On the Buses

[HappyTrainGuy]

Many parts of the network in and out of Brisbane becomes a black hole at night.

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Bus racist caused 'bystander effect': expert

[ozbob]

Some buses at Helensvale





Photographs R Dow 24th January 2014

[ozbob]

E585  on 199 duties.  Caught this bus out to West End today ...





Photograph R Dow 28th January 2014

[BrizCommuter]

The Inner Northern Busway has been a basket case at times this week. Approx. 50 passengers left behind at around 4pm today at QUT KG, due to 66 running at half-frequency despite 3rd semester/study courses/international courses running at QUT. Happens every year!

[techblitz]

Yep everyone is back briz

Surprisingly large load on the outbound 9pm 110 this evening
40-45 onboard by annerley junction

6off 3 on chardons corner
4 off moorooka shops
1 on 2 off salisbury station
Rest on thier way to archerfield,acacia,inala

Plenty of new students asking around about the bus routes...

[James]

Well UQ is still dead as ever. I had a non-stop trip from my local 411 stop to Adelaide St stop 22 aboard the my 7:40pm 411 service personalised taxi service. Yes, non-stop. Normally I'm just the only one left after Toowong, but this time, it was non-stop.

412s are also quite empty right now. Come O-week though this will start to change. I can't say I am looking forward to it. I enjoy my personalised home taxi service and being able to get a seat aboard UQ-bound bus services before 11am in the morning.

[techblitz]

was asked on sunday by a new student how to get from brunswick st valley to kelvin grove campus!
he was in luck...the 364 was due in about 10 mins

[BrizCommuter]

Observed a convoy of 370,375, and 379 for the second time this week!

[kazzac]

When driving home from work along OC Rd most days  between  3.30 pm and 4pm I usually spot an inbound 204 followed by a 209 ,a 222 , and a 200, air parcels!and outbound services too, just as many but at that time of the day are sometimes crowded.Some of those inbound services could be cut at that time of the day to provide more services for Wynnum Rd and Bulimba.Waste!!

[HappyTrainGuy]

Observed a convoy of 370,375, and 379 for the second time this week!

Ah the good ol 37th battalion. Tis a good unit of men and women.


Usually links up with the 33rd and 34th battalion to help battle it out Kedron to Chermside.

[James]

When driving home from work along OC Rd most days  between  3.30 pm and 4pm I usually spot an inbound 204 followed by a 209 ,a 222 , and a 200, air parcels!and outbound services too, just as many but at that time of the day are sometimes crowded.Some of those inbound services could be cut at that time of the day to provide more services for Wynnum Rd and Bulimba.Waste!!

I have written multiple times that not all P-rocket peak routes are as well utilised as they should be, especially in the Carindale corridor.

I can accept 209 air parcels. They'd exist thanks to dead-running anyway. What I can't accept, however, is why the 222 exists. It has to be the epitome of stupid. 204 is only marginally better.

And on that note, just spotted a completely empty inbound 460 at Toowong!

[#Metro]

When driving home from work along OC Rd most days  between  3.30 pm and 4pm I usually spot an inbound 204 followed by a 209 ,a 222 , and a 200, air parcels!and outbound services too, just as many but at that time of the day are sometimes crowded.Some of those inbound services could be cut at that time of the day to provide more services for Wynnum Rd and Bulimba.Waste!!

Careful inspection of our in-house Brisbane City Council Hi-Waste Bus Model (BCC-HWBN) shows clearly that Old Cleveland Road is a Hi-Waste Corridor that is just BURNING CASH left right and centre. I suspect MILLIONS of dollars are sacrificed to waste an inefficiency in this way.

In the OFF peak, 16 buses per hour run along this corridor. That's a bus every 3.75 minutes.. And that is before I have got to placed where there is bus 203 or 250 stopping as well. There is also an explosion of bus stops absolutely everywhere along this corridor as well, which is also inefficient.

It also has to do with the interaction with the busway. If the busway were rail, only one or two bus routes (the second one being the 250 acting as an all day rocket to Buranda) would be required.

You are right in saying that money wasted this way is money not spent on Bulimba, Yeronga, Albany Creek, Wynnum Road and so forth.

[HappyTrainGuy]

My bus will be coming along soon...



Any minute now.... Any minute now...

*stretches* Arrrrrrrrr---hhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Any minute now.

*Looks at watch* Still just a few minutes away. I wonder how many buses are going along Gympie Road??

AAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR---HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. *Looks at watch*

My supervisor isn't going to be happy that I'm going to be a little late. Where is this damn bus? It has to be coming any minute now?

[James]

My bus will be coming along soon...



Any minute now.... Any minute now...

*stretches* Arrrrrrrrr---hhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Any minute now.

*Looks at watch* Still just a few minutes away. I wonder how many buses are going along Gympie Road??

AAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR---HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. *Looks at watch*

My supervisor isn't going to be happy that I'm going to be a little late. Where is this damn bus? It has to be coming any minute now?

Meanwhile, at Wishart Outlook...


(Apply as necessary for my own personal home taxi service, the 411 or my home rocket service, the 432 ).

[ozbob]

Boggo Road bus station










Woolloongabba bus station









Photographs R Dow 6th February 2014

[HappyTrainGuy]

Saw Optimus today. Doing a 338 run. What a waste. More than likely there would have been a overcrowded non dda Volvo doing a 333/345 run.

[minbrisbane]

outbound 111 W1418 control unit failure, free ride.

[STB]

I caught the 8:05am 369 yesterday from Mitchelton to Eagle Junction railway station while out and about.  It had a full standing load with 90% of the patronage being school kids going from Mitchelton and Stafford Road to Kedron Park High School.

08:07 AM    Mitchelton Rail Station    08:43 AM    Eagle Junction Station - 28/1

Departed 2mins late, arrived 7mins late.

[techblitz]

115 inbound 10.40
Around 30 pax onboard by archerfield 2pickups archerfield...3 pickups @ salisbury station...onwards!

[ozbob]

Roma St and UQ Lakes











Photographs R Dow 13th February 2014

[BrizCommuter]

In the last 2 weeks (8 commutes), BrizCommuter has observed the 370/375/379 convoy on three occasions!

[HappyTrainGuy]

In the last 2 weeks (8 commutes), BrizCommuter has observed the 370/375/379 convoy on three occasions!

Mate, its nothing new. James and I have harped on about this god knows how many times. It's not just limited to those 3 routes. In reality its 330/331/332/333/334/335/340/341/346/353/360/361/364/370/375/379.... I think that's all.

They all in some shape or fashion duplicate each other at various points. 334/335/346/353/360/361/364/370/375/379 all bunch up and follow each other through the valley.












This continues along Gympie Road in the 370/375/379 convoy with members from other units such as the 334. The 330/333/340 can form a convoy along the busway.




Inbound the 330/333/340/370 all bunches up and follows each other in some fashion.





During peak hour the rockets also jump onto both of these convoys. They then duplicate their full time duty route further out ie 330/331 can be seen together Chermside-Bracken Ridge and 340/341 can be seen following each other Chermside West-Carseldine. Its why I'm so pro merging, extending and deletion of routes in that area. A large majority of it has been created by the lack of modifying routes and increasing services on routes ie buzification of the 330/340. The new busway and the entry/exit points on the inner city busway/RBWH-Valley corridor has also made this worse.




375 should have been merged into other routes and deleted as soon as the 369 route came along.

[techblitz]

Just witnessed a person switching platofrms via the mater hill busway with a 222 pulling out...busdriver only just saw him in time.

[James]

On the note of bus waste and duplication, James went out to the city this Sunday morning for a little bit, and while waiting at Adelaide Street Stop 40 for the bus home, a girl asked if the 471 left from this stop (a bit of a dumb question - its on the timetable). Going by the fact that this group of travellers were on both sides of Adelaide St, it quite clearly says that the current stop system has some legibility issues!

Anyway, these three girls then asked me how to get out to Lone Pine and UQ respectively from Mt Coot-tha. They were quite shocked to find out that:
- There is no way to get to UQ from Mt Coot-tha without going all the way into the CBD and then all the way out to UQ
- That the 445 (shown on the map) does not operate on Sundays!
- That every bus runs hourly, meaning these girls faced a transfer penalty of up to an hour
- That there is a frequent bus going to UQ called the 412, yet they can't see it anywhere on Adelaide St

By what I can gather, they had just been on a fruitless expedition to QSBS to look at catching the 430 out to Lone Pine, but had instead gone to Adelaide St. By the time the girls realised how awful bus transit was in Brisbane, James' bus home had turned up, and so I have to end my tale there. Not a good first impression for these girls who had arrived here yesterday (from America, judging by their accents).

[SurfRail]

GCL would help if it only ran on Sundays.

[James]

GCL would help if it only ran on Sundays.

The fact it is half-hourly on weekdays and does some pretty daft things in the whole Toowong/Bardon area doesn't do much in the first place on weekdays anyway. The 598 stop is in a horrible location for access to Toowong as well (especially the 412).

In fact, on a weekday JP recommends going to Park Road (Milton) via 471 then out via 411/412. Only recommends using the GCL if going via Indooroopilly (a bad idea given the 428 only runs hourly on Sundays).

[HappyTrainGuy]

You know its a fantastic network when you see outbound 370, 333 and 340 all proceeding in a convoy from the innercity busway out onto Lutyche Road. Also spotted a citybound 353 and 375 convoy

[James]

You know its a fantastic network when you see outbound 370, 333 and 340 all proceeding in a convoy from the innercity busway out onto Lutyche Road. Also spotted a citybound 354 and 375 convoy

I assume you mean the 334, not the 354?

The 354 is that horrible cross-town 'via everywhere' route which does so much zig-zagging that means that in some cases, you are better off walking to your destination than catching the bus, even if the bus drives right past you!

I went for a ride on it Chermside - Mitchelton months ago now, the route carries low patronage in the first section (PCH doesn't do anything for it, though) and carries 100% air in the second section.

[HappyTrainGuy]

Sorry, 353. Pretty sure it was a 353 but then again it was a quick side on glimpse while waiting for the traffic to start moving so it could have been a 334. The 375 was the new series of buses while the possible 353 was the standard bus you see on the northside. They were waiting at the busway exit to head into the valley.

[achiruel]

Took a 139 from Altandi to UQ Lakes yesterday.  Maximum 4 pax for the trip (may have been more before I got on, but seems unlikely).

Why oh why do they run these things during University holidays? Surely the 109/29 is sufficient for such times?

(On another note, the signage from Altandi to Mains Rd buses could be better)

[James]

Took a 139 from Altandi to UQ Lakes yesterday.  Maximum 4 pax for the trip (may have been more before I got on, but seems unlikely).

Why oh why do they run these things during University holidays? Surely the 109/29 is sufficient for such times?

(On another note, the signage from Altandi to Mains Rd buses could be better)

I agree - the 139 shouldn't operate outside University semesters full stop - a frequent running 169 is more than enough. 29 doesn't really help the 139 at all, but it should stop running outside Uni semesters as well. But 66/169 would be enough. I think this approach also needs to be taken on weekends. I think a 4bph 169 is far better than the 2bph 169/1bph 209 thing we have now. Pax from Carindale can just change at Buranda.

University demand is not as peaky as commuter demand, but is very much semester-driven. Alas, they're already operating buses like it is Uni semester now - really don't understand how it is justified though.

[HappyTrainGuy]

You know what f**king sucks? Being on a 333 at RBWH and seeing a 370 that's scheduled to stop at a bus stop every 200m along just in front and then rocking up to the Chermside interchange where it's ALREADY PARKED. And no body that got on bought a paper ticket. Buses along the busway are faster my ass. F*** this network sucks.

Also when I left Chermside I observed standing loads on the 335 and a couple empty seats on a 340 on service out of Chermside. A queue of buses outside the Aspley interchange and okay but not great loads on a running late 338.

[BrizCommuter]

Inner Northern Busway is a basket case this week due to high demand at QUT, but 66 running at half frequency. Every pm peak journey (around 4pm) this week has seen full inbound buses. Today, the 66s dwell time at QUT was in excess of 5 minutes - time for multi-door loading!

[James]

Inner Northern Busway is a basket case this week due to high demand at QUT, but 66 running at half frequency. Every pm peak journey (around 4pm) this week has seen full inbound buses. Today, the 66s dwell time at QUT was in excess of 5 minutes - time for multi-door loading!

66s are running on University semester timetables (5 minute frequency). I know, I caught a semester-only 66 service from Mater Hill to UQ Lakes, and a 402 (semester-only service) on Monday night.

You know what f**king sucks? Being on a 333 at RBWH and seeing a 370 that's scheduled to stop at a bus stop every 200m along just in front and then rocking up to the Chermside interchange where it's ALREADY PARKED. And no body that got on bought a paper ticket. Buses along the busway are faster my ass. F*** this network sucks.

This is what happens when you build busways with the middle missing.

Give me Brisbane any day!

[James]

On board the 11:40am I/B 411. 26 pax on board just before Toowong, 8 getting off there (18 pax continuing to CBD). Who said nobody uses the bus on Sunday?

[techblitz]

275 5.15pm....bus about half full leaving creek st stop and then about 15-20 hop on @ bottom of anne st.Well used route!

@ buranda noted: chockas 573 plenty of standees and then onboard a 161 with about 30pax onboard

Edit161:
7 pax hopped on at garden city with..only 3 hopping off plus 1 on@ griffith uni.

[nathandavid88]

Strangely enough, the route 560 (6am to Loganholme/7am to Browns Plains round trip) so far this week has been one of LCBS's artics, usually reserved for the Loganholme-City routes.  I think that amount of capacity is a bit of overkill for the 560...

[James]

Uni semester bus madness has commenced!

Was at UQ Chancellors Place today, and observed the following:
- 2:05pm 428 left early due to completely filling with pax
- 2:10pm 432 left 5 minutes late (due to it taking so long to board passengers) and completely full
- 2:15pm 428 left on-time, but full to the back with standees

Talked to a few first years on the bus, who I suspect were wondering why I was muttering to myself. Told them to make sure to leave extra time to get to Uni, and explained that full bus madness always happens at this time of year. To make matters worse, pax were still being left behind after these services went through.

[techblitz]

^indeed...wondering if there are more students enrolled in unis this year than last....would bode well for the bus network if there is....
The 210 surprised me this evening...620pmish.....all seats taken and then lots of standees after the gabba. Seems there are a lot of late finishers around the seven hills/norman park/camp hill areas.