Are you in the one million club?

[#Metro]

(Article from "On Board" spring 2009 flyer, BT buses):

Passengers (Millions)     Route

3.4                                   BUZ 199

2.5                                   BUZ 150

2.4                                   BUZ 130

2.0                                   BUZ 111

2.0                                   BUZ 333

1.9                                   BUZ 200

1.7                                   BUZ 444

1.5                                   412 St Lucia

1.5                                   BUZ 345

1.3                                   375 Bardon

1.2                                   204 Carindale via Old Cleveland Rd & Stones Cnr

1.1                                   140 BUZ

1.1                                   330 Bracken Ridge

1.0                                   196 Fairfield Gardens

[#Metro]

I was a bit surprised to see 375 Bardon and 196 Fairfield Gardens in there.
Perhaps time to BUZ these routes too???

[somebody]

A few surprises in there.  I didn't expect the 150 to be the second busiest bus.  I also expected more pax on the 140, but I guess that's been a BUZ for less time than the others.

I think one thing holding the 412 & 375 back from becomming BUZ routes is the Cultural Centre routing requirement.  That would be pretty awful for the 412 without the Go Between Bridge.  It also wouldn't be great for the 375 outbound to Bardon, but inbound from Bardon it would struggle to be more broken than it already is.

I couldn't find this newsletter on their website.  Is it only available in hard copy?  If so, thanks for reproducing the info.

[ButFli]

The 412 still beats the 109? That is interesting.

Seeing the 199 as the busiest route with the 196 up there just adds to the evidence supporting my push for the non-CityGlider'd section of the 199 to be made into a light rail service. 3.4 million passengers can't be wrong!

[Golliwog]

I never would have guessed that the 412 was busier than the 109. I think the gimmick that all BUZ routes must travel via the Cultural Centre should be done away with. Yes having somewhere to change between services is great, but surely once you increase the frequency of many of the routes this becomes irrelevant. Plus, if you're at the cultural centre, why would you take the 412? Its faster to use the 109. I think you'll find that most of the passengers on the 412 get on at Toowong changing from the Ipswich line. The crowds there some mornings are crazy.

[somebody]

I think the gimmick that all BUZ routes must travel via the Cultural Centre should be done away with.

You aren't the only one, and I think TT might be coming around too.  I allows interchange between one BUZ route and another at a single lication, which is why they do it that way.  The problem with that is the assumption is that you'd be going from one BUZ route to another, you are just as likely to be changing from a BUZ route to a non-BUZ route or vice versa.  The real problem is the awful city stop location allocations.  Why don't they just fix that rather than trying to rely on interchange at the Cultural Centre.

A few surprises in there. 

Further to this, the 196, 199 & 375 are through city routes, so really two routes in one, and really you should be dividing their patronage in half.

But the 130 & 150 by my rough calcs get about 40 pax on the average bus.  It's about time their routings were reviewed, now that the 140 is a BUZ.  Surely the only reason the 130 continues on Calam Rd to Beaudesert Rd is to service the last 2 stops on Calam Rd.  Similarly, it seems pretty obvious that the only reason the 150 continues to Browns Plans is that the 140 wasn't a BUZ previously.  There also seems a strong case for a BUZ route similar to the 151 but continuing to "Waterstone", which would mean that the current 150 might as well be replaced by a 156.

[#Metro]

Yes, I agree with the idea that not all BUZ services should have to go through Cultural Centre.
I'd rather have a BUZ rather than no-BUZ at all. It may not be practical in the future, and I really really think that Cultural Centre has quite enough buses as it is without major expansion in the future.

I don't agree with "halving" patronages on routes.
196 BUZ and 375 BUZ are good ideas IMHO. But so are trams!

[Golliwog]

I agree with TT. I think having the bus routes set up so that they aren't trying to turn around in the CBD is a great idea, it saves time by letting htem continue straight through, plus for those commuters that don't work in the city, it may allow them to have a one seat journey depending on where they work.

[beauyboy]

Lets be clear here the 140 & 150 are not really servicing Browns Plains but a providing access to a Destination Node, in this case "GRAND PLAZA" shopping center. This is both a place of employment and shopping.

To say that the 150 should no longer service "GRAND PLAZA" is to say that people along the route should be forced to drive to this place of employment and shopping. Not all people using this service are getting on this service and going to the CBD and CBD fringe. This is part of the reason why it's patronage is so high.

We must get away from this CBD centric idea of Public Transport and think how can this route/service service multiple destination nodes. The 199 is another example of this, it servies the CBD, Valley & West End as destination nodes hence it's high patronage.

Donald

[somebody]

You could still get to Browns Plains plaza with an interchange to the 140.

For shopping, isn't Garden City a better centre?  Maybe if you are near the southern end of the 150, it could happen that Browns Plains is closer.

With the 199, it's really two CBD centric routes in one, I don't really agree with that example.

[ButFli]

With the 199, it's really two CBD centric routes in one, I don't really agree with that example.

Yes and no. From my observations between a quarter and a third of passengers on the 199 are going further than the CBD.

I for one definitely use it to travel from New Farm to South Bank or West End (to catch a bohemian vibe) in a regular basis.