On the Buses

[verbatim9]

Personally I think PT should be free with it coming out of rates/taxation and reduced expenditure on road infrastructure.

Well the Greens want a flat rate $1 charge. I don't think those fare evaders would even abide to that. Quite sad really!

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/brisbanecityqld/status/940484230760620032

[verbatim9]

Anyone got any examples of areas in Brisbane where the bus stops should be moved further apart?

https://vimeo.com/240382367

Great video, makes alot of sense. Something that Translink needs to investigate further and implement all 3 recommendations.

1. Bus stop balancing

2. All door boarding

3. Off board fare payment via mobile  - (Next Generation Ticketing)? Adelaide Metro currently trialing this!

Definitely the 300 route and other routes along Wickham street, Breakfast Creek road and Kingsford Smith Drive. As Kingsford Smith Drive is upgraded over the next 2 years there is an opportunity for Translink to definitely implement bus stop balancing (spacing them out) creating a more reliable service.

Return along Ann can have some bus stop balancing as well.


Stops 13/14/15 on Kingsford Smith Drive can be combined. They are only about 150m apart.

[Cazza]

Outbound on Enoggera Rd from Enoggera Creek to Newmarket SC and Waterworks/Musgrave Rd could be sorted out too.

[techblitz]

DDA complaint re surfside buses.....

https://www.facebook.com/TransLinkQLD/posts/2238440676181985

This is in regards to my latest issue that I inboxed you guys on Facebook to do with the airbags on the bus not lowering the bus I just had a look at the dda rules and regulations and I can confidently say that they are in breach so how do we go about doing spot checks on their buses because I guarantee you that more than 50% obviously do not comply with it

The reference number is in our Facebook Chat now that I have brought this to your attention can we get some independent person down to the yards to check to see if they actually complain themselves because the angle of attack with the boarding ramps is in some cases ridiculous and I have to be pushed by the driver which is against Surfside policy so if the bus driver hurts himself he doesn't get work compensation

[tazzer9]

Musgrave/waterworks road between the city and west ashgrove has to be the worst in brisbane for stop spacing.  Some stops are so close, people can get off the bus and manage to walk to the next stop before the bus can. 

[James]

All of Brisbane could do with stop rationalisation. I was going to make a list of corridors, but there's no point as this is an issue on almost every all-stops bus route in Brisbane. As a rough guess, where it hasn't already occurred, you could remove every second stop without there being any serious mobility issue.

They recently did this on the 402/412 BUZ route. The 402 was the all-stops route, they probably saw that nobody was intentionally using these stops, and hence cut all but one of the yellow stops, turning one of the stops (quite sensibly) into an express stop for the 412. Incredibly low-hanging fruit, but a win nevertheless.

There are also bizarre occurrences thanks to the all-stops/express pattern, like the yellow stops in Riverhills which are only served by the peak-hour only 452.

[verbatim9]

^^I think it's been nicknamed the Jindalee Jungle run due to the number of stops and side streets.

[techblitz]

FFS

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-23/missing-girl-found-inside-school-bus/9351506

Ms Palaszczuk said her education and transport ministers would be talking to Logan Coaches to investigate how the incident occurred.

"I hope the bus company will do a review about how that happened and ensure that it definitely does not happen again," she said.

Minister for Education Grace Grace and Education Queensland have been contacted for comment.

Ms Langdon said she intended to take Alyssa to theme parks today after her ordeal.

"Please parents time is precious, every parent in the country please hug and kiss your beautiful children tonight and appreciate everything," she posted on social media.

apparently some bus drivers think their job is to simply drive from point a to b.......because its adds to much to their workload when they have to walk the entiiiiiirrrrrre length of a bus to check for sleeping kids......newsflash.....human beings do fall asleep.

[verbatim9]

Adrian Schrinner just on the radio now ABC Brisbane talking All door boarding and the new articulated buses. The buses being rolled out from next week. Will be used mostly on the busy uni routes and on the Busway routes. Council also pushing for all door boarding

[techblitz]

frees up more buses and the newies will be implemented well ahead of the uni rush... progressing well  

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/7NewsSC/status/958258059985395712

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/958883932434411520

[aldonius]

Caught a P332 from UQ Lakes to Windsor Rail this afternoon.

I was the only passenger on board from Boggo Rd to the city. 

When I got off, it was 7min behind schedule (steadily gained north of George St) and had about 22 passengers.

Not sure what kind of bus. Rigid, presumably 12.5M, and it had USB chargers.

[verbatim9]

Caught a P332 from UQ Lakes to Windsor Rail this afternoon.

I was the only passenger on board from Boggo Rd to the city. 

When I got off, it was 7min behind schedule (steadily gained north of George St) and had about 22 passengers.

Not sure what kind of bus. Rigid, presumably 12.5M, and it had USB chargers.

Regarding being the only one. Uni year is officially yet to start usually late Feb some early March? USB charges are fitted to some of the newer regular fleet as well as the new artics. Hardly use them actually. Would be better off to have USB charges on the new trains as journeys are longer. I guess if you are coming from a distance greater than 10km on the bus it would make it worthwhile.

[not_available]

Caught a P332 from UQ Lakes to Windsor Rail this afternoon.

I was the only passenger on board from Boggo Rd to the city. 

When I got off, it was 7min behind schedule (steadily gained north of George St) and had about 22 passengers.

Not sure what kind of bus. Rigid, presumably 12.5M, and it had USB chargers.

Regarding being the only one. Uni year is officially yet to start usually late Feb some early March? USB charges are fitted to some of the newer regular fleet as well as the new artics. Hardly use them actually. Would be better off to have USB charges on the new trains as journeys are longer. I guess if you are coming from a distance greater than 10km on the bus it would make it worthwhile.

Start date of 19th Feb for UQ & QUT semester 1 (not sure about the others) so in 3 weeks time expect a different story. And USB ports for chargers on trains would be a great addition, especially for those with long commutes. Make sure they have more than 1 per carriage though 

[aldonius]

You're right about it being out of semester; I intended to mention that and neglected to.

However, I've caught it during semester before. If I recall correctly, there were still fewer than 10 passengers between PA and the city.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/963560663103651841

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/963562825468661760

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/963617088391716864

[ozbob]

^ as usual out our way. Fares are optional. This is not a gripe with respect to our drivers.

See, there is not much you can do. I really don't have an issue with the punters boarding that do no have the means.  Am I getting soft?

No. I much prefer the battlers travel on the bus. It helps ..

[techblitz]

just hopped off a 652 inbound....turned up 5 mins late.....5 minute connection gap at Caboolture station....bus made it by 30 seconds....thankfully escaping a 30min wait in this wonderful heat 

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/RuthMcCosker/status/965840577987190784

[techblitz]

https://www.facebook.com/TransLinkQLD/posts/2344396192253099

quote from translink

I haven't received notice of the 5.27pm bus being cancelled, but also can't see any data for it.

[techblitz]

noted the inbound(ex Capalaba) 262 getting to qe2 hospital at 4.13 when it is timetabled to arrive 4.02pm...
its return run(outbound 260 ex qe2) is timetabled to leave at 4.10pm......so either the bus drivers misses his break or the bus leaves extra late...
These Capalaba to qe2 routes are at the mercy of translinks clockfaced timetabling.......you know the gist...where the traffic is apparently the same at 12pm as it is at 4pm 
The issue here is trying to connect with other bus routes off these routes.....so they need to run accurately...
Worth keeping an eye on these as they are currently the worst affected routes on the TL twitter feed for suffering delays due to 'heavy congestion'......or is that 'poor timetabling'?

[Cazza]

You do notice that there are always notifications about 260/262 running say "7 mins late due to heavy traffic congestion". This is easily a weekly occurrence.

To do with late running, the 4:52pm inbound 381 was 20 mins late to even start its route today. Any reason why this doesn't get a mention from TransLink and a 7 min delay does? Shouldn't drivers be reporting this to bus control if they get to the beginning of their route already late?

[techblitz]

The 3.05pm route 262 inbound bus has been delayed 10 minutes due to heavy traffic congestion.

This bus is now due to arrive at Troughton Rd at QEII Hospital, Coopers Plains at 4.12pm

yay.....they actually decided to report the one today...

[Cazza]

Hmmm. 2 from 2. This time, the 4:22pm inbound 381 (the service before the one yesterday) was also 20 mins late to start it's route. Why? Sitting at the bus stop waiting an extra 20 mins for the past two days now has been pretty annoying.

When I was getting on the bus, the driver was talking to bus control over his radio about something but I'm not sure what. If bus control are aware of the issue, why can't they flick something through to Translink to send out a delay notification?

[Cazza]

The 3.05pm route 262 inbound bus has been delayed 10 minutes due to heavy traffic congestion.

This bus is now due to arrive at Troughton Rd at QEII Hospital, Coopers Plains at 4.12pm

yay.....they actually decided to report the one today...

You do notice that there are always notifications about 260/262 running say "7 mins late due to heavy traffic congestion". This is easily a weekly occurrence.

I stand by my point

[Cazza]

Just sent something through to Translink regarding OTR. Btw, I unintentionally made it exactly 1,000 characters. Do I get an award for that?

"Hi. Lately, there has been some on-time running issues with some services around The Gap. Yesterday (28/2), the 4:52pm inbound route 381 was 20 mins late to start it's route. Today (3/1), the 4:22pm inbound route 381 was also 20 mins late to begin it's service. Why is this? Surely it doesn't have anything to do with recovery time between services. Also, the 7:46 and 8:01am outbound route 385s have atrocious OTR (particularly the 8:01). Similar to what has happened with the 381, they commonly don't leave the Cultural Centre (the first stop of the route) until 10-15mins after the scheduled time. It is fairly disappointing that I can safely rock up to my bus stop 5-10 mins late and still make the bus EVERY DAY! 10 mins should be the BARE MINIMUM amount of recovery time between routes, especially during peak hours. The network may not be running as efficiently or be making a profit as large as before, but that doesn't matter if the routes are running on time as the commuters will be happy! "

[aldonius]

Well I caught another P332 (this time leaving UQ at 16:05 rather than 16:45), and sure enough there were a few more people on it this time around. About 10 people between the PA and the city, vs just me a few weeks ago.

Simultaneously, the line for the 66 stretched the entire length of platforms D and E at UQ Lakes.

[techblitz]

yeah the 66 is crazy busy atm.....there was a complaint made yesterday on the route.

https://www.facebook.com/TransLinkQLD/posts/2358156444210407

Translink...something has to be done about the 66 bus. Yesterday four full buses running from UQ passed the PAH stop during peak hour, which left patients from the hospital waiting for 30 mins +. A lot of these people are quite ill, and public transport is their only means of transportation. I understand that it's the beginning of the semester, which means there is an influx of students, but perhaps there needs to be a hospital only 66 variant that runs from PAH to RBWH during certain times.

On occasion it can be equally bad in the morning, with plenty of patients left stuck at the CBD or South Bank because the bus is full of UQ students. Because the PAH is a public hospital, if patients miss their appointments they oftentimes can't be rescheduled immediately and have to go back on waiting lists that can be quite long. It's getting pretty ridiculous, to be honest.

Might be time to extend the 29`s from gabba to roma st via CCB

[James]

Time for TransLink to start advertising for alternatives I think... the 100 BUZ is nice and close by.

The problem with this time of year is that this intense 'peak' generally only lasts for 3-4 weeks until loading settles down and all the first years realise it is OK to not attend class. The easiest solution would be a 'sweeper' service running between UQ Lakes and somewhere along the INB - ideally timetabled in a way where the one run can be done in an hour - until demand reduces to a point where the sweeper is no longer required.

This is also a problem on Sir Fred Schonell Drive and along Swann Road. It is essentially a lottery as to whether you get to Uni on time or not because there is no sweeper service, made even worse along Swann Rd by express services which are all over the shop.

Alternatively, perhaps it is time to ramp up the 66 to 8bph interpeak.

[aldonius]

I can't comment on the packedness of the 66 towards UQ through the PA, but it's absolutely, definitely packed from 2PM through 5PM away from UQ.

The Eleanor Schonell Bridge is probably the single largest change to UQ St Lucia transit accessibility since public buses began to the campus. (The Dutton Park ferry was only lightly used when it began).

[techblitz]

the main demand coming from uq etc seems to be to KGBS.
Its a very uncomfortable route to use when the uni crowds packs in...causes all sorts of havoc for the elderly/pwd's/mums etc trying to get in and out of the bus between CC and rbwh......
I avoid it myself and use the 300 series routes..

Route 29 extension:(commensurate to resources availability)

Yes I know this extension would pretty much make it a complete duplicate of the 66.....its not like it will be the only duplication 

Couple of good benefits.
340 now becomes obsolete so can now be canned?.....and the main one...reduces crowding on the 66...

What we do know is the 29 carries decent air counter peak....so squeezing that little bit extra patronage out of it would be good.
Obviously the 29 frequency would need to be looked at so as to not clog up the gabba when looping around......
Timewise it would be equal || quicker using the 29  3pm-5pm to kgbs than it would using the 66 through southbank CC etc.

[aldonius]

The solution to 66 overcrowding between the PA and the City is more 66s. Metro should actually help in that regard.

[#Metro]

I propose extending route 77 to UQ Lakes, rather than 8 Mile Plains. There are already plenty of services going to 8 Mile Plains. Buses could turn off Ipswich Road into the O'Keefe street portal and then access PA Hospital Busway. Alternatively, buses could continue along O'Keefe Street to the second busway portal, stop at Buranda (Buranda is already crowded as it is) and then continue into the Boggo Road busway to UQ.

This gives direct access to Chermside, would boost patronage on an air-carrier service and actually saves money because the bus would no longer have to drive all the way to 8MP.

Triple win!

[techblitz]

Another idea for the short term until we get those supers is to start our little friend the p332 earlier ,reroute it through KGBS via ccb & spread it out evenly at say 10 - 15mins......and yes advertise it more along the busway(along with the 100 as james suggested).
Pretty cost effective.

[James]

Its a very uncomfortable route to use when the uni crowds packs in...causes all sorts of havoc for the elderly/pwd's/mums etc trying to get in and out of the bus between CC and rbwh......
I avoid it myself and use the 300 series routes..

I would say the same for any Uni bus. Some pax do need to apply some common sense - if you are travelling two stops, do NOT sit at the back of the bus! On the flip side, if you are travelling to the very end, move to the back. Too often I see people standing at the front, but there's seats at the back.

29 is just there to circulate people between the PA/UQ Lakes and Park Road station, nothing more - Woolloongabba is just a convenient turnaround and provides a nice alternative connection for routes which go through there.

I don't see why we're advocating for yet another bus route. Just run more 66s. Maybe they should start at Park Road instead of UQ Lakes. Maybe we just need more on the route generally. TransLink would have the boarding numbers, and UQ Union is already starting a petition to fix the issue on Facebook. A pro-active, well-run transit authority would have already acted and fixed this problem. Sadly, TransLink and BT are neither proactive nor well-run.

[techblitz]

Just run more 66s

do we really need to be running more 66`s through the cultural centre when its at its absolute worst??
Its the most BASIC solution....

[Cazza]

I'm not sure if this would be currently feasible as I don't know how much available fleet there is during peaks but would it be beneficial to run the 66 every 4 mins (or even 3 if you're game enough) during these busy times?

If not, could you have extra 169s (or 29s as James mentioned) to cater for the Boggo Rd commuters? During peak times, the 169 runs every 10 mins outbound. What about have them alternate between running to 8MP and Buranda (leaving to 8MP every 10 mins on the 7 e.g. :07, :17, :27 and short running to Buranda every 10 mins leaving on the 2 e.g :02, :12, :22).

This allows the packed RBWH bound 66s to cater for city bound commuters and then strongly encourage anyone travelling to Boggo Rd/PAH to catch the 169 with the higher frequency (plus the 29, 139, 209 or 332).

I'm not sure about extending the 29 to the City though. It's meant to act as a shuttle. It doesn't need to unnecessarily run into the city mixing with general traffic, reducing it's reliability.

So, there are a few short term options available to reduce overcrowding before the Metro gets underway.