Bus delays, cancellations ...

[nathandavid88]

For the second day in a row, Clarks have cancelled a substantial number of peak hour bus services from/servicing Loganholme (the 569 being heavily affected) due to staff availability issues.

The line up for inbound services was snaking over 3/4 the length of the entire station platform by the time I caught a 575 (it takes longer but beats waiting and ending up in a sardine tin!)

[ozbob]

https://x.com/Translink_QLD/status/1828660836996374982

[ozbob]

 

https://x.com/Translink_QLD/status/1830337149570355588

[ozbob]

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1841210619770589235?t=EGiUcH6jFblDmWcNNHyVSA&s=19

[ozbob]

Multiple bus cancellations out West again today ... 

[ozbob]

 

Well, at least the punters can see straight up the cancellations ... 

https://x.com/Translink_QLD/status/1841582659689976082

[achiruel]

It's getting bad hey? Not sure what the fix is. Maybe convert the busway to driverless Metro? 

[ozbob]

https://x.com/Translink_QLD/status/1841606703936078069

[nathandavid88]

Been sitting in a P137 on the busway for about an hour now. We're slowly crawling towards Buranda right now.

And now we're taking the 'scenic route' via Logan Road and the Gabba.

[ozbob]

^ commiserations. It has been a shocker this morning on the buses and on the road network.

Crash on the Pacific Motorway as well.  Queensland Rail Citytrain has an excellent morning peak ... 

[nathandavid88]

^^ I managed to get caught up in the Pacific Motorway chaos too! I really drew the short straw this morning! 

[SilverChased]

The delays around Buranda have been fairly consistent in the past two weeks. Is the construction meant to be done by the time Metro launches near end of month?
Lucky I was WFH today.

[ozbob]

This is some sort of record for a single X post:

https://x.com/Translink_QLD/status/1848814946483589143

[achiruel]

 

[ozbob]

Mayhem continues out west ... e.g.

https://x.com/Translink_QLD/status/1854019966732833087

https://x.com/Translink_QLD/status/1854019652319428771

https://x.com/Translink_QLD/status/1854019962123305077

[ozbob]

^ ~ > 3 hours between services 

[ozbob]

The Gold Coast buses are in disarray, have been for some time, and it continues ... 

[achiruel]

What's happening on the northside this afternoon? Cancellations due to congestion left, right, and centre! Surely it's not always quite this bad?

[ozbob]

https://translink.com.au/updates/619821

Reduced service - Route P569 to Brisbane City
Last reviewed: Tuesday 19 Nov 2024 at 5.33am
Multiple route P569 services to Brisbane City have been cancelled due to staff availability.

Departing Loganholme station:

6:04am
6:19am
6:47am
7:04am
7:10am
7:25am
7:40am
7:45am

^

https://x.com/Translink_QLD/status/1858594779606446164

[Jonno]

So maybe just maybe having 3/4 of all public transport trips using a vehicle that needs a driver per carriage and that are  stuck in general traffic is not the "world-class" public transport system the press release claimed it was!!

[HappyTrainGuy]

Traffic isn't the biggest problem. Network design is. But also followed by staff. It's no secret that quite a lot of staff are simply of the older generation and not many people are thrilled at becoming a bus driver when they leave school. I recall over the years BCC having multiple ad campaigns for older drivers wanting something to do as a part time driver (school runs/one peak only etc which has slowly changed/reworded/removed over time). BCC can whether it/shift drivers around on the fly as you can hear on the radio as the call for drivers goes out to depots but the smaller providers are struggling to keep up or don't have that ability. Take out some of those older drivers and the network starts to collapse (as we have seen with the bus network around Ipswich). We see the same with the railways. Train crews are retiring almost as fast as new train crews can be hired. And a lot of the time the stats can slightly be misleading as older staff within transfer or move across, cash in on  lsl/annual leave and then retire.

[Jonno]

Backing buses as the heavy lifter of the future is a plan for failure!!

[HappyTrainGuy]

You can't run trains everywhere and buses are perfectly adequate depending how the network is designed. The 111 is a prime example of how it's a route that causes congestion because it stops at Roma Street when it should terminate at RBWH. It's short falls similar to that which create follow on problems with the network. Expecting a one seat trip should also  be removed from the mindset of people.

You could at some point even argue should the 555 even go to Brisbane cbd with the busway extensions. Design a proper intergrated network first instead of moaning about the same bs over and over again that usually has nothing to do with the subject or problem at hand.

[Jonno]

"heavy lifting" does not equal running trains everywhere.

Since we want to deal with absolutes here

With car trips at 89% please explain how buses and buses alone in addition to the current train network can get us to leading practice mode share?

Number of buses and drivers needed and the likely impact to service delays?

Mode Share2

[#Metro]

I'm surprised to see 'staff availability' listed as the cause of a number of cancellations. What is behind that?

I know there is a bad flu going around at the moment, even though it is November.

[SilverChased]

Can't hire enough bus drivers = staff availability.

It's a heavy ongoing cost for having one driver per 'carriage' as mentioned above. Imagine the dullness of driving around an empty bus to where no one needs to go, or that is already covered by 7 other routes, because there hasn't been a proper network plan done.