On the Buses

[James]

On board 765 which leaves The Pines at approx. 1pm. Bad trip so far. Service ran 10 minutes late to Varsity Lakes, and then the bus driver missed the turnoff. Any pax wanting rail connections missed them.

Now at Robina, and can confirm that the 761/765 just go to the station to layover. Most useless changes ever.

[BrizCommuter]

10 min gap (inbound) at around 4pm at RCH Herston today. 330 filled up to capacity at QUT leaving loads of passengers behind.

[aldonius]

Took a mini safari today - the 234 from Woolloongabba, leaving just before 1pm.

We picked up a couple of passengers at each stop to Baildon St (under the Bridge). Most appeared to be pensioners.

Then, the safari really got into swing. The bus driver took the 'Gabba 234' route rather than the 'City 234' route. After some outcry we proceeded south along River Tce then left at Leopard St onto Main St and over the Bridge etc.

I got off at Central; most passengers were still on. Presumably getting off at Edward St.

[techblitz]

Just did an absolute perfect crosstown connection from toombul shopping centre to hemmant station.

Leave toombul 5.25pm
Arr hemmant station 5.50
25 mins..

Walked off bus 599 at murrarie..1 minute wait until cleveland train arrives

If only other connections were as good

[ozbob]

Mrs Ozbob has headed off an adventure to Sunnybank via the 140 today.  She has not done much route bus travel but a lot of bus replacement travel.
Be interesting what she thinks ..

[ozbob]

Mrs Ozbob has headed off an adventure to Sunnybank via the 140 today.  She has not done much route bus travel but a lot of bus replacement travel.
Be interesting what she thinks ..

Mrs Ozbob said she was happy with the bus to and from Sunnybank.  Full both ways.

[ozbob]

Adelaide St ...



Photograph R Dow 9th May 2014

[aldonius]

Apparently there's now a loudspeaker loop at Boggo Road P6 telling people not to queue now.

This will be interesting.

[ozbob]

Apparently there's now a loudspeaker loop at Boggo Road P6 telling people not to queue now.

This will be interesting.

Indeed it will be interesting.  Has the Queenslander factor been factored in?  Time will tell .... 

[aldonius]

I went through just before; if it was on it wasn't having much of an effect.

[James]

We always whinge about how bus services don't turn up, but yesterday morning I had an unscheduled bus service (a 427) turn up. First service wasn't due until 12pm, but for some reason one turned up at 9:14am and left immediately after, with me the sole passenger on board. It wasn't even letting any passengers on. Shared it with TransLink, they appear to have taken my semi-sarcastic post seriously.

I have seen it all now. Perhaps I am going mad...

[Fattious]

161 Paris Hilton rocket is a B12 with around 30 onboard at Buranda.

[#Metro]

161 Paris Hilton rocket is a B12 with around 30 onboard at Buranda.

Yes, I am throwing a cocktail party tonight

x
Paris

[ozbob]

161 Paris Hilton rocket is a B12 with around 30 onboard at Buranda.

Yes, I am throwing a cocktail party tonight

x
Paris

[techblitz]

161 Paris Hilton rocket is a B12 with around 30 onboard at Buranda.

gets better loads pm peak....up to 50 passengers..if you factor in the pm shoppers which board at garden city.

Really sucks how the 161 carries nothing but air isnt it

[James]

gets better loads pm peak....up to 50 passengers..if you factor in the pm shoppers which board at garden city.

Really sucks how the 161 carries nothing but air isnt it

I think 50 would be an extreme case. As I mentioned when I went on my own trip on the 161, the main trip generator appears to be Brisbane Holiday Village - about half of the 161's pax get off at this stop. And it stands to reason - a lot of people living here have just arrived in Brisbane/only staying for a little while and likely have no car. However, that is no reason to have the bus run all the way to the CBD - bearing in mind the service will then have to run all the way back to Holmead Rd empty (huge out-of-service running costs!).

[#Metro]

We have to look at the counterfactual. What would have happened if the 161 had been feederised?

Remember, 161 ran express to QSBS prior to the BCC bus touch up. Those passengers are from existing busway services, and if 161 were feederised, those pax would be back on the 160, 150 and 111. People need to look at the UNSEEN.

The same goes for route P88. Where are those pax now? Back on the 444 etc I would suggest.

There is no case for 161 to continue to the Brisbane CBD under any circumstances for any reason. During peak hour heaps of rockets leave Garden City and with 50% air buses being an issue, there should be plenty of space. All services should be terminated at Garden City and frequency boosted to half hourly all day. Counter-intuitively, this would provide a much faster journey time by introducing a connection because waiting time at the bus stop would be cut dramatically.

[ozbob]

We always whinge about how bus services don't turn up, but yesterday morning I had an unscheduled bus service (a 427) turn up. First service wasn't due until 12pm, but for some reason one turned up at 9:14am and left immediately after, with me the sole passenger on board. It wasn't even letting any passengers on. Shared it with TransLink, they appear to have taken my semi-sarcastic post seriously.

I have seen it all now. Perhaps I am going mad...

[techblitz]

Present for LD

Take a guess what bus route petition they are signing 


they reviewd the route Effective from Monday 14 October 2013
weekend only truncation at garden city was about as far as they were prepared to go

[James]

Present for LD

Take a guess what bus route petition they are signing 


they reviewd the route Effective from Monday 14 October 2013
weekend only truncation at garden city was about as far as they were prepared to go

The route was already truncated at Garden City on weekends. The only service 'removal' which occurred was of the 161 'loop' (NB: it does a loop around the estate and returns to the CBD, it does not terminate in Wishart) departing Garden City at 6pm, which is after the shops close, so naturally was probably a very poorly performing service.

Re-arranging the deck chairs on the titanic...

[techblitz]

Lol ok nitpicker...let me rephrase......weekend truncation at garden city is as far as they (BT) are prepared to go.....at least until the next miracle arrives with the tenders.....long wait...even then still no guarantees it will be put fulltime to garden city.....meanwhile exponential residential growth will happen around garden city and the 161 will increase its patronage numbers to the cbd...

Ps: currently on a 4.20pm 227 inbound along manly rd....25-30 onboard and not even at cannon hill yet!....i predict at least 50-60 trips on this by the time it arrives in the cbd.

[#Metro]

Techblitz, thanks for the Gift.

Paris is a very busy and popular woman and it is great to see so many people sign for BUZIfication of the 161, no doubt this will improve services for Very Important People and improve access for the numerous social events held at Paris' house.

Oh, look at the time, time to go walk the lapdogs...

[techblitz]

Paris needs to move to inala or carseldine where she can have a 15 minute late night rocket to the cbd....
Why you even mention this mostly hourly,weekend and evening truncated..fairly low d/running  route in any of your media release bewilders me LD.....its but a drop in the ocean compared to other money guzzlers like the 340/100/222 late night services.You certainly have your priorities messed up. Perhaps you should hop onto the facebook TL page and mention what a money guzzling/duplicating waste machine the 161 is (and post your paris hilton pics) 

[James]

Paris needs to move to inala or carseldine where she can have a 15 minute late night rocket to the cbd....
Why you even mention this mostly hourly,weekend and evening truncated..fairly low d/running  route in any of your media release bewilders me LD.....its but a drop in the ocean compared to other money guzzlers like the 340/100/222 late night services.You certainly have your priorities messed up. Perhaps you should hop onto the facebook TL page and mention what a money guzzling/duplicating waste machine the 161 is (and post your paris hilton pics) 

Techblitz, Lapdog uses the 161 as an EXAMPLE of network waste, because it can be considered that it is absolutely and totally and utterly absurd that a 1.4km^2 area of land somehow gets an EXPRESS rocket to the CBD, while similar 1.4km^2 parcels of land (Sinnamon Park, Belmont, West Toowong/Taringa) get hourly welfare routes which go via everywhere or poor hourly feeders.

Of course it is a drop in the ocean, but it points out how wasteful some elements of the bus network are.

[techblitz]

bigger fish to fry and give airtime in media releases than the 161...
Currently on a northbound 701 3.30pmish...bus completely full by mermaid beach...
2-3 people boarding at almost every stop!

[#Metro]

Why you even mention this mostly hourly,weekend and evening truncated..fairly low d/running  route in any of your media release bewilders me LD.....its but a drop in the ocean compared to other money guzzlers like the 340/100/222 late night services.You certainly have your priorities messed up. Perhaps you should hop onto the facebook TL page and mention what a money guzzling/duplicating waste machine the 161 is (and post your paris hilton pics)

No reason why you can't do this yourself.

[James]

On board outbound 7:07pm Route 300 service... Standees right to Hamilton!

[HappyTrainGuy]

Paris needs to move to inala or carseldine where she can have a 15 minute late night rocket to the cbd....
Why you even mention this mostly hourly,weekend and evening truncated..fairly low d/running  route in any of your media release bewilders me LD.....its but a drop in the ocean compared to other money guzzlers like the 340/100/222 late night services.You certainly have your priorities messed up. Perhaps you should hop onto the facebook TL page and mention what a money guzzling/duplicating waste machine the 161 is (and post your paris hilton pics) 

You can add the 330 to that mix as there just aren't enough trip generators along the route. Merging of the 330, 333 and 340/frequency reduction/interchange stop locations should really be considered at night time.

[techblitz]

Connected to a 5.30pm ex richlands 101 10 pax onboard....noted on a previous trip on this route....that some passengers between oxley station and blunder rd connect to the 100 for shopping @ inala...
Arrived inala for perfect connection to a counter-peak 100buz which only had 2 onboard from forest lake  ....but.....12(exc myself) have hopped on @ inala....quite a few have hopped off before the ipswich moto......12 onboard after oxley...
3 on @ clifton hill
10 on @chardons. <<<< 
1 on annerley junction
4 on p.a hospital..
So about 25 onboard by the gabba....mix of students and workers......and not one qld or nsw jersey:)
Id say about 40 passenger trips in total from forest lake to gabba....not all doom and gloom....but could be better...

[techblitz]

Currently on an o/b 116
13 pax onboard  leaving mater hill 

[achiruel]

Personally I think the biggest waste in the network is the 222

If there really must be 2 BUZ routes to Carindale, couldn't one of them go a different way (and I don't mean just the little bit between Mater Hill & Coorparoo).

Send the 200 via Chatsworth Rd/Samuel St, then maybe we can delete those horrible 202 & 203 routes!

[STB]

I think the 222 is fine in itself, what I would suggest is making route 205 a full time route and making it as a replacement for route 200, so those in the southern Carindale area could travel via Chatsworth Road instead of Old Cleveland Road, with a transfer at Carindale if they so wish to travel via Old Cleveland Road, with removing routes 202 and 203 while they are at it.

[James]

The solution is a simple one - and you can do it while still maintaining BCC's "direct trips everywhere" ideals:
BUZ 200 - Carindale Heights via Buranda, Chatsworth Rd, stopping at express stops every 800m or so.
202 - Carindale (Westfield) via PA and every backstreet to fulfill coverage role (the area is very hilly in parts, so I can accept a coverage route here - heck, even Chatsworth Rd is bad to start with)
204 - Carina Bus Depot via Deshon St, Old Cleveland Road and Carindale Shops
222 BUZ - Carindale (Westfield) via Old Cleveland Road and Eastern Busway.
MGLD - to be burnt at the stake.

Really there are 3 City-bound BUZ routes leaving Carindale on weekdays - the 200, 204 (BUZ standard weekday daytimes) and the 222. Really not necessary given the poor loading on some of these services.

[nathandavid88]

Random observation from this morning – Clarks LCBS, whose rigid bus fleet (so excluding the artics) have almost solely consisted of Bustech models, have added a shiny new Volgren to the fleet, same model as the newest ones in the BT fleet. Probably sticks out like a sore thumb at the depot!

[SurfRail]

Random observation from this morning – Clarks LCBS, whose rigid bus fleet (so excluding the artics) have almost solely consisted of Bustech models, have added a shiny new Volgren to the fleet, same model as the newest ones in the BT fleet. Probably sticks out like a sore thumb at the depot!

There are 6 of them, same chassis as the BT versions but with different internal fitout and mechanical specs.

[techblitz]

Noted: 6:10pm @coorparoo shops outbound

P206 completely full with standees from front to back 
P207 10-15 onboard...

[James]

Broken down bus at Ironside School Stop 23/24 this afternoon... T1209 running the 5:42pm 428 service. Pax just caught the following 5:52pm 428 service, as far as I can see. A bit of inconvenience for Indro bound pax from UQ this evening!

[ozbob]

Citylab--> London's Pervasive Surveillance Can Now Help You Find a Bus Seat

[techblitz]

Just hopped on the 680 which has arrived at kallangur 7 mins late....no doubt due to costco/north lakes traffic + no doubt the odd paper ticket purchase/gc topup.

Thankyou to hornibrook for that 11 minute connection gap! Bus safely makes it to petrie
Had a yack to the bus driver, he said the 695 connections into sandgate have improved vastly. He is of the opinion the increased gaps are working wonders.

[HappyTrainGuy]

Can't wait for that railway line to go through