasp 2027

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Brisbane gets 24 hour 'party night' buses

Brisbane gets 24 hour 'party night' buses
Tony Moore
August 18, 2009 - 7:56PM

Brisbane will have 24-hour buses running from West End, through the arts precinct at South Bank and the City, and into Newstead by the middle of next year.

Brisbane City Council revealed today that the new $4.5 million CityGlider bus service would run 24 hours a day on Friday and Saturday nights for a fare of about $2.50.

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said while some details were still being negotiated in Adelaide Street and in Fortitude Valley, the service was set to go.

"It will connect Teneriffe, the Newstead river park area, via the Fortitude Valley and CBD area, out to Orleigh Park at West End," Cr Newman said.

"The beauty of this system is that it will operate seven days a week. Five days a week it will be 18 hours a day and two days a week 24 hours a day.

"During peak hour you will see a five minute frequency and off-peak a 10-minute frequency."

The CityGlider bus service was announced in Brisbane City Council's 2009-10 Budget and details about its operation have been scarce since launch.

In the long-term, the buses will look like trams with wheels.

"They will have the same characteristics as trams and carry the same number of people," he said.

"But they are actually rubber-tyred and are buses ultimately."

Translink has not yet indicated whether the service will be covered by its go card fare system.

But Cr Newman said the service would roll-out regardless.

"It will be great for connecting people in the inner-city core without them having to use their motor cars - and that is really what this is about," he said.

"But it is one fare whether you go on it for one stop or for five or six stops."

It has also been confirmed that the CityGlider bus service will receive priority at traffic lights, after brisbanetimes.com.au last month questioned whether South Brisbane traffic coming from the Hale Street Link would have to wait for the bus service.

The service will start with 14.5 metre conventional buses, but as the service expands, new larger-scale buses with sliding doors will be put into service.

"The idea is to have multi-door entry and exits," Cr Newman said. "So the idea is that this is cashless, you already have your ticket and when you get on the bus there will be no-one to take money.

"This is about fast boarding and fast exits along a series of designated bus stops with perhaps more infrastructure than you would normally see."

Labor's Council Opposition said Queensland Transport already runs the NightLink service, in which buses leave Fortitude Valley and the CBD hourly on weekends between 1am and 5am.

[ozbob]

Media Release 19 August 2009

SEQ: City Glider needs to GO!

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport commuters has welcomed the news of the  City Glider bus services, but has called for complete integration with the TransLink network and ticketing (1).

Robert Dow, spokesperson for RAIL Back On Track said:

"Initiatives to further provide public transport options as detailed for the City Glider services for citizens are very welcome."

"RAIL Back On Track is concerned that there is no clear indication that the services will be properly integrated with the present TransLink bus services and ticketing arrangements.  A failure to achieve that will make the services unattractive to regular TransLink public transport users and will simply mean that there will be duplication of bus services."

"This will be inefficient and counter productive to the overall strategy of a properly integrated efficient public transport network. We doubt that the City Glider services will be sustainable in the longer term unless full integration is achieved. We urge all parties to ensure that normal ticketing including the go card is valid on these new City Glider services."

References:

1.  http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25946911-952,00.html

Contact:

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org

[#Metro]

This new service is excellent news!
There are hardly any services on Sat and almost none on Sunday nights!
Nightlink doesn't have a very convenient frequency.

If they can't get the Translink subsidy, the BCC should make sure that people can still be able to pay with the value stored on their Go Card.

[david]

If they can't get the Translink subsidy, the BCC should make sure that people can still be able to pay with the value stored on their Go Card.

I agree. People should still be able to use their Go Card on these buses, similar to the way the Go Via tag will be able to be used on all toll roads. To not do so would be foolish.

The council should consider making the fares less than the current zone 1 fare to provide competition with the Translink 199 service.

[#Metro]

I think a lot of people would use the service because they simply can't fit on the other services.
Bigger buses should also means a number of efficiency gains: using less money to do more. 

* Rather than run two or three 199s, you just run a single big superbus and pay only a single driver ($50 000/year is it?) rather than three ($150 000). You also use one engine, rather than three; so that is good for the environment. And you carry more people in one go; so more capacity means less overcrowding and more seats on other services when people switch.

* People would also catch it because they simply can't fit on the other buses , or they run at times that other buses don't. $2.50 is pretty cheap too. But it really needs GoCard to take off - I think the growth showing graphs of PT taking off after 2004 comes down to the "one ticket for everthing", rather than having different modes compete with each other.

* The cash, and other buses and drivers freed up on this route can be applied to other very busy routes that really need- like a combined 66 + 109.

Translink should get on board!

[Otto]

* Rather than run two or three 199s, you just run a single big superbus and pay only a single driver ($50 000/year is it?)

I would like to sign up with whoever is paying this.. I'm on top pay rate with BT and it aint even close..

[ButFli]

* Rather than run two or three 199s, you just run a single big superbus and pay only a single driver ($50 000/year is it?) rather than three ($150 000). You also use one engine, rather than three; so that is good for the environment. And you carry more people in one go; so more capacity means less overcrowding and more seats on other services when people switch.

Yeah, that's great, except now with your one superbus you can only run one service every half hour whereas with three normal buses you could run one service every 10 minutes.

PT is a very hard sell with frequencies worse than 15 minutes.

[somebody]

Yeah, that's great, except now with your one superbus you can only run one service every half hour whereas with three normal buses you could run one service every 10 minutes.

PT is a very hard sell with frequencies worse than 15 minutes.

Bang on.  I think the major saving of the long busses is the cost of the driver being spread over more passengers.

Regarding the story, what is actually being announced that is not already being provided by the 199/N199?  Are they planning on removing the 199 from the translink network?

[mufreight]

bigger buses save nothing unless they operate at a minimum of 80% capacity otherwise their higher operation and maintenence costs when coupled with the higher initial costs and route limitations because of their size actually makes them less viable to operate.

[WTN]

I'm starting to wonder what significant advantages these new superbuses have over the existing bendy buses and the longer rigids, especially when the 80% rule is taken into account.

[somebody]

80% of capacity is a bit on the high side isn't it?  Perhaps if the bigger bus is only 25% bigger than the smaller bus.

Larger busses work well on high frequency routes in the peak like the 109 & 66, but they don't work too well in the off peak times, when you'd be better off running a smaller bus at probably the same frequency.

Are these so-called superbusses ANY bigger than the existing bendy busses?

[#Metro]

Update...

The city glider will be running along Montague Road, currently an industrial area, but earmarked for major and significant development in the near future.

The route will diverge from 199 just after cultural centre, and the routes will remain separate until meeting at the West End Ferry terminal. Passengers would come from (a) West End Ferry Terminal, (b) A new Ferry Terminal at Victoria St, (c) Along Montague Rd (which has terrible bus transport for now) and new/large developments in the West End/Newstead area.

[#Metro]

The buses that will go onto the CityGlider Service will be similar to council buses, seating capacity being 65-70 passengers in the initial phase, and are likely to be an eco-efficient diesel type vehicle. Passenger demand prevailing, larger buses would be introduced onto the route. At least in the initial phase, the service would pretty much be a BUZ, with extra services during the night.

I found the the CityGlider Rapid Bus Service project team are really helpful:
Phone: 1800 199 757