Bus routes leaving timing points early

[James]

Decided I'd start a thread regarding this as I've experienced this quite a bit in the last few days.

I had this trying to connect to a 411 two Saturdays ago, and experienced this again when I was catching the 411 from my local stop and it arrived 3 minutes early. The fact it arrived at my stop early doesn't concern me - the fact that the bus left the timing point early does (and I know it did as the bus is scheduled to leave Toowong 4 minutes before it arrives at my own stop). IMO, timing points give confidence in the service - that if you turn up at a stop 2 minutes before this time, you WILL catch the service.

Has anybody been dealing with buses which have simply ignored timing points and left early? Sure, it is nice if you're on board, but if you're trying to transfer from another service (especially a tight connection which you know you can make), it is quite frustrating.

[minbrisbane]

Decided I'd start a thread regarding this as I've experienced this quite a bit in the last few days.

I had this trying to connect to a 411 two Saturdays ago, and experienced this again when I was catching the 411 from my local stop and it arrived 3 minutes early. The fact it arrived at my stop early doesn't concern me - the fact that the bus left the timing point early does (and I know it did as the bus is scheduled to leave Toowong 4 minutes before it arrives at my own stop). IMO, timing points give confidence in the service - that if you turn up at a stop 2 minutes before this time, you WILL catch the service.

Has anybody been dealing with buses which have simply ignored timing points and left early? Sure, it is nice if you're on board, but if you're trying to transfer from another service (especially a tight connection which you know you can make), it is quite frustrating.

Yes, it's quite common for me to experience this at Garden City. 

I'll be catching 180 after transferring from the busway (it's a tight connection as it is) and all too often I'll see it departing early.

It's extremely frustrating.  If you mention it to TL, usually they'll quote that you should be at the stop 5 minutes before scheduled departure. 

[Golliwog]

I must admit I wouldn't know, I typically just hop on and go, most bus routes I use when doing interchanges are frequent routes so I don't actually know if I've 'missed' the bus that was meant to be there.

IMO, the timetables should be revised every 12 months at a minimum, if not more frequently so they can re-time them and make sure connections are still kept. It really bugs me when you hop on a route like the Cityglider, only to have it sit at the bus stop on Adelaide St for >5 minutes.

[James]

It's extremely frustrating.  If you mention it to TL, usually they'll quote that you should be at the stop 5 minutes before scheduled departure.

I had that quote as well. Hey TransLink, in 5 minutes I can drive to Indooroopilly, Toowong or UQ! If I turned up 5 minutes early for the bus, all it would take is the 411 to be 5 minutes late and I would have been better off simply walking.

I know demand is less thanks to Uni holidays, but that is why we have timing points in the first place - to iron out early running.

[techblitz]

Decided I'd start a thread regarding this as I've experienced this quite a bit in the last few days.

I had this trying to connect to a 411 two Saturdays ago, and experienced this again when I was catching the 411 from my local stop and it arrived 3 minutes early. The fact it arrived at my stop early doesn't concern me - the fact that the bus left the timing point early does (and I know it did as the bus is scheduled to leave Toowong 4 minutes before it arrives at my own stop). IMO, timing points give confidence in the service - that if you turn up at a stop 2 minutes before this time, you WILL catch the service.

Has anybody been dealing with buses which have simply ignored timing points and left early? Sure, it is nice if you're on board, but if you're trying to transfer from another service (especially a tight connection which you know you can make), it is quite frustrating.

If you mention it to TL, usually they'll quote that you should be at the stop 5 minutes before scheduled departure.

yep,spot on...exactly what they will say....
some drivers are fussy with their timing spots...others aren't...
some are in a rush to have their break/or finish...some just waste time by going slower than usual....

[Golliwog]

Funny you should mention this. The day after the OP, traffic on Moggill Rd was incredibly light and the 444 I was on ended up sitting at Indro for roughly 5 minutes.