Brisbane - bus network proposal

[ozbob]

When do we start to implement bus reform?  Tomorrow ??

[#Metro]

When do we start to implement bus reform?  Tomorrow ??

It would have to be very soon, the year is already done and it would take a good 2-years to do a proper job of it. Ideally you would want the process started before this year is out. Left any longer and it would have to be postponed due to elections, yada, yada, and you run the risk of a new admin scrapping or delaying it.

[pandmaster]

This is a promising announcement from Trad. I am filled with a little bit of confidence from the part about buses and trains not sharing the same corridor. Looking at signalling is good too. Whatever project is put up should be reasonable, though I expect the typical half-baking.

This and the fare review are promising developments. Will the ALP be so bold to do bus reform as well?

[techblitz]

Buses and trains play different roles in our transport network and combining them in the same corridor does not make sense," Ms Trad said.

there is a potential underlying ultimatum in that statement .... makes one wonder if she is also saying that buses and trains should/will stay on seperate and parralell direct cbd paths because they both serve different purposes....in other words continue to "compete" for patronage...

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

28th August 2015

Queensland's Groundhog Day: Cross River Rail Planning Starts All Over Again

Greetings,

Cross River Rail Reference Design, from four years ago
Source:

RAIL Back on Track welcomes the news that planning for Cross River Rail has (re)started. We welcome the news that upgraded signalling will be considered to improve safety and increase capacity on the existing network and planned extension.

There is a certain feeling of 'Groundhog day' to this though. We have been through this all before: the large volumes of reports, the route alignment maps, the sophisticated fly-through animations, and the fog of uncertainty and vagueness over funding or actual construction horizons.

We expect that construction costs have continued to inflate, and now any new tunnel will be considerably more costly to deliver now.

However, the main issue here is not about the project. It is much larger. The State of Queensland cannot credibly commit itself to large infrastructure projects because neither the political stability, nor the funding capacity exists to see large infrastructure projects to completion. This has caused considerable wastage of valuable public servant time and money, and there is nothing to prevent the next administration coming in and throwing out all of the plans and starting all over again, again.

We note this from the statement:

" ... "However, there will be no combination of buses and trains in the Cross River Rail design going forward.

"Buses and trains play different roles in our transport network and combining them in the same corridor does not make sense," Ms Trad said. ... "

Strongly agreed. It is a basic problem with our network that there is a failure to recognise that buses are not trains, and trains are not buses.

It is absolutely clear that bus network reform must proceed as a matter of emergency. Without an upgraded and reformed public transport network, bus and rail, people are spilling over and congesting the road network. Lord Mayor Graham Quirk and Brisbane City Council must yield on this point, and cease stonewalling the fundamental changes that Brisbane's bus network needs. If that means returning the bus operations back to the State of Queensland, so be it.

If the Mayor of Auckland, New Zealand, can hire the ex-head of Brisbane Transport, Mr Neil Cagney to fix up Auckland's entire bus network, why can't we do the same? The firm's head office is located on Coronation Drive.

Ultimately bringing in fixed-four year terms and options such as land value taxation reforms will give the State of Queensland both the stability and funding capacity to undertake large infrastructure projects without having to continually seek funding approvals from Canberra. We welcome the announcement, but we won't believe it until we see the tunnel boring machines in the ground.

Best wishes
Robert

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

References:

1. Planning moving forward on rail capacity solution for South East Queensland
http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/2015/8/27/planning-moving-forward-on-rail-capacity-solution-for-south-east-queensland

2. SEQ: Suburban rail network needs Automatic Train Protection too!
http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=9832.0

3. Car Congestion Chaos - It's all part of 'The Plan'
http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=11047.msg160367#msg160367

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

28th August 2015

Kingsford Smith Drive - Just upgrade the bus!

Greetings

RAIL Back on Track is skeptical of the Kingsford Smith Drive project advanced by Brisbane
City Council (BCC). Sadly, BCC is increasingly displaying signs of 'Campbell Newman Syndrome'.

The RACQ is actually talking sense. Why does Brisbane City Council and Cr. Adrian Schrinner
want to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on Kingsford Smith Drive? Isn't the new AirportLink
and Clem 7 tunnel not enough? Why can vehicles not use that?

Both of these tunnels, which we were constantly told were 'absolutely vital' over and over
again, with the benefits beyond questioning, are now desperately in need more car traffic. And they
have both gone into financial administration.

Why not just upgrade the 300 Toombul bus?

It already achieves high value for money and very high capacity utilisation (i.e. good patronage).
The areas around Ascot, Hamilton and  Clayfield have excellent density.  Stop spacing should be reviewed.
High-speed stop spacing encourages patronage growth and speeds up passenger journeys. An upgraded
service could pull in a lot more passengers and lots of fare revenue, so we think the net costs would be rather small.

For too long, fundamental changes to the Brisbane bus network have been stonewalled by
Brisbane City Council and Lord Mayor Graham Quirk. It's all part of the 'I'm not listening'
culture that has developed at City Hall. That needs to change.

It is absolutely clear that bus network reform must proceed as a matter of emergency.
RAIL Back on Track has already prepared a New Bus Network Proposal for Brisbane to address
this ---> http://tiny.cc/newnetwork

Best wishes
Robert

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

Reference:

Toombul 300 Bus
http://jp.translink.com.au/travel-information/network-information/buses/T/300

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

3rd September 2015

Bus network reform for Brisbane

Greetings,

The pipeline of projects has stalled.

It is now imperative that proper bus network reform for Brisbane is conducted.  TransLink attempted to do this in 2013, the situation is now even more critical. Bus reform is not a great expenditure - it is effectively cost neutral, will drive patronage and a better fare box.

We have outlined a way to achieve this.  See Brisbane - bus network proposal > http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=11047.0

Ignoring the ' recalcitrant elephant in the room ' is not helping anyone in the end is it?

Sometimes leaders do have to lead.

Best wishes
Robert

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

[ozbob]

Twitter

Robert Dow ‏@Robert_Dow 54s

Media: 'Bus network reform for Brisbane'

> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=11047.msg160721#msg160721 ... #qldpol @Team_Quirk @Rod4Bris @TMRQld @jackietrad

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 4th September 2015 page 15

Leadership needed to drive bus reform

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

8th September 2015

Greetings,

Brisbane Bus Bombshell: We Told You So!

RAIL Back on Track members consistently said since 2013 that failure to reform the bus network would lead to disaster. Today we see exactly that. Bus patronage has dropped again, almost 3% in 2014-2015. This is totally unacceptable, and comes at a time when Brisbane's population is growing at around 1.5-2% annually.

In our opinion, Lord Mayor Graham Quirk and Brisbane City Council must take responsibility for the explosion in costs at Brisbane Transport. The Lord Mayor and Brisbane City Council cannot have it both ways. While Brisbane City Council does not set fares, it does set bus service supply costs, and obviously higher supplier costs mean higher fares.

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad must take action and legislate the removal of Brisbane Transport from Brisbane City Council. Failure to do this will put the jobs of hundreds of bus drivers at risk. Bus drivers need passengers. Without passengers, we fear further service cuts will be in the pipeline, and some drivers may have to be let go.

As a matter of urgency, the Brisbane bus network must be reformed. We have put together a proposal that does just that. It is affordable, rapid to implement and near-cost neutral. Our proposal is here:

New Bus Network Proposal http://tiny.cc/newnetwork

Brisbane Bus Network (current) http://tiny.cc/checkyourbus

In Brisbane's sister city of Auckland, The Mayor of Auckland has hired the ex-head of Brisbane Transport to review the entire Auckland Bus network. The head office of this firm is located on Coronation Drive. If the New Zealanders can fix up their bus network, why can't we do the same?

We cannot see bus and train patronage go through the floor, year on year. Bus and train networks must be reformed before any more damage to patronage is done.

Best wishes,
Robert

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

References:

Brisbane Buses: Call for CityGlider in the Centenary Suburbs
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/brisbane-buses-call-for-cityglider-in-centenary-suburbs-20141104-11gxl3.html

Blame game as Brisbane commuters abandon buses
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/blame-game-as-brisbane-commuters-abandon-buses-20150907-gjh4tf.html

Population Growth Statistics - ABS
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3218.0/

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Blame game as Brisbane commuters abandon buses

Brisbane commuters are abandoning buses in droves, leading Labor lord mayoral candidate Rod Harding to launch a broadside at Lord Mayor Graham Quirk's handling of the city's bus network.

But the Quirk administration has pointed the finger squarely at the fares set by the state government-owned public transport authority, TransLink.

Mr Harding said Brisbane City Council's 2014-15 annual report, which will be tabled in council on Tuesday, showed council bus patronage dropped 2.83 per cent from 77.8 million passengers in 2013-14 to 75.6 million in 2014-15.

Mr Harding said the figures were "damning" and showed an "alarming decline" in passenger numbers.

"At budget time the Lord Mayor was spruiking the number of new buses he was funding, yet there are 74 less buses in the fleet this year," he said.

"You can't expect to carry more passengers with less buses and less services.

"People jumping off buses and into cars is a consequence of Graham Quirk cutting $20 million in public transport services."

Mr Harding said the figures showed the LNP administration was not committed to getting Brisbane "moving".

"This is an alarming decline in passenger numbers," he said.

"...That's 42,300 less passengers per week catching buses in Brisbane.

"Meanwhile Council's Key Corridors report shows traffic congestion is up 3.2 per cent.

"It's no wonder our roads are congested."

The LNP administration's Public and Active Transport chairman, Peter Matic, said it was up to the Queensland government to reduce public transport fares to an affordable level.

"Brisbane bus patronage fell again last financial year, which is a direct outcome of the ever-increasing public transport fares determined by the state government and the perception of passengers that public transport is simply unaffordable," he said.

"Council is doing everything in its power to encourage more regular public transport users, but at the end of the day the state government needs to act on fares."

On that point, Robert Dow from public transport advocacy group Rail: Back on Track agreed.

Mr Dow said a state government review into public transport fares, which was currently underway, was a welcome development.

But that review needed to result in a better deal for commuters, he said.

"It's no surprise that patronage has dropped a little bit," Mr Dow said.

"It's stagnated and dropped on the rail, too, in the same way and a lot of that is down to fare unaffordability."

According to TransLink data, the drop in bus patronage was not confined to Brisbane City Council services.

Overall, the total number of bus trips across the entire TransLink network, which also included several private operators, dropped 4.64 per cent from 118.6 million trips to 113.1 million between 2013-14 and 2014-15.

In the same period, rail trips rose 1.2 per cent from 49.8 million to 50.4 million, while ferry trips fell 14.86 per cent from 7.4 million to 6.4 million.

In 2011-12, there were 120.3 million bus trips and 52.8 million rail trips.

Cr Matic will introduce a motion to the council on Tuesday calling on the state government to reduce fares to an "affordable level" and introduce a new capped daily fare.

A spokeswoman for Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Jackie Trad said the council had "failed to keep up their end of the bargain" in bus network funding.

"The increase in service levels and the subsidy council pays for bus services (community service obligation or CSO) have not come close to matching the 160 per cent increase in Brisbane Transport's costs since 2005," she said.

"In fact, in 2009 Brisbane City Council's CSO as a percentage of overall operating cost was 27 per cent, but in 2014 this contribution had slumped to 21 per cent.

"It is forecast that BCC's CSO payment as a percentage of overall cost will be 18 per cent by 2017.

"If BCC's contribution to running Brisbane's buses had kept pace there would be more funds to invest in public transport services."

Ms Trad's spokeswoman said the government was conducting a "comprehensive expert-led review" of public transport fares in an effort to boost patronage.

[ozbob]

Twitter

Robert Dow ‏@Robert_Dow 13m

Reform before more damage

> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=11047.msg160938#msg160938 ...

@jackietrad @TMRQld @TransLinkSEQ #qldpol @Team_Quirk @Rod4Bris

[ozbob]

Twitter

Robert Dow ‏@Robert_Dow 3s

Your bus review failure @scottemerson is starting to really hurt @Team_Quirk ... guess that what mates are for hey? #qldpol ping @Rod4Bris

[ozbob]

Twitter

Robert Dow ‏@Robert_Dow 8m

Brisbane Bus Bombshell: We Told You So!

> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=11047.msg160938#msg160938 ... #qldpol we want network reform and we want it now!

[ozbob]

Media release 8th September 2015



Brisbane: Lord Mayor and BCC still cannot be trusted to run city's buses

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 calls for Deputy Premier Jackie Trad to terminate Brisbane City Council's public transport responsibilities.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"Almost three years ago we called for public transport to be removed from Brisbane City Council. Council had cancelled proposed bus upgrades to 'black hole' areas such as Bulimba, Yeronga, Albany Creek and The Centenary Suburbs. In our opinion, an inadequate bus review was substituted, which failed to fix any of the major problems such as service duplication, wasteful bus-train competition and network complexity - all factors that drove a fares cost explosion."

"Since then patronage has been going one way: down, down, down.

"The excuses are running out. We had been warning constantly that failure to reform the bus network would lead to mass patronage losses, and a fares and subsidy cost explosion.

"Lord Mayor Graham Quirk's bus 'evolution, not revolution' has hands-down failed. Two years of this failing program is more than enough evidence to judge it by. At 4 bus route changes per year, it would take 50 years to review Brisbane's c.a. 200-route bus network. That is just unacceptable.

"Brisbane needs a modern, reformed public transport network like Houston or Auckland. And it doesn't have to cost much more than the current network. If the Mayor of Auckland can hire the ex-head of Brisbane Transport to comprehensively reform Auckland's entire bus network, which is now registering spectacular growth, we can do also, rather than sit here debating how controversial it must be to have buses pull up to a train station and unload interchange passengers."

"Costs are going through the roof, and patronage is going through the floor. We are actually now paying MORE money for LESS passengers."

Bus reforms must now proceed. We detail our proposals here:

Bus reform - our proposal media releases grouped - http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=11099.0
New Bus Network Proposal - http://tiny.cc/newnetwork
Current BCC Bus Network - http://tiny.cc/checkyourbus

"The sooner the Lord Mayor and Brisbane City Council is stripped of transport functions, the sooner genuine reform of rail and bus networks can go ahead, and the sooner we can look forward to abundant and low-cost public transport for all."

Contact:

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

References:

27 Apr 2013: Lord Mayor and BCC can no longer be trusted to run city's buses
http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=9895.0

6 Jan 2015: Brisbane City Council's Bus Network - What Went Wrong?
http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=11175.msg151940

Blame game as Brisbane commuters abandon buses
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/blame-game-as-brisbane-commuters-abandon-buses-20150907-gjh4tf.html

[ozbob]

Couriermail Quest --> Brisbane City Council bus usage down according to new report

BUS figures have plummeted in Brisbane according to a new report released by Brisbane City Council.

According to ALP councillors, Brisbane City Council's Annual Report 2014-2015, to be tabled today, revealed bus passenger numbers have dropped by 2.2 million year on year.

It followed a drop of almost one million last year.ALP lord mayoral hopeful Rod Harding said it was an alarming decline in passengers.

"In 2013-2014 council buses carried 77.8 million passengers. This year that figure has plummeted to 75.6 million," Mr Harding said.

"That's 42,300 less passengers per week catching buses in Brisbane.

"Meanwhile council's Key Corridors report shows traffic congestion is up 3.2 per cent.

"It's no wonder our roads are congested."

Mr Harding said despite the council's claim it had delivered more buses for Brisbane, fleet numbers were down.

"At budget time the Lord Mayor was spruiking the number of new buses he was funding, yet there are 74 less buses in the fleet this year." Mr Harding said.

"You can't expect to carry more passengers with less buses and less services.

"People jumping off buses and into cars is a consequence of Graham Quirk cutting $20 million in public transport services."

"The figures are damning."

[techblitz]

quirk will probably ignore the bus reform part as he will just assume that all the outer regions also lost patronage due to the high fares which he now adknowledges is an issue......as for harding putting the blame on the most recent bus cuts...they were only band-aid cuts...2 million bus trips lost to a handful of routes being scaled back doesnt add up....im not jumping on the anti-bt wagon until i see the patronage figures for surfside,hornibrook,clarks,kangaroo etc.....that will give a true assesement if the patronage has been lost to a bad bus network or higher fares.....i put my money on the latter...

[ozbob]

Brisbane network reform would have seen significant patronage gain, as much more of Brisbane would have access to HF bus routes. Modelling showed a gain of 20 million passenger trips.

Fares are an issue, but poor network design and operating practice is also a major factor.

Regions outside of Brisbane had a half baked reform process rolled out on them.  Little real say, and very compromised because of the failure of the Brisbane network reform process. Compromises and cuts to routes and hours.

The hole just gets bigger for Quirk et al. every day ...

[techblitz]

quirk probably wont even be called in for a "please explain" by trad as its now public that he feels that his 5 mill under budget is the result of fares......the only way quirk can get on the straight and narrow is if his budget patronage targets are increased and/or his expenditure budgets are reduced....and that falls onto the state treasurer/transport minister...
once the lower fares are brought in and BT patronage increases...which it will.....then bus reform will be solely dictated by those annual budgeted patronage targets...dependent on how much they are increased...

[James]

I find it interesting that nobody's raised the point that there wasn't a single fare increase in the 2014-15 financial year. In fact, there was a fare cut in November of 7.5%!
Really it is quite evident that the fall in bus patronage is because the network is in an appalling shape and due to Quirk's most recent cuts to the BCC bus network. The fare price means jack if you can't even catch the bus in the first place due to it running hourly or worse.

EDIT: Stuffed up bolding, fixed now.

[techblitz]

running hourly or worse.

meh.....harden up.......plenty of people still survive on hourlies and dont ditch the route.....its the ones who dont have any service at all which should be taken care of...savings from a reformed BT network can fix this issue...eg: outer non-BT routes finishing too early..
Fares are the major issue james.....take a look at the BT article.....the article was mostly about bus cuts/patronage drops......yet if u have a look at the comments....what are they mostly bringing up? FARES

[SurfRail]

quirk will probably ignore the bus reform part as he will just assume that all the outer regions also lost patronage due to the high fares which he now adknowledges is an issue......as for harding putting the blame on the most recent bus cuts...they were only band-aid cuts...2 million bus trips lost to a handful of routes being scaled back doesnt add up....im not jumping on the anti-bt wagon until i see the patronage figures for surfside,hornibrook,clarks,kangaroo etc.....that will give a true assesement if the patronage has been lost to a bad bus network or higher fares.....i put my money on the latter...

The reduction in bus patronage system-wide for 2014/2015 was around 4 million, yet 6 million tram trips were made.  The fact that BT somehow lost 2m trips in that period while Surfside intentionally lost nearly all its patronage along the LRT corridor indicates that this is more of a BT problem than a generic one. 

The long term trend is that patronage is slowing or down everywhere, but the fact service upgrades on the Gold Coast have bucked the trend would suggest the lack of any upgrades in the last year are not helping. 

BT is still getting 60 new buses a year - at this point, all they are doing is replacing buses which can still legally be on the road for another 5 years (and in theory 10 with life extensions), with no indication any new services are proposed that these new buses can be operated on.

[techblitz]

BT is still getting 60 new buses a year - at this point, all they are doing is replacing buses which can still legally be on the road for another 5 years (and in theory 10 with life extensions), with no indication any new services are proposed that these new buses can be operated on.

BT has "modern fleet sydrome" which i suspect is part of the "overall plan" for them to gain an advantage over any other potential entrants into the market. What it looks like on paper.
Yes the gold coast LR and bus network reform is one of the success stories no doubt.......but i still see plenty of work for surfside/translink.......just like BT they have customer service issues and late arriving buses to the train stations at certain times of the day..and the 700 unreliability is linked right into all of that courtesy of paper ticket purchases/gocard topups......but hey...at least they make the effort to feed rail 

[bcasey]

running hourly or worse.

meh.....harden up.......plenty of people still survive on hourlies and dont ditch the route.....its the ones who dont have any service at all which should be taken care of...savings from a reformed BT network can fix this issue...eg: outer non-BT routes finishing too early..
Fares are the major issue james.....take a look at the BT article.....the article was mostly about bus cuts/patronage drops......yet if u have a look at the comments....what are they mostly bringing up? FARES

Both you and James are correct in some respect. The high fares are part of the problem, and the other problem is the horrible network which doesn't provide any connections, so people can't get anywhere apart from the city within a reasonable time. Sure, some people will still use hourly services, the so-called "captive patrons", although I hate calling them that. That isn't enough to sustain a public transport network, you need to attract people who do have other options, by reducing the cost, as well providing higher frequency services, with better connections. It is also not two extremes either, with "captive riders" on one end and "choice riders" on the other, its a spectrum. Each individual person will have a cutoff point where travelling by car is either cheaper, quicker, more convenient, or otherwise, than going by public transport, and it will be different for each person.

Also, Fare and Bus Network Reform are not isolated from one another, and from what I can see, for either of them to work and be sustainable, you will need both.

I feel like I'm repeating myself, all of us on here know the benefits of bus reform, we just need to keep educating the public and the pollies on this fact.

[#Metro]

Simple discounting will not work - this already has been tried with 9-then waste and the fare reversals at the end of the previous Newman administration. GC achieved large patronage increases in the same high fare environment as BT by reorganising the bus network around LRT.

Brisbane does not have LRT, but it does have BUZ and Heavy Rail. Can reorganise around that.

[James]

meh.....harden up.......plenty of people still survive on hourlies and dont ditch the route.....its the ones who dont have any service at all which should be taken care of...savings from a reformed BT network can fix this issue...eg: outer non-BT routes finishing too early..
Fares are the major issue james.....take a look at the BT article.....the article was mostly about bus cuts/patronage drops......yet if u have a look at the comments....what are they mostly bringing up? FARES

Fares were recently cut by 7.5% in November. Sure, the fares are still too high, but it isn't like the cost of fares is going up like is being claimed.

A bus running less often than every half-hour will only ever attract your 'captive market' users - your grannies, people who can't/don't drive and people who are drinking. Who wants to wait an hour for a bus? Sure, there are issues in non-BT suburbia too, but that is not where we have the issue with the direct service mantra and recent cuts to feeder routes.

The Gold Coast proves that even under high fares, patronage increases can be made if the network is rearranged to operate more efficiently. Likewise, Brisbane proves that patronage falls can occur if the network is rearranged to operate less efficiently (i.e. deter patronage).

[techblitz]

It is also not two extremes either, with "captive riders" on one end and "choice riders" on the other, its a spectrum. Each individual person will have a cutoff point where travelling by car is either cheaper, quicker, more convenient, or otherwise, than going by public transport, and it will be different for each person.

good comment
translink did a "rob peter to pay paul" style review back in 13 eg: cut back/destroy already well patronaised buz routes and brisbane transport currently do the same with their excessive off/counter/intra peak duplication along the main corridors....we need a balance...LDT proposals are a start....by working the network around those already well established buz routes...

@james
yo...there are certain routes which have gained patronage but not frequency....theres a few that spring to mind that have visually picked up at peak and intra-peak...110,100,125,220,227...even the 301 has increased thanks to the pickup in development around bowen hills...all on unchanged frequency....the majority of lost BT patronage can probably be attributed to late buses and this falls back on in-accurate/unrealistic timetabling.....buses are also late due to increased congestion from higher fares...

[SurfRail]

BT has "modern fleet sydrome" which i suspect is part of the "overall plan" for them to gain an advantage over any other potential entrants into the market. What it looks like on paper.

That cannot be right because over 80% of the buses are leased from Treasury and will end up going to whoever is to run buses in Brisbane regardless of whether that is BCC in future.  The remaining buses (basically the gas Scanias) are easily replaceable by the time any such move happens, especially given the ongoing rate of new deliveries.  Likewise the newest 3 bus depots are all owned by QTC, and garaging buses is a relatively simple thing to do if the others are not available (which would make no sense because they would be liabilities on Council's books with no perceptable use).

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

8th September 2015

Commuters Blast BCC Bus Network

Greetings.

Over a hundred comments on the Brisbanetimes website alone.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/blame-game-as-brisbane-commuters-abandon-buses-20150907-gjh4tf.html

A selection of them is below.

Blame is the avoidance of responsibility. Best thing to do is take responsibility and fix the problems.

Failure to recognise the issues and act will hit home at the ballot box, no doubt!

Best wishes
Robert

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

----

"I got onto a bus when my car was being serviced. I asked what the fare was for a ride two stops away;
it was over $4, off peak. I got off the bus and walked in 15 mins. i don't understand how anyone can
afford bus travel."

DrD

"$5.60 cash for two zones! From 1 stop before Southbank to just past Edward street. I haven't caught a
bus since. It's cheaper and easier to buy a takeaway coffee and walk."

Bluey

"The fare structure hasn't changed since the last LNP government was in power. Lord Mayor Quirk and
Council Chair Matic are trying to squib it by saying it is all about the fares. It is partially about
the Newman Governments fare structure but in my mind it is more about the reduction in service routes
and frequency brought about by cutting $20m dollars cut in the previous budget that has had the
greatest impact."

Chas, Forest Lake

"Mr Quirk is blaming the fares. What he fails to realise (or disclose) is that the inefficient bus
network is resulting in higher costs, driving up fares. It's time for bus reform. Improve the
efficiency of the bus network, integrate it PROPERLY with other public transport modes and reduce
costs. THIS is how you reduce the subsidy on public transport! Instead, successive Queensland
governments have placed the burden of reducing the subsidy on commuters by raising fares. It has
failed miserably, with commuters simply switching to cars (as we've seen in this article), resulting
in even higher subsidies (per commuter). Fares will only come down if costs come down. Costs will only
come down with true reform that isn't blocked by a council afraid of losing an election."

Derwan

"You remember incorrectly. It was the State Government that reviewed the network, and ALL councillors
of all stripes kicked up a stink. Quirk apparently outranks Emerson on the internal ladder of
priority. BCC was then allowed to do its own review which did nothing except cut about 10% of all
services and implemented none of the major structural reforms which would have driven increased
patronage, like adding more high-frequency routes to the system with the resources saved from making
the network more efficient. Is there any surprise this is the outcome 2 years later?"

EDI

"The BCC bus timetables are ill-considered and ineffective. What is the point of having buses at the
'interchanges' like Toombul and Chermside scheduled to arrive at the same time or within minutes of
each other? The planning of routes is so poor you often have to get two buses even for a relatively
short trip (i.e. Hamilton to Chermside) and one bus arrives either at the same time or after the
departing bus.

Then you have to wait for the next bus, which will of course always seems to be
scheduled arrive just after the top of the hour, usually about 5 minutes past school/work start time.
So the only option is to leave way earlier that you really need to and get a but the arrives at
work/school much earlier than you need it to. This is inconvenient for adults, but kids are not
allowed on the school premises before a certain time. Then there is the cost."

Much cheaper and easier to take the car."

Simon, Hendra

"Busses are expensive and infrequent, especially to my area of town (centenary). they turn up when they
want, they cost way too much and i've had too many bad experiences on board (such as a driver last
week who threatened me with the police when i banged on the door after he slammed it in my face) i'll
stick to my car where the costs are a little more, but the cost - benefit ratio is much better."

Ben

"The trend away from buses are due to their inefficiency. It is demand that has decreased not supply.
Brisbane metropolitan has a very, very inefficient public transport system which is also why it is so
costly. Buses should not run for 30-40 km from the outer ring suburbs into the CBD. Buses need only to
take people to the local shops and rail hub at frequent intervals. Currently there are 4 bus trips for
every train trip. A properly integrated system should have something along the lines of 3 train to 1
bus trip."

Emerald

References

Blame game as Brisbane commuters abandon buses
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/blame-game-as-brisbane-commuters-abandon-buses-20150907-gjh4tf.html

Brisbane City Council bus usage down according to new report
http://www.couriermail.com.au/questnews/brisbane-city-council-bus-usage-down-according-to-new-report/story-fni9r0hy-1227516652105

[techblitz]

well then i would call it "young fleet" syndrome....they are obviously on a mission to get the average fleet age down...whilst caring little for how long a bus can last...they are motivated by other targets..namely enviromental and dda....these targets are near complete.....once its done then money can go towards bus network upgrades.

[SurfRail]

^ Not a case of "once" complete - the fleet is now:

- 100% air-conditioned
- 100% low-entry
- 100% DDA compliant
- 100% fitted with 2 doors (even though most have the rubbish single-leaf rear door)
- 100% at least Euro IV emissions standard
- 100% fitted with electronic destination displays
- 100% fitted with multiplex gear

and has an average age which I believe is pretty close to 6-7 years.

The only real reason for new buses at present is to replace the Scanias, which is a nice-to-have and not a must.

[red dragin]

Considering what I rode home from school in 20 years ago - the current fleet are absolute limousines in comparison.

Although the old 2 speed auto bus we got from time to time was a novelty (as a car nut anyway) 

[ozbob]

Twitter

Robert Dow ‏@Robert_Dow 1m

Chatting with Emma on @612brisbane Drive after 5pm, on buses fares ..

[James]

@james
yo...there are certain routes which have gained patronage but not frequency....theres a few that spring to mind that have visually picked up at peak and intra-peak...110,100,125,220,227...even the 301 has increased thanks to the pickup in development around bowen hills...all on unchanged frequency....the majority of lost BT patronage can probably be attributed to late buses and this falls back on in-accurate/unrealistic timetabling.....buses are also late due to increased congestion from higher fares...

That's due to population growth. There are even more patronage losses occurring on the rest of the network. Areas like the 100/110/125 and 220/227 are doing well due to new housing developments and general population growth - if you put 100 more people in an area, you'll increase bus patronage. I thought that was obvious. The areas which are going backwards are the more established suburbs with less development and are finding driving to be better than using the current appalling bus network.

You're defending the undefendable - the network is failing. Patronage will grow if you keep the current network as-is eventually thanks to urban renewal like your 301 example... doesn't mean the network is going backwards overall and it doesn't mean the network isn't broken.

[ozbob]

612 ABC Brisbane

>> http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2015/09/are-brisbane-bus-fares-fair-.html

Are Brisbane bus fares fair?

08 September 2015 , 5:40 PM by Gabrielle Lyons

Do you feel like you are paying too much to ride the bus?

How often are you topping up your gocard?

How much do you feel is fair to charge per bus trip? And how much is too much?

===================

Interviews Cr Matic and myself on line.

This has a bit from me on network reform as well as the fare stuff. 

BRING IT ON BOB!!  Sure  ... no worries ... 

My bit starts around 7.50s  >> https://soundcloud.com/612abcbrisbane/are-brisbane-bus-fares-fair

[HappyTrainGuy]

Considering what I rode home from school in 20 years ago - the current fleet are absolute limousines in comparison.

Although the old 2 speed auto bus we got from time to time was a novelty (as a car nut anyway) 

At least we could see out of them back then haha.

[ozbob]

7 News --> Why bus passenger numbers are plummeting

>> https://au.news.yahoo.com/video/watch/29468681/why-bus-passenger-numbers-are-plummeting/#page1

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Brisbane bus passenger numbers plunge due to 'high prices, poor service'

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

9th September 2015

City's Public Transport Will Never Improve While Run By Opposing Sides

Greetings,

Three years ago, this article appeared in the Courier Mail. The current bus patronage
bombshell was entirely predictable. We gave everybody ample warning it was coming.

A dire situation faces the transport minister - rapidly escalating costs and fares,
and plummeting patronage. About 2.2 million passengers were lost from the wider bus network
this year.  On trains, Perth already outperforms Queensland Rail by a 13-million passenger trip margin.

If the Queensland Government does not reclaim control of the bus network from Brisbane City Council,
we will see further patronage destruction. And likely job losses from the bus division. Now is not the time
to be playing fiddles.

Not a good look is it?






Stop the blame game please.  Act to fix our network, fare and network reform needed.

Best wishes,
Robert

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

References:

Brisbane bus passenger numbers plunge due to 'high prices, poor service'
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/brisbane-bus-passenger-numbers-plunge-due-to-high-prices-poor-service/story-fnihsrf2-1227518437010

http://backontrack.org/docs/cm/cm_11apr12_p18.jpg
http://backontrack.org/docs/cm/cm_11apr12_p19.jpg

Sent to all outlets:

8th September 2015

Commuters Blast BCC Bus Network

Greetings.

Over a hundred comments on the Brisbanetimes website alone.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/blame-game-as-brisbane-commuters-abandon-buses-20150907-gjh4tf.html

A selection of them is below.

Blame is the avoidance of responsibility. Best thing to do is take responsibility and fix the problems.

Failure to recognise the issues and act will hit home at the ballot box, no doubt!

Best wishes
Robert

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

----

"I got onto a bus when my car was being serviced. I asked what the fare was for a ride two stops away;
it was over $4, off peak. I got off the bus and walked in 15 mins. i don't understand how anyone can
afford bus travel."

DrD

"$5.60 cash for two zones! From 1 stop before Southbank to just past Edward street. I haven't caught a
bus since. It's cheaper and easier to buy a takeaway coffee and walk."

Bluey

"The fare structure hasn't changed since the last LNP government was in power. Lord Mayor Quirk and
Council Chair Matic are trying to squib it by saying it is all about the fares. It is partially about
the Newman Governments fare structure but in my mind it is more about the reduction in service routes
and frequency brought about by cutting $20m dollars cut in the previous budget that has had the
greatest impact."

Chas, Forest Lake

"Mr Quirk is blaming the fares. What he fails to realise (or disclose) is that the inefficient bus
network is resulting in higher costs, driving up fares. It's time for bus reform. Improve the
efficiency of the bus network, integrate it PROPERLY with other public transport modes and reduce
costs. THIS is how you reduce the subsidy on public transport! Instead, successive Queensland
governments have placed the burden of reducing the subsidy on commuters by raising fares. It has
failed miserably, with commuters simply switching to cars (as we've seen in this article), resulting
in even higher subsidies (per commuter). Fares will only come down if costs come down. Costs will only
come down with true reform that isn't blocked by a council afraid of losing an election."

Derwan

"You remember incorrectly. It was the State Government that reviewed the network, and ALL councillors
of all stripes kicked up a stink. Quirk apparently outranks Emerson on the internal ladder of
priority. BCC was then allowed to do its own review which did nothing except cut about 10% of all
services and implemented none of the major structural reforms which would have driven increased
patronage, like adding more high-frequency routes to the system with the resources saved from making
the network more efficient. Is there any surprise this is the outcome 2 years later?"

EDI

"The BCC bus timetables are ill-considered and ineffective. What is the point of having buses at the
'interchanges' like Toombul and Chermside scheduled to arrive at the same time or within minutes of
each other? The planning of routes is so poor you often have to get two buses even for a relatively
short trip (i.e. Hamilton to Chermside) and one bus arrives either at the same time or after the
departing bus.

Then you have to wait for the next bus, which will of course always seems to be
scheduled arrive just after the top of the hour, usually about 5 minutes past school/work start time.
So the only option is to leave way earlier that you really need to and get a but the arrives at
work/school much earlier than you need it to. This is inconvenient for adults, but kids are not
allowed on the school premises before a certain time. Then there is the cost."

Much cheaper and easier to take the car."

Simon, Hendra

"Busses are expensive and infrequent, especially to my area of town (centenary). they turn up when they
want, they cost way too much and i've had too many bad experiences on board (such as a driver last
week who threatened me with the police when i banged on the door after he slammed it in my face) i'll
stick to my car where the costs are a little more, but the cost - benefit ratio is much better."

Ben

"The trend away from buses are due to their inefficiency. It is demand that has decreased not supply.
Brisbane metropolitan has a very, very inefficient public transport system which is also why it is so
costly. Buses should not run for 30-40 km from the outer ring suburbs into the CBD. Buses need only to
take people to the local shops and rail hub at frequent intervals. Currently there are 4 bus trips for
every train trip. A properly integrated system should have something along the lines of 3 train to 1
bus trip."

Emerald

References

Blame game as Brisbane commuters abandon buses
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/blame-game-as-brisbane-commuters-abandon-buses-20150907-gjh4tf.html

Brisbane City Council bus usage down according to new report
http://www.couriermail.com.au/questnews/brisbane-city-council-bus-usage-down-according-to-new-report/story-fni9r0hy-1227516652105

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 9th September 2015 page 13

Action needed on bus network reform