Gold Coast PT Patronage data from FY 12/13

[SurfRail]

Revised Gold Coast data attached.  In the last financial year:

Tram up by 18.95%
Bus up by 2.8%
Rail up 11.85%

Noticeable route changes

- GCLR Stage 2 extension to Helensvale (December 2017)
- Removal of 709, TX1, TX2 and TX3 and renumbering of 720 to TX7 (January 2018)
- Frequency improvements to 713, 719, 765 and TX7 (January 2018)
- Frequency downgrade to 700 on weekends (January 2018)

Observations - Rail

- Helensvale is now the 6th busiest railway station in Queensland and the busiest station outside the Brisbane CBD
- Helensvale entries increased 28.03%
- Ormeau entries increased 23.84%
- Coomera entries increased 15.62%
- More modest but still strong growth for Robina (10.20%) and Varsity Lakes (7.96%)
- Nerang went backwards by 11.33%

Observations - Bus

- The number of "stray" entries is significantly lower than previous years.
- Most high frequency routes recorded growth (including the newly upgraded routes) except for the 705 which went backwards by 8.24% and the 740 which went backwards by 12.35%.
- High frequency routes now carry about 60% of the bus patronage depending on what you count.  The picture should be clearer for 18/19 assuming no major structural changes occur this year (I wouldn't be surprised to learn there are no improvements this year excluding minor bits and bobs like route realignments or new bus stops).
- 700 patronage grew by 9.95% despite the frequency dropping
- 722, 726, 728 and 729 patronage grew strongly despite no service improvements (these all travel through high-growth areas around Coomera, Pimpama and Ormeau)

EDIT: Revised version with normal route bus services reorganised to separate discontinued routes from the current series

[ozbob]

Thanks SurfRail.

Gold Coast heavy rail is the best network performer for FY 17/18.     

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

20th October 2018

Gold Coast gains are gold!

Greetings,

RAIL Back on Track (RBoT) has made a successful Right To Information (RTI) application for the 17/18 Queensland public transport patronage data. We previously had made a successful application for the patronage data for financial years 12/13 through to 16/17. We now have available an excellent 6 year series which demonstrates the longer term trends and helps allow for the identification of problems and successes ( https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?board=91.0 ).  The data does not include the free Commonwealth Games trips.

The Gold Coast has had a lot of recent investment in public transport, of course an important driver was the 2018 Commonwealth Games, but also the increasing road congestion issues both locally on the coast and between Brisbane and Coast are making public transport more attractive, particularly when there are decent services.

The heavy rail line between Beenleigh and Varsity Lakes is now fully duplicated and this allows more reliable running and improved frequency. In FY 17/18 the Gold Coast line had the greatest increase of all lines on the SEQ Citytrain network at +11.85% ( https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=13351.0 ).

Two stages of the light rail are now operating, and very successfully.  To support the light rail the bus network on the Gold Coast had a number of changes and improvements.

The outcome of these changes and improvements is stunning.

The route bus network (Surfside) for the Gold Coast alone has the following patronage figures:

12/13 - 14,220,164
13/14 - 13,933,729 (-2.01%)
14/15 - 11,921,179 (-14.44%)
15/16 - 11,997,031 (+0.64%)
16/17 - 11,653,621 (-2.86%)
17/18 - 11,979,887 (+2.80%)

12/13 to 17/18 - drop was -15.75%, however unlike other regions this only tells part of the story. To properly understand the growth bus and light rail patronage needs to be combined.

Overall patronage (route bus and tram) looks like this:

12/13 - 14,220,164
13/14 - 13,933,729 (-2.01%)
14/15 - 18,198,953 (+30.61%)
15/16 - 19,673,423 (+8.10%)
16/17 - 19,628,855 (-0.23%)
17/18 - 21,466,740 (+9.36%)

12/13 to 17/18 - increase was +50.96% ( This does not include the Commonwealth Games trips! ).

Another way of looking at is for every 2 trips that were being made 5 years ago, there is now another 1 trip.  This is outstanding patronage  growth and it is a direct reflection of the suppressed demand created by poor services being swept away by decent services.

Looking at Gold Coast Light Rail itself in terms of patronage:



The Gold Coast public transport improvement  is something that TransLink and the Gold Coast City Council and the various operators have done well.

We now need to ensure that the rest of SEQ has the necessary focus and improvements to make public transport an attractive, and logical choice for all.

Best wishes,

Robert

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

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1053491883039633408

[ozbob]

Facebook

Facebook
' Gold Coast gains are gold! ' 🥇🥇🥇https://t.co/6Yq4btog1k#qldpol
Public transport a winner on the #GoldCoast pic.twitter.com/l1Oj7q9QOu

— RAIL_BoT_Forum (@railbotforum) October 20, 2018

[ozbob]

Always room for improvement, but this is a good outcome for us all .. 

For now ...

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/danielbowen/status/1053763418635755520

https://twitter.com/danielbowen/status/1053764582160777216

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/StuartBDonovan/status/1053883737845358592

[ozbob]

Gold Coast Bulletin --> Gold Coast Light rail: New public transport patronage figures back Broadbeach to Burleigh tram extension

THE case for the Gold Coast light rail's $660 million third stage has been bolstered with new data revealing an extra 7 million people are using city's public transport network thanks to trams.

Public transport patronage has increased by more than 50 per cent in the past five years, according to figures obtained under right to information.

Political leaders say the figures add momentum to the push to extend the light rail line to the border.

The State Government yesterday said it was a handful of weeks away from finalising the business case for stage 3A from Broadbeach to Burleigh.

Transport Minister Mark Bailey also revealed existing bus services would be protected after the trams were extended given the appetite for public transport.

"Bus relocation has been a big success and the additional investment in light rail did not take it away — they were simply redistributed and we are now seeing the benefit of this," he said.

"The same thing will happen with stage 3 and this extension will mean the connection will go further down — it is a no-brainer.

"These figures show the investment in light rail has proven correct that when you provide adequate transport infrastructure which is well-researched and planned then people will use it."

The data was obtained under RTI by public advocacy group Rail Back on Track.

It revealed patronage on the Gold Coast's bus network plummeted 14.4 per cent, or around 3 million people in 2014-15, the year light rail was introduced.

Buses routes will be changed to service east-west connections once light rail stage 3 is completed.

However, overall tram and bus patronage together is up 50.9 per cent since 2014 — with 21.4 million people using them last financial year, up from 13.9 million in 2013-14.

"It is remarkable that for every two people using public transport five years ago, there is now an extra person joining them and another person who is not using their own vehicle," Rail Back on Track Gold Coast spokesman Steven Jamieson said.

Steven Jamieson.

"It is not only driving better patronage but this will also mean that bus resources will be invested elsewhere so you will be seeing them run every 15 minutes to places which have not been serviced that regularly before."

Buses and trams will be integrated on the southern end of the Coast.

The light rail's Stage 3A will run down the centre of the Gold Coast Highway and end at Burleigh Heads.

The Federal Government is expected to chip in $112 million while council will put in around $66 million.

The State Government will underwrite the project and cover the remaining cost.

GoldLinQ chairman John Witheriff said it was clear more people were taking up public transport.

"The numbers do not surprise me and anecdotally I see a change in habit from the residents of the Gold Coast and I think this growth will continue in ears to come as we realise that public transport is the future," he said.

Gold Coast bus and tram patronage

2012/13: 14,220,164

2013/14: 13,933,729 (down 2.01 per cent)

2014/15: 18,198,953 (up 30.6 per cent)

2015/16: 19,673,423 (up 8.10 per cent)

2016/17: 19,628,855 (down 0.23 per cent)

2017/18: 21,466,740 (up 9.36 per cent)

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1054407263950008320

[ozbob]

Nice work SurfRail.  Thank you!   

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/7NewsGoldCoast/status/1054638084669624320

[techblitz]

its also looking good for the 765 which as we know had its frequency upgraded 
Stop data for hibiscus haven Christine ave which is the closest stop before the highway....very handy stop for getting to the rail-line in quick time..


outbound/westbound + 70% july2017/july2018

inbound/eastbound + 170% july2017/july2018

[SurfRail]

The 719 and 713 are looking very healthy as well.  I'd like to see both upped to run every 15 minutes at weekends in the next round of changes.

When Stage 3A opens, my money would be on the 735, 745, 747 and 760 being upped to run every 15 minutes, and with a longer span of hours on the latter 2 (especially the 747).  Even the hourly 747 is now pulling decent loads on Saturdays and Sundays, and it is past time it stopped running so early in the day.

Outside of that, the big problem is north of Helensvale.  Westfield Coomera now being open will being to make that even more obvious seeing none of the buses to or from run after about 7pm, whereas Helensvale had services running into the wee hours years before the Westfield opened there.

[OzGamer]

I've said this before, but I would love to see the buses north of Southport straightened out. The 713 and 719 do not look like well designed routes, and I can't believe a more direct service from Nerang Street through Labrador and Biggera Waters all the way up to Paradise Point wouldn't do even better than these. I personally would find one of these buses very frustrating as a commuter.

[SurfRail]

The 719 was created basically as all the best performing bits of the previous routes. 

There are a few things I would want to do up that way, which would be tied with introducing better services for Frank St and north of Paradise Point and connecting to the future Hope Island station (and in the longer run the extension of the light rail to Harbour Town or further north).

[ozbob]

The Gold Coast Bulletin --> New figures show massive increase for Helensvale heavy rail

THE Helensvale heavy rail station had a 55 per cent increase in passengers in the year after the light rail connection began running to the northern Gold Coast suburb, according to new figures.

The figures come 12 months after the second stage of the light rail opened between the Gold Coast University Hospital and Helensvale.

Helensvale has become a hit with public transport with the light rail station the most popular on the line with a million passenger trips in a year.

In the past 12 months the light rail has taken passengers on 10.5 million trips compared to just 7.9m the year before.

The jump prompted Main Road Minister Mark Bailey to call for the Federal Fovernment to support stage 3A saying the numbers stacked up.

"These passenger numbers overwhelmingly point to the success of Stage 2 and I'm pleased to say we agree the numbers stack up to move ahead with the 6.7-km Stage 3A alignment between Broadbeach South light rail station and Burleigh Heads," he said.

Today marks 12 months since the second stage of the G: Link opened, with a spike in passenger trip since the connection. Since stage 2 opened, the Helensvale heavy rail station has been on the main benefactors.

The station experienced a 55 per cent jump with passenger trips from the station going from about 717,000 trips to about 1.1 million trips in just a year.

The G:Link travelled more than 700,0000km between Helensvale and the Gold Coast University Hospital in the first year.

The figures come as the state government prepares to take a business case to the federal government to provide funding stage 3A between Broadbeach and Burleigh Heads.

"Any decision around future Queensland Government funding for Stage 3A will depend on that evaluation and the ability to secure funding from both the Federal Government and City of Gold Coast," Mr Bailey said.

''If this projects receives the level of support we believe it should, then Stage 3A construction could start by 2020.''

Gaven MP Meaghan Scalon said since the light rail opened in July 2014 more than 36 million passenger trips were taken: "It's an impressive jump in growth when you consider passengers travelling for free during the Commonwealth Games were not included in that annual figure.

"It's been a really phenomenal year for light rail with about 1.1 million trips taken during the games, a record-breaking weekend for GC600 and now the 10.5 million passenger trips milestone."

The boost in use of public transport has not been isolated to the heavy and light rail systems. Figures from State Government show northern Gold Coast buses experienced a 42 per cent increase in passenger trips.

[kram0]

There should be no reason at all (except incompetent governments) that this cannot start in 2019 instead of 2020. If it's that successful as Bailey stated, why wait longer than we need to. And while they are at it, don't stop and stage 3a, keep going to the airport.

[ozbob]