Logan Rd stop at Brisbane Technology Park / route 152

[colinw]

Yesterday afternoon I needed to get from my workplace (Brisbane Technology Park, Eight Mile Plains) to the P.A. Hospital to visit a relative who has just had surgery.

Even 'though I can see the Eight Mile Plains busway station from our office carpark, it is inaccessible due to the lack of a pedestrian bridge over the freeway.  To get there it is a nearly 1km walk around via Miles Platting Road.  Very ordinary considering the huge number of people who work in the tech park.

Therefore, I instead went to the stop in Logan Road opposite Brandl St, which is served by the Brisbane Transport route 152 (Stretton to Garden City), and the Clark's Logan City route 545 (Browns Plains to CBD via Marsden, Kingston & Logan Road).  

To my great surprise, I discovered that having run hourly through the day, the 152 cuts out with a last service to Garden City leaving the stop opposite the tech park at 4:20PM, i.e. the bus service to Garden City interchange quits just before knock off time in the office park over the road!  After that, the only choice is to wait for the 545 - which is half hourly but has very poor on-time performance due to the length of the run & number of traffic lights along Logan Road.

Here's the relevant timetable off TransLink :-
http://download.translink.com.au/timetables/100726_150,P151,152,153,156,P157.pdf

Note that the list of stops for the 152 is incorrect. It lists the 152 as servicing Bordeaux St, Fanfare, Multicap.  That is not correct, it turns off Warrigal Rd at Underwood Rd & runs via Gaskell St (The Glen Hotel) & Logan Road.

Recently bus stops have appeared in the tech park itself, along Brandl St & McKechnie Drive.  Putting in either into the TransLink journey planner fails to find any services - if I put in Brandl St to Garden City I only get the 152/545 from Logan Rd.  Nobody in the tech park seems to respect the new stops either, they are always full of parked cars.

The end result of this mess is that the tech park is clogged with cars, many of which are illegally parked.  Even at the height of peak hour, it is rare indeed to see someone from any of the offices get on or off the bus.

cheers,
Colin

[#Metro]

  Thanks.
It is very important to have this, so I can make a list of all the problems with feeder buses.

[somebody]

The thing here is that it could be easily done in peak by putting reverse peak 156s & P157s plus numerous others into service here.

[Golliwog]

Or what about putting a pedestrian over/underpass of the motorway? Simple, yet effectively opening up access to the busway station for increased patronage.

[somebody]

Not a bad suggestion.  How long would the walk be?

[Golliwog]

colinw said the way it was now walking is about 1km. with a direct over/underpass this would be shortened to roughly 150m from the station to Brandl street.

[colinw]

Today I visited my sister in hospital again, and decided to do the walk to the busway station to see just how long it would take me.

I left my office at 4:43 PM, and boarded a bus at 5:05PM after a short wait.  A 20 minute walk to access a station I can see from the office carpark is ridiculous.

[AnonymouslyBad]

The 299 is the bus going through Brisbane Technology Park. It's peak hour only, though it does at least run in the reverse direction (i.e. services go towards the city in the afternoon).

A pedestrian bridge across the motorway would be a good idea. That said, I do see people walking along Miles Platting Road every now and then. I'd guess they're walking between the busway and technology park because there's not much else around there. There's an otherwise useless path which I can only assume is for this purpose - the walk is leisurely enough though it's probably not one I'd like to do on a summer's day...

[colinw]

Walking along McKechnie Drive at around 4:45 PM, I saw only one other person walking the same way as me to the busway station from the tech park.  There's a couple of thousand people employed in the precinct ... draw your own conclusions about the level of public transport uptake.

I'm doing the same trip again tomorrow.  I'll delay my trip to leave at the normal 5:00PM knock off time and report back on what I see ...

[colinw]

I'm doing the same trip again tomorrow.  I'll delay my trip to leave at the normal 5:00PM knock off time and report back on what I see ...

Didn't end up happening.  I came down with a cold, and decided against visiting someone in hospital while sick myself.

I expect to do the Eight Mile Plains to PA trip a few more times next week, will try different offerings & report back.

[somebody]

Oh, and the problem with the 299 for colinw's situation is that he would need to go backwards to Griffith Uni to then go forwards.  And it would be a double change, I believe.

[colinw]

Not to mention that the 299 takes 29 minutes to go from the tech park to Griffith Uni busway station, after wandering around the back end of Sunnybank & QE-II hospital for ages, i.e. neatly avoids giving us a rapid & reliable connection to the busway.  That darn busway station is only a couple of hundred metres away - we just can't get to it!!!!  And the 299 service in the afternoon goes to the busway station at Eight Mile Plains FIRST, then travels away from it for half an hour before re-joining it!  In the morning I can get a bus from the tech park & end up at Eight Mile Plains busway station 3 minutes later - at almost the precise time I actually want the reverse trip!!!!

It is hard to imagine how a less useful service to the tech park could have been created.

I've asked around my work mates. The vast majority of people in my office who would use public transport fall into the following two camps :-

Either

1. People who want to use core busway services with a connection. A service that connects off the busway at either Garden City or Eight Mile Plains & continues with the tech park would do these people. At Eight Mile Plains a direct pedestrian connection would do.

or

2. People who live across towards Runcorn/Kuraby/Fruitgrov or want a connection of rail. A bus service that joins the tech park across to the Runcorn / Fruitgrove area via Warrigal Rd, with convenient rail interchange would do these people.  I am in this category myself, and use the Kuraby 544 some of the time, even though it neatly avoids tech park and I have to walk for a km or so from RACQ Levington Road, or a comparable distance from the busway station.

This split in opinions reflects whether people live toward the city along the busway corridor, or over toward the rail corridor or are able to get a train.

IMHO the ideal services for the tech park would be as follows :-

Outbound: From Garden City Interchange via Logan Road, Miles Platting Rd, McKechnie Dr, Brandl St, Logan Rd (again), Gaskell St, Underwood Rd, Warrigal Rd, terminating at Fruitgrove Station.

Inbound: From Fruitgrove Station via Warrigal Rd, Underwood Rd, Gaskell St, Logan Rd, Brandl St, McKechnie Dr, Miles Platting Rd, Logan Rd, terminating at Garden City Interchange.

Trip generators along this route :-

1.  Garden City and busway services.
2.  The office park in Logan Road near the freeway exit
3.  Clunies Ross Centre
4.  Tech Park
5.  Glen Hotel
6.  Eight Mile Plains residential area.
7.  The new shopping centre on corner of Warrigal Rd & underwood road + Runcorn Bilo, etc.
8.  Warrigal Road State School.
9.  Warrigal Road residential area & Runcorn High School
10.  Fruitgrove Station & rail services.

This is not rocket science.  We have two good quality linehaul services (busway, rail), a number of potentially big trip generators, and a serious deficit of connectivity between them.

cheers,
Colin

[somebody]

It seems that the 299 is designed to improve the connections at the QEII hospital and Griffith Uni.  Perhaps there is madness in their method and this route should be for the Tech. Park.

[colinw]

Not really sure how 3 buses a day each way is improving much of anything, although it may very well increase the amount of air carried around by empty buses.

I noticed today that the denizens of the tech park have taken such a great interest in their new bus service that the bus stops are all full of parked cars.

[STB]

I don't think the 299 had the main intention of servicing the Tech Park, moreso the university, where I would argue does have a higher priority over the Tech Park, simply because of the high dependant nature of uni students and also the numbers.  Plus, I must admit, it has come in very handy in getting me from Buranda to Griffith University as there is no other bus route that does give a one bus journey from Buranda to Griffith University.  Prior to this, I would've been forced to change at Griffith University busway station to get to the Nathan Campus.

I would suspect that's how the 299 was planned, the only real reason it would head via the Tech Park is to simply get it back to Rochedale to kill off the dead 261 KMs it would've done prior to the 299 being implemented.

In a nutshell, 299's main catchment is the university and the Sunnybank area, and just happens to pass the Tech Park to get back to the terminus which cancels out the otherwise dead 261 KMs.

To be fair, in theory, the Tech Park would only have the highest patronage twice a day, when the workers head in and when they head out, so a simple peak hour service does make sense.  Could be difficult though as workers could come from any direction really.

[colinw]

To be fair, in theory, the Tech Park would only have the highest patronage twice a day, when the workers head in and when they head out, so a simple peak hour service does make sense.  Could be difficult though as workers could come from any direction really.

There lies the problem.  The 299 is not a genuine attempt to provide a tech park service - despite the self serving gumpf TransLink & Nolan put out claiming otherwise to all the businesses in the park.  I'm sure the 299 provides a good service for the uni, etc. Meanwhile a large potential base of public transport users goes largely unserviced, despite the parking situation here getting so bad that people are resorting to parking illegally.

We have a half decent 152 service through the middle of the day, which cuts out just before afternoon peak.

The tech park demand is very peaky indeed - most businesses here have 8:30 AM to 5 PM office days.  A few decent peak hour runs joining Garden City interchange / busway / rail in the morning & afternoon peaks, plus an hourly (or half hourly) service through the day would work wonders.

Regarding the direction people come from - agree it could be anywhere, but when I asked around my work mates there were two distinct groupings that I mentioned in my previous post.  Hence the suggestion that a busway to rail service would kind of cover all the bases.

The tech park has a couple of thousand workers, is within a stone's throw of a busway station, and yet basically nobody uses the buses.  Epic fail!!!!

--Col

[somebody]

I don't think the 299 had the main intention of servicing the Tech Park, moreso the university, where I would argue does have a higher priority over the Tech Park, simply because of the high dependant nature of uni students and also the numbers.  Plus, I must admit, it has come in very handy in getting me from Buranda to Griffith University as there is no other bus route that does give a one bus journey from Buranda to Griffith University.  Prior to this, I would've been forced to change at Griffith University busway station to get to the Nathan Campus.

While true, this could have been covered in other ways.  Like having the 134/135/155 serve Buranda.

despite the self serving gumpf TransLink & Nolan put out claiming otherwise to all the businesses in the park. 

This is one of the annoying aspects of TL and the state govt.  They seem far more interested in shameless self promotion of how good they are than actually doing the job.  It is very annoying.

[STB]

True, although would've been interesting to see how TL would go at convincing BT doing that, and also how people between Buranda and Griffith University would've boarded.  134/135/155 are very packed services at most times of the day between those two locations.

[somebody]

True, although would've been interesting to see how TL would go at convincing BT doing that, and also how people between Buranda and Griffith University would've boarded.  134/135/155 are very packed services at most times of the day between those two locations.

Ok, but wouldn't the Buranda etc people merely be changing at Griffith Uni for a 134/135/155 anyway?  Or am I missing something.

[#Metro]

2. People who live across towards Runcorn/Kuraby/Fruitgrov or want a connection of rail. A bus service that joins the tech park across to the Runcorn / Fruitgrove area via Warrigal Rd, with convenient rail interchange would do these people.  I am in this category myself, and use the Kuraby 544 some of the time, even though it neatly avoids tech park and I have to walk for a km or so from RACQ Levington Road, or a comparable distance from the busway station.

This split in opinions reflects whether people live toward the city along the busway corridor, or over toward the rail corridor or are able to get a train.

IMHO the ideal services for the tech park would be as follows :-

Outbound: From Garden City Interchange via Logan Road, Miles Platting Rd, McKechnie Dr, Brandl St, Logan Rd (again), Gaskell St, Underwood Rd, Warrigal Rd, terminating at Fruitgrove Station.

Inbound: From Fruitgrove Station via Warrigal Rd, Underwood Rd, Gaskell St, Logan Rd, Brandl St, McKechnie Dr, Miles Platting Rd, Logan Rd, terminating at Garden City Interchange.

Thanks for sharing this excellent comment. 

[somebody]

2. People who live across towards Runcorn/Kuraby/Fruitgrov or want a connection of rail. A bus service that joins the tech park across to the Runcorn / Fruitgrove area via Warrigal Rd, with convenient rail interchange would do these people.  I am in this category myself, and use the Kuraby 544 some of the time, even though it neatly avoids tech park and I have to walk for a km or so from RACQ Levington Road, or a comparable distance from the busway station.

Wouldn't the 150/P157/156 runs be a short walk away on Padstow Rd?

I'd have thought there would be an outbound 5xx run(s) on Logan Rd too, but I'm not sure of the number or where they go.

[colinw]

The closest stop on the 150/15x is Multicap, in Padstow Road. I do use that stop sometimes, as do a handful of people from tech park. It is a similar distance to the busway station in the opposite direction along Miles Platting Rd, and is a very unpleasant walk in the petrol fumes alongside a congested road - also can take quite a while to get across Logan & Miles Platting Roads if you use the inbound stop.

In recent times I've stopped using the 150 due to congestion on the afternoon outbound runs and excruciatingly slow running along Warrigal Rd.  My last attempt to catch the 150 inbound - mid afternoon around 3PM - was a debacle. This is supposedly a 15 minute or better BUZ route, yet somehow I was able to wait 40 minutes at Multicap before a cluster of buses arrived all at once.  After that I chose to use the busway station or put up with the 554 and the walk from RACQ.

Yesterday I did the run again to see my sister.  169 UQ Lakes from Eight Mile Plains busway station to PA hospital.  Not a particularly well patronised service, and was surprised at how deserted the inbound platforms at Holland Park West & Greenslopes were in the afternoon peak.

I had to leave the hospital after only 15 minutes because they were taking my sister off for a scan, so went home by catching a bus one stop from PA to Boggo Road and transferring to train.  This was the first time I've used the new Park Road busway interchange, and was very impressed with the facility. if we had service frequencies to make transfer seamless the busway connection between Buranda, PA & Boggo Road would be a fantastic asset tying together the system, but alas the pathetic rail frequency and moderate busway frequency somewhat dilutes the benefit. (I am starting to get really annoyed with the "concrete fetish" aspect of our transport planning.  There is NO POINT building these world class facilities if we don't run services of a standard to match).

I caught the 6:13 Beenleigh service from Park Road, but was there in time to see the 6:05 Cleveland go through ... wow, a 3 car service and quite possibly the most crowded train I've ever seen in Queensland!  It was NOT able to cope with the large number of Uni of QLD students transferring onto rail at the Park Rd / Boggo Road rail/busway interchange.  I saw several people fail to board due to the crowding.

Aside: while waiting for my 169 service at Eight Mile Plains busway I noticed the new Route 77 to Chermside via Clem7 departing.  I really must try this one out!  Time for an excursion to the darkest north side I think :-)

cheers,
Colin

[ozbob]

I caught the 6:13 Beenleigh service from Park Road, but was there in time to see the 6:05 Cleveland go through ... wow, a 3 car service and quite possibly the most crowded train I've ever seen in Queensland!  It was NOT able to cope with the large number of Uni of QLD students transferring onto rail at the Park Rd / Boggo Road rail/busway interchange.  I saw several people fail to board due to the crowding.

Thanks for this report.   It is not acceptable to be running 3 car services at that time.

[somebody]

(I am starting to get really annoyed with the "concrete fetish" aspect of our transport planning.  There is NO POINT building these world class facilities if we don't run services of a standard to match).

I'm with you there.  I think it is just unbelievable.

I don't think the Boggo Rd busway has a bad service though.

The Padstow Rd stop would be preferable if you are heading outbound on the 150, of course.

[#Metro]

PA to Boggo Road and transferring to train.  This was the first time I've used the new Park Road busway interchange, and was very impressed with the facility. if we had service frequencies to make transfer seamless the busway connection between Buranda, PA & Boggo Road would be a fantastic asset tying together the system, but alas the pathetic rail frequency and moderate busway frequency somewhat dilutes the benefit. (I am starting to get really annoyed with the "concrete fetish" aspect of our transport planning.  There is NO POINT building these world class facilities if we don't run services of a standard to match).

Interchange. It makes good PT happen.
Spending too much money on concrete based fixes and not using a planning based solution means less cash for new services.
You can't build busway everywhere. But you can put a feeder buses to all, or if not, most, rail stations.  

[colinw]

I may be too critical but when I compare the situation I faced yesterday (a bus every 15 minutes, failing to connect well with a train every 30 minutes) with the ease with which I can zap around London on the tube and London Transport buses using very prosaic concrete pedestrian tunnels to get between platforms ... Well, put it this way - I'd rather see a lot more effort into service frequency & co-ordination and a bit less focus on fancy concrete thingies with orange TransLink signs.

At the end of the day, commuters don't want interchanges that look like a post-modern architect's fantasy - they want buses & trains to come when they need them, and to darn well know they are coming.  I don't give a rat's a**e that my local station at Kuraby now has fancy lift towers and a concrete overbridge if the trains still come every half hour!