Toowoomba City Local Transport (poll)

[Jonas Jade]

Okay, so tramtrain has covered the questions of the Intercity transport, but I have raised the point of the internal bus network of Toowoomba, and some people were unhappy/confused with the inclusion of the topic together there.

So I have created this poll (my first, be kind!).

I will also add a disclaimer that I have not been to Toowoomba for a while (5 years or so maybe), and thought of only because of tramtrains thread (eg no personal connection to Toowoomba). If someone does, or has first hand experience of the bus network, please post in this thread to elaborate!

The timetable and route maps of the current network is available here: http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/~/media/b25ac199-603e-406d-8a77-091b0bfe2ede/pdf_toowoomba_timetable.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toowoomba - wiki info on Toowoomba if you want some background

The population is just over 130,000 (Ipswich 160,000 for reference).

Please discuss!

[somebody]

I'm sure it's worse than Newcastle and Canberra.  Not sure about Hobart and W'Gong.

[colinw]

Some of those bus routes don't look much altered from when I was a kid, although the USQ routes have been straightened out somewhat. The DDIAE/USQ bus used to do a lot more doglegs through suburban areas when I used it, good to see it just goes straight along West St now.

Steam ironing is badly needed, particularly of the routes to Airport estate & Wilsonton, and the Zone 6 route that services Toowoomba State High.

There's a whole chunk of town that used to have buses when I was a kid that now doesn't. Looks like the Rangeville bus no longer runs, nor is there a bus to Picnic Point any more.

Over all I think Toowoomba would benefit from a complete redesign of the routes to make them run more directly along the major roads. E.g. why not have a simple linear route the length of Ruthven Street from K-Mart Plaza to Harlaxton. Likewise, the east side would be far better served by just going straight up Margaret St, Campbell St or Bridge St rather than wobbling around along minor streets.

In a city the size of Toowoomba, a "milk run" bus that takes 45 minutes or more to get to town is not going to attract any users who have a choice. You'll only get people who can't drive for some reason.

When I was a student at DDIAE (USQ now), to get the bus to the Institute I used to walk into the centre of town from my parents home. Why?  Because I could walk to town faster than the indirect local bus service did it. 35 minutes walk beat 45 on the bus! 

[achiruel]

I'm sure it's worse than Newcastle and Canberra.  Not sure about Hobart and W'Gong.

Newcastle and Canberra both have substantially larger populations than Toowoomba, so its not an entirely fair comparison.

Toowoomba = 130k
Newcastle = 290k
Canberra = 360k

Newcastle has a better bus service than just about any regional city in Australia outside the TransLink network, trains are also somewhat useful for the suburbs that are serviced by them as they run basically all although with some large (2hr) service gaps.