15mins Off Peak Complete Failure Today

[Mozz]

Well it started with a quick Jetstar flight from Melbourne to Brisbane of 1 hour 50 minutes to cover 1850km which then turned to rubbish with my attempt to travel 25km via heavy rail from the Domestic Airport to Oxley..... which took almost 2 hours... and by all means part of it is my problem in believing 15 minute off peak that is heavily promoted is reality... when it really didn't work today at all  - longer to travel by a few km by our best effort public transport system than fly almost 2000km from Melbourne to Brisbane... I am a public transport advocate and passionate in this regard, but it is failures like this which flick the switch in those "swinging" public transport users to never try it again ....

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff87/Mozz_pics/20140427_100750_zps76587d96.jpg


Problem with this pic is that the advertising is 15 minutes off peak and yet the next train is 27 minutes away... so despite considering catching a taxi and spend the extra $40 travel to Oxley I used all the available information at hand which included knowing that I could catch the 10.58am from Central to Ipswich at a pinch or at worst the 11.13am Springfield train.... however it just went downhill from there... waited half an hour at the airport for the train to leave (remember it's a train every 15 minutes .. read the big sign)... then we dilly dallied on the way to eagle junction, stopped opposite toombul shopping centre, travelled at very slow speeds ... and arrived at Central approx 3 minute late, so no chance to catch the 10.58am Ipswich train, so waited for the 10.13am Springfield train... but it didn't come... just air.... at approximately 10.23 10mins after it was due an announcement over the speakers at central saying there were operational issues and that when they did know something they would tell us... but they never did.... so at 11.28am I caught the Ipswich train (which was on time and stayed on time) to arrive home at approximately 11.55am after a brief 4 minute walk from the Oxley train station to my home....

If I had known that the train network was in meltdown I would have readily caught a taxi for the 25 minute trip by car to Oxley but I didn't ... the translink site had nothing on it... I checked a few times... the push notifications via sms stopped many months ago on the promise of something new and as far as I know there isn't anything.... really disappointed at this mornings effort really - 2 hours to travel 27km - really is that what we get to expect ... and I still get to pay my $20 for the privilege of this "service"

Just really a bit sad about how this reflects on the whole endeavour to get people to user public transport over driving to the airport ....

[ozbob]

Similar experience heading home from BNE yesterday.   It is farcical the whole set up ...

Really is time to sort it. 

Yesterdays masterclass in mediocrity ..

Early morning departure Murrumbeena (half light in the early morning).  This train was running late and converted to Flinders St station, a following train a few minutes behind was a City Loop which services Southern Cross.

Flight to BNE uneventful.



Back to a very disconnected network.  Arrival of the Airtrain at service at Central was just in time to see the Ippy service depart.  No connection possible.  This means that instead of being able to catch the 524 bus at Goodna at 2.42pm, have to wait for the 3.42pm bus.

Honestly, it is just a major shambles ...  frequency ratsh%t and they still cannot get the timetable right, to give the punters at least some chance of reasonable journey times ...

It was quicker to fly between Melbourne and Brisbane than get PT to Goodna ... oh dear ... 

[ozbob]

It is world class alright, a world class disaster ...

And to make matters worse, those on George St basically don't give a stuff by the looks of things, politicians and bureaucrats ..

Just peddle out spin and self praise of massaged data ...

[James]

Pick me! Pick me! I have a better story!

James was coming back from his holiday down on the Gold Coast on Monday, and decided to do the nice thing and catch a bus to the station instead of demanding a lift from family.

I firstly caught the 1pm (departing The Pines) 765 bus. Which actually turned out to arrive 8 minutes late at my stop, for what appeared to be absolutely no reason at all, as there were only two passengers on board, neither of which looked to be your 'Asian tourist buying a paper ticket and asking questions about everything from the bus model to their flight to Tokyo'. The driver then proceeded to totally drive past the turnoff for Varsity Lakes station, absolutely shooting any notion that we could make the train (even though it was after 1:40pm by this time). We eventually got to the station, 14 minutes after our scheduled arrival time. At 2:10pm, the next Brisbane City/Airport train left. By this time I have spent an hour in transit. In perfect travel conditions, James is turning into his driveway in Brisbane's inner suburbs.

Train trip was rather uneventful, but for those in the know, this was the weekend of the track closure between Roma Street and South Brisbane/Corinda. So me, being the PT-savvy individual I am, opt to connect to a bus at Altandi. Now, due to the missed train earlier shooting the option to connect to my (hourly) local bus on the other end, I choose to grab a bite to eat at Sunnybank. By the time I get to Sunnybank, it is 3:14pm - I am over 2 hours into my travels. Anyway, 3:35pm comes around and I head back out to catch a bus. The previous 130 was apparently running early, leaving me to board the 3:22pm (dep. Browns Plains) 140, which arrived 5 minutes late. Which as it turns out, had its accelerator break down along Pinelands Rd! So there we were, chugging along at no more than about 30km/hr, and barely doing 15km/hr up the ramp. Was quite interesting to listen to the conversation on the radio between the driver and control.

Eventually we make it to the Cultural Centre and I instantly change to an Adelaide St service (174, I believe) in a mad dash to catch the hourly 411. But I do not make it, by about 300m/30 seconds. At this point, I am 3 hours and 5 minutes into my travels, and almost throw my suitcase at the 411 as it passes me at the pedestrian crossing in frustration. Thinking on my toes, I make a dash for the 4:15pm 412 (which still hasn't left, probably because the driver is trying to avoid early running), which I make (thankfully). I eventually get to my nearest BUZ stop, St Lucia West. After this, it is about a 15 minute walk with a suitcase to my residence, on a very warm, summery day. I finally get home at 4:40pm - 3 and a half hours later. On a trip which on the forward journey, took a bit over 2 hours.

Any other person would be totally deterred from using PT after this kind of experience. Track closures, unreliable services, infrequent services and to top it off, a broken down bus! In the time it took me, I could have driven to Hervey Bay, or flown to Auckland! Auckland!

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

30th April 2014

Re: SEQ: Efficiencies required for QR Rail Network too!

Greetings,

Here are some excellent examples of why our public transport system needs sorting. The real experiences below are not isolated.

Fares are extortionist and unbalanced, simple things like getting connections right are not done. This is compounded by the woeful frequency.

Reliability is not good at all, particularly out of peak.

It is little wonder there is a reluctance of the transport authorities to release real performance data [ see --> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=10641.0 ]. Disgraceful.

Best wishes
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

Well it started with a quick Jetstar flight from Melbourne to Brisbane of 1 hour 50 minutes to cover 1850km which then turned to rubbish with my attempt to travel 25km via heavy rail from the Domestic Airport to Oxley..... which took almost 2 hours... and by all means part of it is my problem in believing 15 minute off peak that is heavily promoted is reality... when it really didn't work today at all  - longer to travel by a few km by our best effort public transport system than fly almost 2000km from Melbourne to Brisbane... I am a public transport advocate and passionate in this regard, but it is failures like this which flick the switch in those "swinging" public transport users to never try it again ....

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff87/Mozz_pics/20140427_100750_zps76587d96.jpg


Problem with this pic is that the advertising is 15 minutes off peak and yet the next train is 27 minutes away... so despite considering catching a taxi and spend the extra $40 travel to Oxley I used all the available information at hand which included knowing that I could catch the 10.58am from Central to Ipswich at a pinch or at worst the 11.13am Springfield train.... however it just went downhill from there... waited half an hour at the airport for the train to leave (remember it's a train every 15 minutes .. read the big sign)... then we dilly dallied on the way to eagle junction, stopped opposite toombul shopping centre, travelled at very slow speeds ... and arrived at Central approx 3 minute late, so no chance to catch the 10.58am Ipswich train, so waited for the 10.13am Springfield train... but it didn't come... just air.... at approximately 10.23 10mins after it was due an announcement over the speakers at central saying there were operational issues and that when they did know something they would tell us... but they never did.... so at 11.28am I caught the Ipswich train (which was on time and stayed on time) to arrive home at approximately 11.55am after a brief 4 minute walk from the Oxley train station to my home....

If I had known that the train network was in meltdown I would have readily caught a taxi for the 25 minute trip by car to Oxley but I didn't ... the translink site had nothing on it... I checked a few times... the push notifications via sms stopped many months ago on the promise of something new and as far as I know there isn't anything.... really disappointed at this mornings effort really - 2 hours to travel 27km - really is that what we get to expect ... and I still get to pay my $20 for the privilege of this "service"

Just really a bit sad about how this reflects on the whole endeavour to get people to user public transport over driving to the airport ....

Similar experience heading home from BNE yesterday.   It is farcical the whole set up ...

Really is time to sort it. 

Yesterdays masterclass in mediocrity ..

Early morning departure Murrumbeena (half light in the early morning).  This train was running late and converted to Flinders St station, a following train a few minutes behind was a City Loop which services Southern Cross.

Flight to BNE uneventful.



Back to a very disconnected network.  Arrival of the Airtrain at service at Central was just in time to see the Ippy service depart.  No connection possible.  This means that instead of being able to catch the 524 bus at Goodna at 2.42pm, have to wait for the 3.42pm bus.

Honestly, it is just a major shambles ...  frequency ratsh%t and they still cannot get the timetable right, to give the punters at least some chance of reasonable journey times ...

It was quicker to fly between Melbourne and Brisbane than get PT to Goodna ... oh dear ... 

Pick me! Pick me! I have a better story!

James was coming back from his holiday down on the Gold Coast on Monday, and decided to do the nice thing and catch a bus to the station instead of demanding a lift from family.

I firstly caught the 1pm (departing The Pines) 765 bus. Which actually turned out to arrive 8 minutes late at my stop, for what appeared to be absolutely no reason at all, as there were only two passengers on board, neither of which looked to be your 'Asian tourist buying a paper ticket and asking questions about everything from the bus model to their flight to Tokyo'. The driver then proceeded to totally drive past the turnoff for Varsity Lakes station, absolutely shooting any notion that we could make the train (even though it was after 1:40pm by this time). We eventually got to the station, 14 minutes after our scheduled arrival time. At 2:10pm, the next Brisbane City/Airport train left. By this time I have spent an hour in transit. In perfect travel conditions, James is turning into his driveway in Brisbane's inner suburbs.

Train trip was rather uneventful, but for those in the know, this was the weekend of the track closure between Roma Street and South Brisbane/Corinda. So me, being the PT-savvy individual I am, opt to connect to a bus at Altandi. Now, due to the missed train earlier shooting the option to connect to my (hourly) local bus on the other end, I choose to grab a bite to eat at Sunnybank. By the time I get to Sunnybank, it is 3:14pm - I am over 2 hours into my travels. Anyway, 3:35pm comes around and I head back out to catch a bus. The previous 130 was apparently running early, leaving me to board the 3:22pm (dep. Browns Plains) 140, which arrived 5 minutes late. Which as it turns out, had its accelerator break down along Pinelands Rd! So there we were, chugging along at no more than about 30km/hr, and barely doing 15km/hr up the ramp. Was quite interesting to listen to the conversation on the radio between the driver and control.

Eventually we make it to the Cultural Centre and I instantly change to an Adelaide St service (174, I believe) in a mad dash to catch the hourly 411. But I do not make it, by about 300m/30 seconds. At this point, I am 3 hours and 5 minutes into my travels, and almost throw my suitcase at the 411 as it passes me at the pedestrian crossing in frustration. Thinking on my toes, I make a dash for the 4:15pm 412 (which still hasn't left, probably because the driver is trying to avoid early running), which I make (thankfully). I eventually get to my nearest BUZ stop, St Lucia West. After this, it is about a 15 minute walk with a suitcase to my residence, on a very warm, summery day. I finally get home at 4:40pm - 3 and a half hours later. On a trip which on the forward journey, took a bit over 2 hours.

Any other person would be totally deterred from using PT after this kind of experience. Track closures, unreliable services, infrequent services and to top it off, a broken down bus! In the time it took me, I could have driven to Hervey Bay, or flown to Auckland! Auckland!

[ozbob]

Dewirement at Palmwoods today, major disruptions to SCL.

Melbourne - substation fire put out the train signalling system at Richmond.  Massive ongoing issues.

These things happen on any system from time to time ...  however simple thing like fixing connections and so forth must be sorted.

[ozbob]

Interesting snippet from the Sunshine Express March - April 2014

[Fares_Fair]

Dewirement at Palmwoods Glass House Mountains today, major disruptions to SCL.

Melbourne - substation fire put out the train signalling system at Richmond.  Massive ongoing issues.

These things happen on any system from time to time ...  however simple thing like fixing connections and so forth must be sorted.

Freudian slip? 

[ozbob]

    

[ozbob]

1st May 2014

Time to do the right thing ...

Greetings,

Yesterday a positive media event at the Mayne Train Control Centre.  Queensland Rail has improved peak on time train performance and is to be congratulated.

The reason we know that Queensland Rail peak performance has improved however is because each day I note the reported peak data and add to our own data set. 

The only data made regularly available in Queensland is peak for the last 5 days!  So unless you capture that it is gone, a bit like the last train at night.  Miss it and you have missed it.

I collate the data and maintain a record here --> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?board=73.0

What is not so clear is how is out of peak performance going?  That data is not made available.

Have a look at the routine data made available in Perth

Transperth train system punctuality

--> http://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/AboutUs/Surveysandstatistics.aspx

Note that an individual line break up is given for all lines peak and inter-peak (off peak).

Also archived bus and train on-time running statistics is readily available
--> http://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/AboutUs/Surveysandstatistics/Archivedontimerunningstatistics.aspx

Contrast that to Queensland  ...  when the spin is stripped away it is rather sad hey?

Unless the data is made available regularly as for other jurisdictions we simply don't believe the hype and spin.

For years I pointed out the reported bus on time performance was not correct.

This inaccurate information was even tabled in Parliament! 
So you see, unless we get true openness and transparency we will continue to challenge the charade.

Bus OTP is still not available.  I wonder why?

Have a great day and be grateful that some of us are not as gullible as others.

Best wishes
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

Media release 27 April 2014



SEQ: Call for 'Glasnost' (openness & accountability) with public transport data

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport passengers has called for the routine public release of detailed and accurate, performance and passenger load data for public transport, as in other the states of Australia (1,2,3,4).

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"Detailed passenger load and performance data for public transport in south-east Queensland is not made publicly available, yet it is in other states."

"Data made available on the TransLink website is a 'sanitised' version of more complete data for non-public use.We would much prefer the Glasnost 'open and accountable' version!"

On 26 November 2013, The State Government stated; 'Queensland has a broad and complex integrity framework. It aims to ensure the public sector is accountable, honest and sufficiently transparent to encourage public confidence in the way government does business.'

'Our integrity and accountability systems need to be dynamic, responsive and regularly reviewed to ensure they are appropriate, effective and robust. (5).

Jeffrey Addison, Sunshine Coast RAIL Back On Track spokesman says "The time has come to be true to their word."
"Bus performance data has not been published for some time, when it was, it was grossly inaccurate. Other states manage to publish bus data, why the problem with this in Queensland?"

"We call on the State Government to make publicly available (via TransLink) timely and accurate performance and passenger load data for all railway lines, bus and ferry routes, at both peak and non-peak times, and restore our faith in the public transport network."

References:

1. http://corp.ptv.vic.gov.au/managing-victoria-s-public-transport-network/facts-and-figures/

2. http://corp.ptv.vic.gov.au/managing-victoria-s-public-transport-network/track-record/track-record-monthly-performance-bulletin-trains-metropolitan/

3. http://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/AboutUs/Surveysandstatistics/Archivedontimerunningstatistics.aspx

4. http://www.cityrail.info/about/our_performance/otr_summary.jsp

5. http://www.qld.gov.au/about/rights-accountability/open-transparent/review/

Contacts:

Jeff Addison
Sunshine Coast Region Spokesperson for RAIL Back On Track

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

[Fares_Fair]

After the 612 ABC radio interview, Spencer Howson received a statement from the Minister's office and he read it out, the crux and verbatim wording being;
"We're more than happy to have a look at 24 hour data."

Hopefully will lead to some action because we're (RBoT and the public) are more than happy to receive them!

It's no exaggeration to say that ozBob has spearheaded this situation for years, for train off-peak data, buses for any true data at all, and ferries. 
Fingers crossed and well done!

Happy to help. 

[dancingmongoose]

To be fair the QR the airport line was never mentioned as having 15 minute frequency all day or off peak, there are now more time periods with 15 minute frequency, which is true, but it's not 'all day' like the Ferny line, and it quite clearly states that it is Monday to Friday only. I don't actually see what you're complaining about.

[ozbob]

On the day he travelled the 15 minute between CBD and Darra fell apart  ...

[ozbob]

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff87/Mozz_pics/20140427_100750_zps76587d96.jpg

Anyone not familiar with the poor frequency would like at the sign, look at the time to next train, and say "WTF" ...

[Mozz]

Hi everyone .... just a bit of clarification from my perspective, I travel somewhere between 3 and 6 times a year on aircraft out of Brisbane and I really didn't know that the airtrain 15 mins was only Mon - Fri but thanks for the clarification because the marketing of the new timetable didn't work for me ... and I think I am a reasonably informed public transport commuter.... so when I wrote the article I wasn't trying to make it overly dramatic ... I really thought that airtrain was running every 15 mins ... which is part of the reason why I didn't check the journey planner when getting off the train .. as I thought I didn't have to as airtrain was 15 mins...

[BrizCommuter]

I find the "all day" 15 minute advert misleading. All day to me is start of service to end of service. Also the small print says "..until 8pm", well the 15 minute frequency to Ferny Grove ends a few minutes before 7pm from Central.

[petey3801]

With the Airtrain, it's not even 15mins all day. It's 15min frequency during morning peak till around 10ish and afternoon peak till around 8ish. 30mins the rest of the time!

[James]

I find the "all day" 15 minute advert misleading. All day to me is start of service to end of service. Also the small print says "..until 8pm", well the 15 minute frequency to Ferny Grove ends a few minutes before 7pm from Central.

The implementation of 15 minute frequency, in my opinion, is absolutely half-baked. The fact we have absolutely no HF on the weekend aside from between Bowen Hills and Park Road/Darra (note that HF no longer goes up to Northgate!) is a joke.

HF on the rails needs to be 6am - 9pm 7 days a week, minimum. Maybe 7am - 9pm on weekends only. I would much rather see this only happen on one corridor (Ferny Grove - Coopers Plains) than split across two corridors. BUZ worked because of what it did in the evenings and on weekends, not just because it put frequency on when it was needed/in the interpeak. Concentrating the frequency also means we can start feeding bus routes into rail. Under the current network, if a route is to be frequent, it essentially has to go to the CBD or UQ because the network can't support frequent routes feeding into anything.

[#Metro]

The implementation of 15 minute frequency, in my opinion, is absolutely half-baked. The fact we have absolutely no HF on the weekend aside from between Bowen Hills and Park Road/Darra (note that HF no longer goes up to Northgate!) is a joke.

What does one expect when the supply costs are ~ 100% higher than the same operation in Perth? You're going to get less for the same money. That means rubbish evening and weekend service.

The higher the price, the less quantity you're going to get. That's how prices work.