Article: High passenger demand, congested roads make the 412 Brisbane's bus rout

[ozbob]

From the Couriermail click here!

High passenger demand, congested roads make the 412 Brisbane's bus route of the beast

High passenger demand, congested roads make the 412 Brisbane's bus route of the beast

    by: Robyn Ironside
    From: The Courier-Mail
    June 16, 2012 12:00AM

WITH high passenger demand and congested roads, Brisbane's 412 bus is arguably the worst of the city's public transport routes from hell.

It consistently has the greatest number of full buses - meaning scores of passengers frequently get left behind - and can take half an hour to travel 3km from the University of Queensland to the Toowong railway station.

The crawling pace has sparked calls for a peak-period T2 lane to be established on Sir Fred Schonell Drive to give the bus priority in heavy traffic.

UQ architecture student Gavin Seipelt said it was often quicker to walk from the campus to the train station.

"Buses get caught up with everything else and the road becomes like a storage area for cars," Mr Seipelt said.

"It doesn't get much better when you hit Coronation Drive. Often what you see between Toowong and UQ is bus stops full of people who get left behind because (the buses are) already full."

Other routes that frequently make the Brisbane City Council's "top three full standing load routes" are the 130 BUZ that services Algester to the City; the 66, which stops at the Gabba, UQ, Kelvin Grove (QUT) and the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital; and the 109, which also ferries students to and from UQ via the Eleanor Schonell Bridge.

Robert Dow, from commuter advocacy group Back on Track, said hospital workers often had to wait up to 30 minutes to board the 66, and many were abandoning public transport as a result.

"The bus system is in serious trouble," he said.

"You've got the Cultural Centre congestion every day, there is bus jam on the South-East Busway. The whole bus network needs to be recast."

Although the number of "full buses" fell in the past year, every day last month 126 buses were classed as full and were unable to pick up any more passengers.

BCC's acting Public and Active Transport Committee chairman, Peter Matic, said the council was constantly putting more buses on the road and was adding more routes and extra services where demand was the highest.

"It's important all levels of government continue to invest in public transport so that we can offer an attractive service that will entice people back on board and can comfortably accommodate them when they do (return)," Cr Matic said.

For train passengers, the Sunshine Coast line was rated the worst because of delays, the high use of rail buses due to the single track, the cost of tickets and a lack of toilets.

Regular commuter Jeff Addison said 44 per cent of scheduled train trips between Nambour and Caboolture were instead serviced by buses, and signal faults were an all-too-common occurrence, particularly in wet weather.

"Whenever it rains, there seem to be issues and the trip can take twice as long," he said. "Although we got an extra train last year, of an evening you'll have 30 to 40 people standing for most of the trip."

Mr Addison said the cost would improve as a result of the new Government's "nine journeys then free" policy taking effect from June 25.

In the city, the Doomben line was another poor performer as it was under-used. Mr Dow said that buses were often used in the place of trains on the line, which made no sense because of the road congestion in Brisbane's northeastern suburbs.

"It's a very token rail service and, if they ran a regular service, we believe that it would be very well-utilised," Mr Dow said.

[ozbob]

 

[ozbob]

Good effort this by the Couriermail.  Two page spread in the hard copy.

It really is time the whole network was rebuilt to function properly.  There won't be any more concrete poured for a while so getting proper bus priority in place is essential.  Getting the rail network working properly and supported by feeder rather than competitive bus as well.  Our existing infrastructure must be used maximally.

[BrizCommuter]

Well done to RBoT for being very influential in this article.

Here is the BrizCommuter word on the overcrowding.
http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/are-translink-and-bcc-failing.html

[SurfRail]

Good work with this.

[somebody]

Honourable mention to Gazza for this one.

126 full buses/day?  In Sydney it would be more likely 1260 or more!  Not that that is a model to follow.

[#Metro]

BCC's acting Public and Active Transport Committee chairman, Peter Matic, said the council was constantly putting more buses on the road and was adding more routes and extra services where demand was the highest.

"It's important all levels of government continue to invest in public transport so that we can offer an attractive service that will entice people back on board and can comfortably accommodate them when they do (return)," Cr Matic said.

The problem is this - to keep a bus running every 10 minutes in CONGESTION means that extra buses and drivers have to be put on - this costs HUGE amounts of money each year! With a T2 lane you can have more capacity with FEWER buses and drivers.

More money down the proverbial drain...

[SurfRail]

BCC's acting Public and Active Transport Committee chairman, Peter Matic, said the council was constantly putting more buses on the road and was adding more routes and extra services where demand was the highest.

"It's important all levels of government continue to invest in public transport so that we can offer an attractive service that will entice people back on board and can comfortably accommodate them when they do (return)," Cr Matic said.

The problem is this - to keep a bus running every 10 minutes in CONGESTION means that extra buses and drivers have to be put on - this costs HUGE amounts of money each year! With a T2 lane you can have more capacity with FEWER buses and drivers.

More money down the proverbial drain...

T2 lanes prevent us from having a "balanced" transport system apparently.  You know, "balanced".  As in:

[somebody]

^ Was that a low quality current affairs show or something?  I think I'm missing something.

[Gazza]

See https://www.google.com.au/search?q=fox+news+fair+and+balanced&um=1&hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1C1GGGE_enAU473AU473&biw=1241&bih=606&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=YVHcT4O5OsieiAeeqc2lCg

[Golliwog]

That was a good article. Only downside I noted was that the said once or twice that route 66 went to UQ.

On the topic of full-ish buses though, I was waiting at Roma St for a 385 on Saturday afternoon and noted a 333 come through and pick up a few people and was standing room only, with maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the standing capacity already being utilised. Didn't take much note of the 390, 325 or 330 that went through but the 385 I got on was full when it left Roma St, luckily no one else was trying to get on. Didn't reduce to a seated load until the stop on the corner of Coopers Camp Rd and Waterworks Rd. We did pick up a few along the route as others got off.

[cartoonbirdhaus]

Was that a low quality current affairs show or something?  I think I'm missing something.

Fox News, which is anything but fair & balanced. You look at them and the Republican party, and think Get a room, you two!

[techblitz]

That was a good article. Only downside I noted was that the said once or twice that route 66 went to UQ.

On the topic of full-ish buses though, I was waiting at Roma St for a 385 on Saturday afternoon and noted a 333 come through and pick up a few people and was standing room only, with maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the standing capacity already being utilised. Didn't take much note of the 390, 325 or 330 that went through but the 385 I got on was full when it left Roma St, luckily no one else was trying to get on. Didn't reduce to a seated load until the stop on the corner of Coopers Camp Rd and Waterworks Rd. We did pick up a few along the route as others got off.

yeah no mention of the 385 which was surprising. Always sardine packed @ peak hour by roma st even at 5 min frequency.There is going to be ONE extra 385 peak service with the new timetables. Yesterday @ roma st as well i saw a chockablock 333 and  330 right behind each other. Goes to show that kelvin grove qut and rbh combined, cause real pax load probs for that area and thankfully it will be better.

[SurfRail]

385 could be improved by getting rid of some of the underloaded 382/383 service (ducks...) and by redesigning the 380/381 so it is a BUZ, with the 385 covering Hilder Rd and the new 380 BUZ covering Payne Rd.

I understand the P384 sees some reasonable use.

[somebody]

385 could be improved by getting rid of some of the underloaded 382/383 service (ducks...) and by redesigning the 380/381 so it is a BUZ, with the 385 covering Hilder Rd and the new 380 BUZ covering Payne Rd.

I understand the P384 sees some reasonable use.

Absolutely.  Cue political action to reverse the changes, particularly from those beyond Settlement Rd along Waterworks Rd.

Another reason to remove BT from BCC - political action can be more effective when two levels of government are involved.

[Golliwog]

I'd probably support those changes, but that still doesn't help weekend overcrowding...

Though given what the government has just outlined in terms of budget constraints, I can't see pushing for increased off peak BUZ frequencies acheiving anything.

[BrizCommuter]

Yesterday @ roma st as well i saw a chockablock 333 and  330 right behind each other. Goes to show that kelvin grove qut and rbh combined, cause real pax load probs for that area and thankfully it will be better.

It won't be better in the peaks, the new services add very little % capacity increase. However, off-peak daytime overcrowding may be significantly reduced.

[somebody]

Yesterday @ roma st as well i saw a chockablock 333 and  330 right behind each other. Goes to show that kelvin grove qut and rbh combined, cause real pax load probs for that area and thankfully it will be better.

It won't be better in the peaks, the new services add very little % capacity increase. However, off-peak daytime overcrowding may be significantly reduced.

Peak direction or counter peak?  9% is a small increase?

[Golliwog]

That was a good article. Only downside I noted was that the said once or twice that route 66 went to UQ.

On the topic of full-ish buses though, I was waiting at Roma St for a 385 on Saturday afternoon and noted a 333 come through and pick up a few people and was standing room only, with maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the standing capacity already being utilised. Didn't take much note of the 390, 325 or 330 that went through but the 385 I got on was full when it left Roma St, luckily no one else was trying to get on. Didn't reduce to a seated load until the stop on the corner of Coopers Camp Rd and Waterworks Rd. We did pick up a few along the route as others got off.

Further to this, I was there again this afternoon (4.40pm this time) and saw a bus go through with "Bus Full" on the front. It was one of the older ones so when that was put up you can no longer tell what route it is. Either way, you know you need higher weekend frequency when you're getting full buses on a Sunday afternoon!

[somebody]

Further to this, I was there again this afternoon (4.40pm this time) and saw a bus go through with "Bus Full" on the front. It was one of the older ones so when that was put up you can no longer tell what route it is. Either way, you know you need higher weekend frequency when you're getting full buses on a Sunday afternoon!

Happens all the time in Sydney on the 373, even though it is running at 7 minute frequency until about 3pm on a Sunday!