16 Feb 2014: Brisbane: MaroonGlider bus adds to bus cost explosion

[ozbob]

Media release 16 February 2014



Brisbane: MaroonGlider bus adds to bus cost explosion

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport passengers highlights the fact that Brisbane City Council's Maroon CityGlider is cannibalising patronage on the 385 BUZ and to a lesser extent, the 375.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"In February 2013, the MaroonGlider commenced running between Ashgrove and Langlands Park. The new bus service has merely duplicated existing high frequency bus routes. A year on, a RAIL Back on Track member went on trips on the buses running between Roma St and Bardon between 8pm and 9pm on Friday the 14th of February (1-13). This is the prime time for people to be visiting the "food and footy" precinct of Caxton Street, Paddington and Bardon."

"This little experiment showed the classic effects of service duplication. These effects include: - Services bunching together along a corridor, resulting in multiple bus services arriving all at once - Services 'stealing' patronage from other services, meaning that some buses will run empty while other buses will run with much higher loads - Wasted money, as the increase in service does not correspond with a net increase in service amenity (i.e. access to a frequent service) - Low overall and average patronage - on average, there were only 7 passengers on board each service (11 per outbound service and 4 per inbound service)."

"There is no reason why the Latrobe/Given Tce corridor deserves two frequent routes, while areas such as the Centenary suburbs suffer with an hourly bus service at this time of night. The money spent on the MaroonGlider would be better spent providing a BUZ to either the Centenary suburbs, along Wynnum Road, to the Northwestern suburbs or to Bulimba. As it is currently, the MaroonGlider provides new frequent service to very few residents, compared to a Centenary BUZ, which would open up frequent bus services to over 10,000 more residents."

"The MaroonGlider is not based on sound transit planning principles, but rather, is a classic example of Brisbane City Council wasting money on an ideological 'direct services everywhere' plan. The existence of MaroonGlider is yet another reason why Brisbane City Council needs to have its control over Brisbane Transport removed."

"The waste has gone on long enough. All bus regions in SEQ are now suffering. In 2014, it is time to separate Brisbane Transport from Brisbane City Council, and scrap the MaroonGlider immediately!"

Contacts:

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

Lewis Jones
RAIL Back On Track Member, Resident of St Lucia

References:

1. Outbound 385 - 8pm from Roma Street
12 passengers on board
No photo

2. Inbound MaroonGlider - 8:10pm at Paddington
2 passengers on board
Observation made from another service

3. Outbound MaroonGlider - 8:15pm at Paddington Central
6 passengers on board (4 after Gilday St)


4. Inbound 375 - 8:15pm at Gilday St
1 passenger on board


5. Inbound MaroonGlider - 8:18pm at Paddington Central
6 passengers on board
No photo

6. Inbound 385 - 8:19pm at Paddington Central
4 passengers on board
Observation made from another service

Eventually these three services came together and all passed/arrived at the Caxton
Street stop at once - a classic example of what happens when multiple services run
down the same corridor - they 'bunch' together (or in the case of the 385/MaroonGlider,
are actually timetabled to arrive one after the other).


(Taken on board MaroonGlider)

This is an example of excessive duplication, where the new service provides no tangible
frequency benefits.

7. Outbound MaroonGlider - 8:28pm at Caxton Street
14 passengers on board


8. Inbound 385 - 8:35pm at Paddington Central
5 passengers on board

9. Outbound 385 - 8:40pm (running 5 minutes late) at Paddington Central
20 passengers on board (highest loading service)
No photo available

10. (Observation) Outbound MaroonGlider - 8:40pm at Bardon
2 passengers on board

11. Inbound MaroonGlider - 8:45pm at Bardon
3 passengers on board (positioned behind photograph)


12. Inbound 385 - 8:47pm at Bardon
7 passengers on board

Note: No passengers were picked up between here and Roma Street, due to the
MaroonGlider 2 minutes ahead taking all of the 385's passengers!

13. Outbound 375 - 8:54pm at Paddington
Approx. 10 passengers on board
Observation made from another service

[ozbob]

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