Gold Coast bus

[SurfRail]

I suspect there's only so much you can deliver with ongoing labour availability issues even if you have funding.  721, 722 and 726 were absolutely the right priority to do first.

[timh]

Unrelated, but can we talk about why the hell there is no bus stop at all at the Carrara sports precinct? Seriously, there's stops on Nerang Broadbeach Road 1.5km in either direction, but nothing at the precinct itself!

I get that at event days it would be pointless, but for workers, people using the community sports facilities during the day, it's really quite limiting that you can't catch a bus that stops directly outside!

I had to walk 1.5km to the closest stop, just to travel one stop to Nerang station. Seems pretty dumb imo

[SurfRail]

There are plenty of issues like this all over the shop.  One of my personal irritants remains no stops on Bermuda Street anywhere south of Hooker Boulevard for Route 747, including at the Q Centre.

Other parts of the city have bus stops as closely positioned as some of the inner Brisbane corridors (eg along Currumburra Road in places).

[ozbob]

Gold Coast Bulletin --> A 22-year-old Hollywell woman was arrested after assaulting a 51-year-old Pimpama man on a bus on the Gold Coast $

A woman has been arrested after allegedly spitting on and punching a bus driver on the Gold Coast.

Gold Coast police were called The Esplanade in Paradise Point around 3pm on Friday after a 22-year-old Hollywell woman allegedly assaulted multiple people.

Police allege the woman refused to pay her bus fee which resulted in her spitting on the driver who was a 51-year-old Pimpama man.

It was alleged she then punched him in the face and arms.

An 85-year-old woman tried to help and intervene, however she was then allegedly assaulted by the 22-year-old.

Police said the Pimpama man ended up taking the woman off the bus and other passengers held her down until police arrived. ...

[ozbob]

Queensland Parliament  Questions on Notice

https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/tableOffice/questionsAnswers/2023/6-2023.pdf

MR M HART ASKED MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND MAIN ROADS (HON M BAILEY)

QUESTION:

With reference to the Gold Coast No. 777 bus route—

Will the Minister provide (in table format) passengers numbers including figures for each stop and
how many pax per stop for the calendar year of 2022?

ANSWER:
I thank the Member for Burleigh for the question.

The below table shows passenger boardings (patronage) at each stop location along the Gold
Coast 777 bus route for the 2022 calendar year.



Route 777 passenger numbers, like the rest of the public transport network, were impacted by
the Covid-19 pandemic in 2022. However, patronage has recovered strongly—being at 99 per
cent at the end of 2022, when compared against the pre-Covid-19 period. As the pandemic draws
to a close, trips will continue to recover and increase over time.
That is why the Palaszczuk Government continues to invest in important public transport projects
such as Cross River Rail and Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3.

[SurfRail]

He's no doubt trying to make some sort of argument the tram isn't necessary.

Of course every single stop on the route except the airport itself is also served by either Route 700 + 765, or Route 700 alone, and they carry most of the patronage in the corridor.  The 777 is primarily used for travel between the airport and areas Broadbeach and north since that's where most of the accommodation is.

Also the 777 didn't even operate for a huge chunk of the last few years.

[ozbob]

Gold Coast bus has a lot of service cancellations today due to driver shortages, Saturday 1st April 2023

> https://railbot.info/forum/index.php?msg=68189

[ozbob]

Question on Notice
No. 140
Asked on 14 March 2023
MR M CRANDON ASKED MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND MAIN ROADS (HON M BAILEY)

QUESTION:

With reference to the 721, 722, 728 and 729 bus services, servicing the Northern Gold Coast—
Will the Minister advise the number of times each of these bus services have been cancelled in
each calendar year from 2019 to 2022 and 2023 year to date (reported separately in table format,
by individual bus service, per year up to and including the most recent week ending on Saturday
11 March 2023)?

ANSWER > https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/tableOffice/questionsAnswers/2023/140-2023.pdf




 

[RowBro]

 

[ozbob]

Shocker, 1 in 16 chance your bus is not going to turn up!

Recent reported bus service disruptions > https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=15050.0

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1646881242774904834

[ozbob]

Gold Coast Bulletin --> Gold Coast bus driver shortages: State government's surprise solution $

The state government is investigating changes to working visas to plug holes in their bus driver rosters.

Services across the Gold Coast's north have repeatedly been cancelled or curtailed in the past year because of staff shortages.

With the labour market remaining tight across Queensland and a growing population, the state government is now moving to find a solution.

Transport Minister Mark Bailey said the city's northern suburbs continued to face a driver shortage, which had led to service disruptions. ...

Prioritising working visas for bus drivers was discussed during a meeting with Translink July 2022, has the Minister finally caught the bus?   

[ozbob]

https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Work-of-the-Assembly/Petitions/Petition-Details?id=3891

Queensland Parliament E-Petition

BUS SERVICES – MAUDSLAND

TO: The Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland
Queensland residents draws to the attention of the House the lack of public transport options for residents who reside in Maudsland.

Currently, there is no public transport options for residents living in the estates off Maudsland Road, Maudsland.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to do all within its power to provide bus services in this area.

====

Maudsland is a rural-residential locality in the north of the City of Gold Coast,

[achiruel]

No thanks, we have bigger fish to fry than to provide bus services to sparsely-populated suburbs. Let's try getting existing services working at 99% for a start!

[SurfRail]

The only part of that area probably deserving of it is the area around Riverstone Crossing which could be served by expanding the ODT footprint slightly.  The rest - nope.

[ozbob]

It is already a shower of sh%t ...

This doesn't help one little bit.

https://twitter.com/Translink_QLD/status/1651467116607082497

[ozbob]

https://translink.com.au/updates/284661

Surfside Gold Coast industrial action disruptions

Last reviewed: Thursday 27 Apr 2023 at 3.01pm

We have been made aware of industrial action between Gold Coast bus drivers and their employer, Surfside Gold Coast - Kinetic.

Between 12:15pm and 6:15pm on Friday 28 April, this action may result in cancelled buses and disruptions to Gold Coast bus and on demand services.

We are working with Kinetic to prioritise school services, but they may also be affected. Please contact Surfside Gold Coast - Kinetic for more information on how specific school services will be impacted.

Trains and trams will continue to operate as normal. Use the advanced search options in journey planner to filter out buses from your search results.

Please allow extra travel time.

[ozbob]

https://www.surfside.com.au/surfside-news/serviceupdate28apr

[ozbob]

Queensland Parliament E-Petition

https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Work-of-the-Assembly/Petitions/Petition-Details?id=3873

ADDITIONAL BUS SERVICES BETWEEN BEENLEIGH RAILWAY STATION AND ORMEAU RAILWAY STATION

TO: The Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland
Queensland residents draws to the attention of the House, the urgent need to upgrade the bus services between Beenleigh Railway Station and Ormeau Railway Station, which includes services throughout the Jacobs Ridge area (the 728 service) and Ormeau Hills area (the 729 service). The funding was included in the June 2022 Queensland State Budget, yet the services have not been upgraded.

Both before and since other services (the 721 and 722 services between Ormeau and Coomera Train Stations), were upgraded on the 13th of February 2023, both the 728 and 729 services have had bus services cancelled at short notice or bus stops missed on the route.

The funding was made available in the 2022 Queensland State Budget, for these services, and the people of the Northern Gold Coast have been patient enough. Now is the time for the State Government to act, even if it means contracting another local bus service operator, to provide these urgently needed service upgrades.

Your petitioners therefore request the House to do all in its power to ensure the Department of Transport and Main Roads assure that the upgrade of the 728 and 729 bus services between Beenleigh Railway Station and Ormeau Railway Station, are delivered, as a matter of urgency.

====

This is happening across all bus jurisdictions, the general constant service cancellations as not enough drivers. The Gold Coast bus network is in tatters.

See > https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=15050.0

Responded By: Hon Mark Bailey MP on 8/6/2023

https://apps.parliament.qld.gov.au/E-Petitions/Home/DownloadResponse/09819259-15b9-4f0b-9d0c-49e0d7e07061

[ozbob]

Queensland Parliament E-Petition

https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Work-of-the-Assembly/Petitions/Petition-Details?id=3874

JACOBS WELL BUS SERVICES

TO: The Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland
Queensland residents draws to the attention of the House, the urgent need to provide a regular daily bus service for the residents of Jacobs Well area. The funding was included in the June 2022 Queensland State Budget, yet the service has not yet been provided.

Jacobs Well is an important hub within the Northern Gold Coast and is adjacent to the region identified as the area that will accommodate the largest proportion of the sub regions planned greenfield growth with Jacobs Well undergoing significant population growth. As such, Jacobs Well and the cane lands need to be supported by appropriate transport infrastructure.

The 721 and 722 services between Ormeau and Coomera Train Stations, were upgraded on the 13th of February 2023 but, once again, Jacobs Well and the cane lands were left without a service of any sort.

Now is the time for the State Government to act, even if it means contracting another local bus service operator, to provide these urgently needed service upgrades.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to do all in its power to ensure the Department of Transport and Main Roads work to assure that a regular daily bus service is provided, to enable people to connect to the transport hub of Ormeau Train Station and nearby Pimpama shopping precinct is delivered, as a matter of urgency.

Responded By: Hon Mark Bailey MP on 8/6/2023

> https://apps.parliament.qld.gov.au/E-Petitions/Home/DownloadResponse/c4ffaa07-142d-4291-9c65-783d80f537ac

[achiruel]

I still don't think Jacobs Well and the canelands area generally has enough demand for a regular bus service. A DRT service would be more appropriate. Although it'll probably end up being a perpetual trial, like the Logan DRT.

[SurfRail]

I understand there is a Jacobs Well service coming but it won't exactly be a BUZ route.

[LRV 018]

https://translink.com.au/updates/283691

Southern Gold Coast bus service improvements

From Monday 19 June, bus service improvements are coming to the southern Gold Coast.

We're adding more than 500 trips across seven routes; making services more frequent and improving your travel options with earlier and later trips each day.

If you live between Tweed Heads and Robina you'll notice buses running more often and with more reliable timetables.

Well this is a pleasant surprise!

Of note:

• 763 & 766 — every 30 min on weekdays with better span of hours.
• 767 & 768 — better span of hours.
• 760 & 765 — more reliable timetables.

[ozbob]

^ thanks.  Good to know.

[SurfRail]

Excellent.

[SurfRail]

It appears there are 2 other packages of changes coming next week:

1. The biggest is 2 new Coomera / Pimpama area services, which appear to be Stage 2 of the upgrades for this neck of the woods.  I understand Stage 3 is meant to look at the whole region generally and might involve things like a Jacobs Well service, filling in more coverage gaps and upgrading other existing services to align with what has been delivered for Stage 1 (routes 721, 722 and 726). 

Trial basis like the Stage 1 improvements but nearly every previous GCCC investment like this dating back to 2005 ended up being handed off to TransLink to fund and run permanently.  (I believe the only one that didn't end up this way was the "Yourbus" service in Pacific Pines, which is basically back again in the form of the DRT service now operating.)

https://translink.com.au/updates/310606

2. Timetable adjustments for some other routes - TX7 and 727 to add some more fat to the timetables, and 705 to remove the 10 minute headway period so it now just runs every 15 minutes from first to last.  Obviously the latter helps pay for the Coomera and Elanora area improvements.  This is the sort of rational planning that gets implemented in Perth, and is what we need to see in other parts of SEQ - including for the big blob in the middle (cough cough).

https://translink.com.au/updates/280101

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Translink_QLD/status/1678574159826407424

[SurfRail]

I don't know where Pimpana is.

[achiruel]

After travelling around the Gold Coast a little this afternoon, two things became abundantly clear:

• The light rail can't come soon enough. I waited between 22-34 minutes for a 700 (I.e., 22 minutes was the shortest wait). Not good for a bus that's timetabled every 10-15 minutes.
• Bus shelters are absolutely useless at protecting passengers from rain that's even slightly off vertical. Pretty sure that's not unique to the Gold Coast, though.

[ozbob]

Gold Coast Bulletin --> Gold Coast's busiest bus routes revealed $

A northern Gold Coast bus route is only marginally behind the Broadbeach to airport run as the second busiest in the city.

But while there are plans to replace the 777 airport bus with light rail, not so much as a bus lane is envisioned to aid the heavily patronised TX7 bus traffic in the north. ...

[SurfRail]

Those figures make zero sense.  Maybe they've found the busiest destination/origin pairs and misinterpreted that.

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Gold Coast traffic: Nine injured as bus, jeep collide head-on at Labrador $

Eight people were injured when a bus and car collided head-on on a busy Gold Coast road on Tuesday night.

The crash happened about 7pm on Brisbane Rd, Labrador.

Witnesses told The Courier-Mail they saw one car driving on the wrong side of the road out of control.

Nearby CCTV cameras caught the red Jeep travelling at speed westbound in the eastbound lane on Brisbane Rd near Greencross Vets.

The Surfside bus was carrying about 40 people, six of whom required assessment by paramedics.

One of the bus passengers, a 46-year-old woman, was taken to Gold Coast University Hospital with pelvic and leg injuries, while two males from the car, aged 25 and 21, were transported with pelvic and back pain. ...

The scene of the crash on Brisbane Rd, Labrador. Picture: Kathleen Skene

[ozbob]

Queensland Parliament E-Petition

https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Work-of-the-Assembly/Petitions/Petition-Details?id=4056

ADDITIONAL BUS SERVICES BETWEEN BEENLEIGH RAILWAY STATION AND ORMEAU RAILWAY STATION

TO: The Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland

Queensland residents draws to the attention of the House, the urgent need to upgrade bus services between Beenleigh Railway Station and Ormeau Railway Station, including services throughout the Jacobs Ridge area and Ormeau Hills area. Funding was included in the June 2022 Queensland State Budget, yet the services have not been upgraded. Also the needed additional bus routes for the fast-growing northern Gold Coast, which were also included in the June 2022 budget, are not yet delivered.

Both before and since other services were upgraded on the 13th of February 2023, both the 728 and 729 services have had bus services cancelled at short notice. As well, the new bus services (the 720 and the 724) are also reported to have had bus services cancelled.

The funding was made available in the 2022 Queensland State Budget, for these services, and the people of the Northern Gold Coast have been patient enough. Now is the time for the State Government to act to provide these urgently needed service upgrades and ensure that services are not cancelled at short notice, causing residents who rely on these services to miss medical and other appointments or be late for work and school children left behind.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to do all in its power to ensure the Department of Transport and Main Roads implement the upgrade of the 728 and 729 bus services between Beenleigh Railway Station and Ormeau Railway Station and new services, are delivered, as a matter of urgency.

[SurfRail]

Can't do anything if the drivers don't exist and fleet can't be procured.  I understand they are still only barely keeping on top of these things.

[ozbob]

Queensland Parliament E-Petition

https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Work-of-the-Assembly/Petitions/Petition-Details?id=4062

JACOBS WELL BUS SERVICES

TO: The Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland

Queensland residents draws to the attention of the House, the urgent need to provide a regular daily bus service for the residents of Jacobs Well area. The funding was included in the June 2022 Queensland State Budget; however, the bus service has not yet been provided.

Jacobs Well is an important hub within the Northern Gold Coast and is adjacent to the region identified as the area that will accommodate the largest proportion of the sub regions planned greenfield growth with Jacobs Well undergoing significant population growth. As such, Jacobs Well and the cane lands need to be supported by appropriate transport infrastructure.

The 721 and 722 bus services between Ormeau and Coomera Train Stations, were upgraded on the 13th of February 2023 but, once again, Jacobs Well and the cane lands were left without a service of any sort.

Now is the time for the State Government to act to provide these urgently needed bus service upgrades.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to do all in its power to ensure the Department of Transport and Main Roads work to assure that a regular daily bus service is provided, to enable people to connect to the transport hub of Ormeau Train Station and nearby Pimpama shopping precinct is delivered, as a matter of urgency.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/9NewsQueensland/status/1788711152664424668?t=K9UenIvdtwqeadqaF3FKOw&s=19

[ozbob]

Queensland Parliament

https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/tableOffice/questionsAnswers/2024/462-2024.pdf

Question on Notice
No. 462
Asked on 18 April 2024

MR M BOOTHMAN ASKED MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND MAIN ROADS AND MINISTER
FOR DIGITAL SERVICES (HON B MELLISH)

QUESTION:
Will the Minister advise the passenger patronage numbers, in table format, for all Gold Coast
TransLink Bus Services since 2020 (reported separately by month and route including on demand
services by individual bus)?

ANSWER:

I thank the Member for Theodore for the question.

Given the level of detail and volume of the information requested, I am advised by the Department
of Transport and Main Roads that the data requested will take a significant amount of time to
collate, diverting much needed resources of the agency from their core business. Publicly
available patronage data for Translink contracted bus services can be found on the Translink
Dashboard website at: https://translink.com.au/about-translink/reports-and-publications/performance

[ozbob]

^
> https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=15352.0

[SurfRail]

^ Monthly figures aren't that useful in my view.  Comparing April to May to June figures you notionally get a 3.3% pickup for May and a 3.3% downturn solely due to the number of days in each "period".  There are some limited insights (eg February is usually busiest even though shortest) but I think the year on year figures are more relevant, especially when we have a series now that goes back for a decade.

One thing we need to ask for later this year when the next annual figures become available is the annual patronage for the on-demand services for Nerang and Helensvale from the time those commenced.  Those are both go card ticketed and should be available.  Should also be asking for any other on-demand services elsewhere if the information exists (eg Tamborine, Ipswich, Logan etc).

[ozbob]

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1795845830152499540