9 Mar 2015: Brisbane Bus Survey: Jackie Trad Must Fix Graham Quirk's Bus Network

[ozbob]

Media release 9th March 2015

Brisbane Bus Survey: Jackie Trad Must Fix Graham Quirk's Bus Network



RAIL Back on Track releases public feedback on our New Bus Network Proposal for Brisbane today. We call on Transport Minister Jackie Trad to take action and fix Lord Mayor Graham Quirk's bus network. Under our New Bus Network Proposal, Brisbane will have Australia's best bus network within two years. Feedback to our proposal has been very supportive with one commenter writing "This is the redesign that Translink should have consulted and educated the people of SEQ on." Lord Mayor Quirk has said that he has no interest implementing much needed reform –  the Transport Minister must take action to bring Brisbane's bus network into the modern era. Bus reform will allow more services, for more people, more of the time!

New Bus Network Proposal (Updated) ---> http://tiny.cc/newnetwork

Current Brisbane City Council Bus Network ---> http://tiny.cc/checkyourbus

Survey Findings ---> http://backontrack.org/docs/busreform/2015RBOTBusReformSurvey.pdf

Survey Submissions (Current Brisbane City Council Bus Network) ---> http://backontrack.org/docs/busreform/BusReformFeedbackBCC.pdf

Survey Submissions (RAIL Back on Track New Bus Network Proposal) ---> http://backontrack.org/docs/busreform/RBOT_Feedback_Part2.pdf

Our New Bus Network Proposal

Over 12 months, a team of RAIL Back on Track members reviewed Lord Mayor Graham Quirk's bus network. Our research uncovered waste, duplication, inefficiency and black holes, which in our opinion, contributed to the massive escalation of fares under the Bligh and Newman administrations (1).

Our New Bus Network Proposal translates Brisbane City Council's own recommendations from The Lord Mayor's Mass Transit report (2007) into a practical, affordable and workable proposal.

Key features of The New Bus Network Proposal for Brisbane include:

* Affordability - new services are created by reforming old services, introducing smart connections and eliminating wasteful competition, inefficiency, and duplication. New services are possible while keeping a lid on fares.
* 60 % increase in Hi Frequency bus routes.  A total of 32 Hi-Frequency buses compared to Brisbane City Council's 20
* A 400 CentenaryGlider connecting the Centenary Suburbs to the Brisbane CBD via Coronation Drive
* A 230 BulimbaGlider connecting Bulimba to the Brisbane CBD and Morningside station, with 24-hour operation on Friday and Saturday nights.
* Super-buses with capacity for 150 passengers on high-load bus routes 66 UQ Lakes, 412 St Lucia, 400 CentenaryGlider, 222 Carindale and 333 Chermside
* Transit poverty in black-hole areas such as Albany Creek, Yeronga, Centenary, and Bulimba dealt with.

The Survey

The survey opened to the public in November 2014, and was promoted through social media for four months. Respondents directly compared Brisbane City Council's Bus Network against our New Bus Network Proposal using innovative service-quality maps from their home computer, and comment on any issue using free text boxes. To date, neither Brisbane City Council nor TransLink has been able to produce a single, public, legible map showing all bus services in Brisbane and their service quality. Based on this survey, RAIL Back on Track has made minor adjustments to the proposal.

The Findings

* Strong support (89%) for bus reform after viewing Auckland Transport's (NZ) Bus Reform Video
* 70-80% of resources should be directed to Hi Frequency bus services, the remainder to coverage services. This was measured by using an explicit trade-off test.
* Strong support (87%) for all day hi-frequency bus services over peak hour rockets. This was measured by using an explicit trade-off test.
* This indicates a major shift in the attitudes and values of Brisbane residents. Peak hour rockets are not the main transit product and should no longer be the main focus.
* Strong support (90%) for more connections. When passengers are asked to choose between direct service or connections in exchange for major high-frequency bus service expansion, passengers choose connections. This is a direct contrast with Lord Mayor Graham Quirk's assertion that people do not want to connect and goes against Brisbane Transport's bus operating philosophy.
* Total of 81 completions with rich and detailed responses - focus group type response with detailed feedback
85% of survey respondents indicated that RAIL Back on Track's New Bus Network was better than Brisbane City Council's existing bus network.

We invite TransLink and Transport Minister Jackie Trad to run their own survey research asking the same questions on the TransLink website.

Conclusion

RAIL Back on Track's New Bus Network proposal will stop the waste, stop the inefficiency, and stop the massive fare increases and patronage decline. With no expensive new infrastructure to build, our proposal is low cost, affordable and can be completed rapidly to become a landmark signature achievement of the new administration's first term.

We call on Transport Minister Jackie Trad to end the outsourcing of bus operations to Brisbane City Council. Instead, the Queensland Government should run the buses itself by 'uploading' Brisbane Transport into the Queensland Government. Precedents already exist with Queensland Rail and State Transit Buses in New South Wales. The Queensland Government already owns Brisbane City Council's buses and pays for the majority share of the operating costs anyway.

Transport Minister Jackie Trad should negotiate a contract where TransLink would rent Brisbane City Council's bus depots, and separately offer all existing Brisbane Transport staff to leave Brisbane City Council and work for the Queensland Government on the same terms when Brisbane Transport's contract expires in September. This would reverse the Queensland Government's 1925 decision to hand public transport to Brisbane City Council.

To everybody who participated and provided rich and detailed feedback - Thank you! Our proposal is now updated to reflect your feedback.

References:

1. Frequency is Freedom
http://backontrack.org/docs/bus/reform/BusReformBlueprint.pdf

2. Brisbane Bus Reform: Brisbane City Council's Bus Network - What Went Wrong?
http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=11175.0

3. Lord Mayor's Mass Transit Report 2007
http://www.weca.org.au/Resources/sept07-final-report-brisbane-mass-transit-investigation-lmt1.pdf

Contact:

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

[ozbob]

Discussion --> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=11047.msg153914#msg153914

[ozbob]

Twitter

Robert Dow ‏@Robert_Dow 2m

Brisbane Bus Survey: Jackie Trad Must Fix Graham Quirk's Bus Network
http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=11315.msg153913#msg153913 ... #qldpol see #2015APCS  struggle street ...