610/639 and a Proposed 638: Palmwoods/Woombye to Nambour.

[Arnz]

610: http://translink.com.au/resources/travel-information/services-and-timetables/timetables/101213-610.pdf
639: http://translink.com.au/resources/travel-information/services-and-timetables/timetables/051211_639.pdf

Woombye, despite having less population than Palmwoods has more bus services due to it's location.  Unfortunately for Palmwoods it is too far out of the way for the 610 to divert in there.  A suggestion came up is to remove the Woombye diversion from the 610, remove the Palmwoods loop from the 639 and combine both Woombye and Palmwoods into the one route.  Let's say the Route 638.

The Route 638 could start at Palmwoods, and travel via Woombye-Palmwoods Road, traverse along Pine Grove Road (as the 610 does of current), turn into Dinmore Street, Wakefield Street, then Keil Street into Woombye (Blackall Road) before heading onto Nambour.  Starting frequency could be hourly and operated by Marcoola depot.

Removing the Woombye diversion from the 610 would shave some minutes off for commuters/TAFE students/kids heading into Maroochydore, Mooloolaba and beyond.  However, the 610 would still need to traverse Pine Grove Road, which is the service road along the old highway, for safety reasons (commuters along the area would not want to cross the old Highway to catch the bus).

The 639 could be retimed for improved loop services in the other areas to cover the loss of the Palmwoods bit to the Route 638.

Here's a proposed map of the 638 from the Palmwoods and Woombye areas.

[Fares_Fair]

I asked the Minister for Transport Mark Bailey and the Director-General of TMR Neil Scales for a connecting service from Palmwoods to meet the 610 at Woombye and got a straight out NO. Scales said that even though 12 people in a Facebook post had said that they would use it, he said that people don't always do what they say and so he and his good mate the Transport Minister - do nothing.

In fact they said NO to all of my transport requests.