Timetable refresh

[verbatim9]

It looks like many jurdictions around the country do a bi annual Timetable refresh. Qld just seems to stay the same. I remember living in the Netherlands they had a Summer and Winter Timetable refresh to coincide with the Bi annual Daylight Saving Change. Does patronage change between Summer and Winter in Se Qld as tourist numbers surely would change especially on the Gold Coast?

[SurfRail]

Up until a few years ago, timetables for the BT service region tended to be refreshed or upgraded every 3 months or so.

There were extensive re-writes during 2005/2006 for virtually everywhere outside that area in SEQ, except for some of the Gold Coast routes which hung around like a bad smell until Jan 2014.

It's all been on an indefinite hiatus for the last 2 years with the only major exception being the Gold Coast network when G:Link opened - only minor fiddling since then.

[verbatim9]

As a region it would be good to look at 👍

[petey3801]

Timetables really should be reviewed every 6-12 months or so. Unfortunately here in QLD, especially when it comes to rail, it's closer to every 6 years than 6 months.
Regarding winter vs summer timetables, we don't really have as much of a need for that in QLD, there just isn't the patronage difference to warrant it. In the Netherlands, a lot of people go on vacation during summer simply because the weather is a lot nicer, therefore many trains don't need the full consist that they do in winter during peak (ie: Some trains can be scaled back to 6cars instead of 10-12 double deck), but other trains need bumping up to the full consist to holiday/daytrip locations (ie: Scheveningen, Hoek van Holland, Zandfoort etc). Whereas here in QLD, the weather is generally quite good year round for tourists. Might not get as many to the beach in winter, but other areas of the Gold and Sunny coasts get more people instead. Plus, the only time a majority of people go on leave in Aus/QLD is around Christmas/New Years. Otherwise it's lretty well spread out across the year, with an emphasis on school holiday periods, and peak hour loads don't change as much across the year outside the xmas/NY period.

[verbatim9]

Hopefully we can get some kind of periodical timetable refresh Qld wide? I mention the Oct long weekend/Daylight Saving Change over is a good time to implement changes each year.

[James]

Timetable variations make sense in European countries due to the massive season changes. Europe in winter is dead - people give you funny looks when you say you enjoy European winter. European summer is full of tourists and everybody is out much later. In SEQ it is simply not warranted. In winter the local tourists are replaced with southerners/kiwis, and the departure time of people to/from work tends to be pretty consistent as the hours of daylight don't change as significantly in Brisbane (compared to Europe).

We already have enough basic seasonal variations to cover the whole year (school/Uni-term only services) that any timetable review only really needs to occur every few years. It'd be much better if they did a comprehensive review every 2-3 years, rather than a half-baked timetable rehashing every 6 months.

[verbatim9]

How come we pay a seasonal price Nov-Feb at most resorts on the coast,  but not in winter. There is significantly less people at coast  accommodation in Winter  except for Easter.

[BrizCommuter]

In Europe (including the UK) there are timetable revisions every May and December, though the changes can vary between major to none existent. The same date is used across Europe due to the amount of international connectivity. Train lines that are not connected to heavy rail lines (such as most metro lines) usually have a timetable revision on an ad-hoc basis, though typically at least once a year or so. Then there are special timetables such as August in Paris when the city becomes a ghost town.

I note that the Sector 2 lines in SE Queensland have had no changes since January 2014. Aside from the Shorncliffe Line, I doubt we'll see any changes on the sector 2s to coincide with MBRL, as the timetables will not need to show 6-car services being downgraded to 3-car services to cope with lack of trains. Ou est le NGR?