Route 529 - Ipswich to Toogoolawah

[STB]

Hi all,

I've been catching route 529 lately as I'll be moving to Esk for a bit next month (have had to sort some stuff out before moving properly).

I've found out that there is at least 20 minutes of fat in the timetable.  Last time I headed up there (last Thursday), we departed 5 minutes late out of Ipswich Bell St and arrived 11 minutes early at Esk.  On my way back from Esk to Ipswich (last Saturday), we left on time out of Esk but then had a 15-20 minute dwell at Lowood and then another 5-10 minute dwell at Fernvale and we still arrived at Ipswich Bell St 5 minutes before the scheduled time according to my Go Card history.

Can anyone confirm if there was a route change and someone forgot to take out the run time, in particular between Coominya and Lowood where it's currently scheduled to be a 25 minute run but in reality takes only about 10 minutes.

Also, currently it uses one bus and one driver for the whole day.  If it were possible to add more drivers and buses, how many more trips should be put on?  Should it be equal to route 539 which has several trips throughout the day to and from Gatton, with a few out to Helidon.  The patronage is quite good, on the Saturday we had about a 3/4 load heading into Ipswich with the majority boarding at Lowood in a large coach.  I was the only one who boarded at Esk on that Saturday and the only one on board until we arrived at Lowood.  During the week I have seen several get on board at Esk heading to Ipswich and same on the return journey (although this does vary a bit).

[Set in train]

Good question, I've often looked at this route and wondered if a frequency improvement would draw more people to use the service.