On the Buses

[SurfRail]

^ Does anyone know why the 605 does that Banora Hills Dr/Pioneer Pde/Johnson St deviation?

To run closer to Banora Point Primary school is my guess.

'Cos the poor little dears would have to walk 100 metres along Johnson St! 

Well, when you look at the negligible difference between the 2 variations, why wouldn't you make it easier to manage the kids safety?

Might be some other reason for it (eg no safe stopping location along the "direct" route).  I have probably caught a bus down along the 605 route maybe 10 times or fewer in 10 years so I am not an expert on all the ins and outs.

[O_128]

Took me 30 mins to get from IGA in the valley to cultural centre at 11am. Enough said really.

[Golliwog]

Heading in to uni early this morning, got to Park Road at 8.11am by train, became one of ~10-20 waiting for a bus. The bendy bus 169 came through approximately on time, and proceeded straight past, it was already full. Looking at the PID timetable, the next service was a 209 in 17 minutes. I was one of roughly 10 that I saw who decided it was quicker to walk to UQ Lakes than wait and risk missing a second bus. We got to UQ Lakes without seeing the 209 go past on the bridge, so we won the race, but had no idea how full that service was though.

[Gazza]

Took me 30 mins to get from IGA in the valley to cultural centre at 11am. Enough said really.

Might have been quicker to jump on a GC/Cleveland/Beenleigh train.

[somebody]

Took me 30 mins to get from IGA in the valley to cultural centre at 11am. Enough said really.

Where was the choke point?  Cultural Centre?

[O_128]

Took me 30 mins to get from IGA in the valley to cultural centre at 11am. Enough said really.

Where was the choke point?  Cultural Centre?

No off peak. Biggest issues are the constant stop start, paper ticket buyers and the dwell time at city bustops. It waits for unto 5 minutes at city hall.

[somebody]

5 minutes at the Cultural Centre from 17:40 13/9/2012.

Surprisingly, as far as you can see, no bus is prevented from pulling out by the queue of buses trying to cross Grey St.


EDIT: Weird.  Seems to only work for me if I use "old embed code".

[Golliwog]

5 minutes at the Cultural Centre from 17:40 13/9/2012.

Surprisingly, as far as you can see, no bus is prevented from pulling out by the queue of buses trying to cross Grey St.

The video isn't there?

[somebody]

Bump.  See above.

[Golliwog]

Bump.  See above.

No worries.

It does seem to be a combination of dwell time but also buses in the queue not trying to/or not being able to get into a gap at the front of the platform.

[BrizCommuter]

BrizCommuter has seen five route 369 buses around Mitchelton, and has yet to see a single passenger in the bus. Cross-town routes are all well and good in theory, but it seems to be a bit of a air mover/taxpayer funding waster!

[HappyTrainGuy]

I've seen 330's running empty Chermside-RBWH during the day. So what's your point?

[BrizCommuter]

I've seen 330's running empty Chermside-RBWH during the day. So what's your point?

But have 100% of the 330s been empty? Doubt it.

The point is that the 369 is potentially as waste of taxpayers money.

[somebody]

I guarantee that a sizeable portion of 330s are empty on Quinlan St.  Being empty at one point in the run isn't a reason to remove it.

[BrizCommuter]

Would be interested in reports on 369 loadings elsewhere on it's the run.

[Golliwog]

I haven't caught it in a while but I've caught it around the middle of the day and had maybe half a dozen on it. Because of the way it runs it tends to gain a few pax at the main interchanges then distribute them along Stafford Rd and vice versa. I think part of the issue with it though is that along a number of parts of Stafford Rd there are existing direct to CBD routes so people go for those rather than interchange, even if the interchange could be faster. I also wonder about how many people still don't know what the 369 does.

[Gazza]

I remember seeing a pretty full 369 heading towards the DFO on a Sunday arvo, which I found pleasantly surprising.

[HappyTrainGuy]

I've seen 330's running empty Chermside-RBWH during the day. So what's your point?

But have 100% of the 330s been empty? Doubt it.

The point is that the 369 is potentially as waste of taxpayers money.

So you have seen 5 buses running empty? Meh That's only 1 more empty bus compared to the amout of empty 330's I've seen running empty past Chermside and that's a holy grail of bus services. I've seen them constantly with around 5 people onboard. You still think it should be a buz service. Outbound there is sometimes more demand for the 330 over the 333 as it uses the interchange but even then depending on the time of day some services can still be pretty light due to the northern busway making all the buses run the RBWH-Chermside corridor in the same time eg. You can board a frequently stopping sardine packed 333 at the CCBS and still beat the following "express" 330 to Chermside running 3-4 mins later.

My observations of the 369 is that it always has strong loadings out of Toombul towards the airport. Airport-Toombul is flakey due to shopping etc but tends to get good loadings for services that connect to other 30 min/hourly services at Toombul/Kedron/other locations etc. Usually decent loadings into and out of Kedron though it can be confusing to some first time users that wonder around.

If you wanted to dive into wasted tax payer trips head on over to the Northside. Due to the poor network design, random frequency boost over there, random routes over here, running hours, general frequency and what not you'll suffocate on the 326/327 through Geebung-Toombul because there is so much air (since the train retiming both outbound/inbound trains arrive at Geebung at the same time. The 326/327 run past around this very same time). The 680 just flies along Gympie road between Beams Road and the interchange (still well utilized futher to the north). 306 is despised due to it having 3 terminuses during its run depending on the time (goes to Nudgee beach but cuts back to Nudgee because of the time then is cut futher again back to Toombul once again because of the time). The 336/337 has crappy loadings during the day courtsey of the 2 hour frequency but the one service in morning peak/the 2 services just prior to arvo peak along with that school finishing time are strongly used before it stops running when people actually want to use it haha (I still say that its a fantastic route that should be run more frequently/longer or only just prior/during/after peak hours serving as a interchange feeder - 1x rail int 2x bus int 3x buz int 8-9x schools 3-4x shopping complexes). 328 runs empty for a majority of its run as there are better or currently other services around (325, 326, 327, 335, Nudgee College has its own more frequent bus service ). 338 is a royal pain as its too confusing to use if you don't have a school calendar and 338 357 359 bus timetables (quick less than 10 minute trips to Albany Creek Shops or the Westfield at Strathpine are a car perferred journey - on the weekend if you miss the 338 to westfield from Eatons Hill (literally 6 mins by car) you can get the next outbound 338 to Chermside, jump on the 680 that goes past Strathpine westfield to Petrie, jump on the train to Strathpine and walk there before teh next 338 goes past).

[techblitz]

I remember seeing a pretty full 369 heading towards the DFO on a Sunday arvo, which I found pleasantly surprising.

369 and 590 both do well on weekends due to the dfo factor.

GCL also does well due to the shopping factor on saturdays.Bewilders me why they refuse to run GCL on sundays.

[SurfRail]

BrizCommuter has seen five route 369 buses around Mitchelton, and has yet to see a single passenger in the bus. Cross-town routes are all well and good in theory, but it seems to be a bit of a air mover/taxpayer funding waster!

In other words the bus is empty at a terminus. 

Where in Mitchelton - station?  Before they pick up / after they set down at Brookside?

[Gazza]

I remember seeing a pretty full 369 heading towards the DFO on a Sunday arvo, which I found pleasantly surprising.

369 and 590 both do well on weekends due to the dfo factor.

GCL also does well due to the shopping factor on saturdays.Bewilders me why they refuse to run GCL on sundays.

Cause everyone  just stays at home, cooks a lunchtime roast, or goes to church on Sundays, remember
Welcome to the 80s!

[Golliwog]

You know theres something wrong with your bus network when its 14 minutes faster to catch a 414 from Indooroopilly to UQ than to wait for the next 427/428/432. I have no idea where I am at the moment.

[Gazza]

Dude, id rather spend the 14 minutes in the indro foodcourt then take a 427/8 than ever ride the 414 again.

[Golliwog]

Dude, id rather spend the 14 minutes in the indro foodcourt then take a 427/8 than ever ride the 414 again.

Haha, it was 17 minutes till the next 428 though. But the food court probably would have been a good choice. Not for my wallet though.

To make it even more ridiculous though, there were 4 of us on the bus from Indro. 1 got off at the soccer fields just before UQ, the rest went all the way.

[somebody]

via Toowong?

[beauyboy]

If I am going to stafford unless there is a 375 about to arrive at RBWH I will link with the 369 at Kerdon Brook.
The times I have caught it there is always at least another 2 on it. The problem is there is little known about it and the fact that it stops running at the reasonably early time of 7pm. It really should continue until around 9 so that people that work in supermarkets and such could use it to get home. The fact that it is just short of a BUZ lets it down.

Donald

[Golliwog]

via Toowong?

IIRC, JP had via Toowong as 1 minute faster if I got the 2.25pm inbound 444. Which was the bus I had just gotten of at Indro 

[somebody]

via Toowong?

IIRC, JP had via Toowong as 1 minute faster if I got the 2.25pm inbound 444. Which was the bus I had just gotten of at Indro 

Hmm, didn't know you just got off an I/B bus!  I'd have stayed on for the bird in the hand via Toowong than gambled on getting a 432 or 427.  428 would be no faster than via Toowong anyway.

[Golliwog]

via Toowong?

IIRC, JP had via Toowong as 1 minute faster if I got the 2.25pm inbound 444. Which was the bus I had just gotten of at Indro 

Hmm, didn't know you just got off an I/B bus!  I'd have stayed on for the bird in the hand via Toowong than gambled on getting a 432 or 427.  428 would be no faster than via Toowong anyway.

Yeah, if I'd thought about it, I probably would have too! But I'd gotten over there on one of the Indro routes and didn't even think about the 412.

[Gazza]

Im ashamed to admit, but I spent my entire first year at uni getting off at Indro and using the buses from there.
Took me a little while to realise that taking the 412 from Toowong was the better option 

[HappyTrainGuy]

How the hell is the 77 not utilized so much. 25 minutes from Chermside to Griffith uni busway station including the useless waits at the lights on Gympie road and accessing to from the northern busway.

[BrizCommuter]

BrizCommuter has seen five route 369 buses around Mitchelton, and has yet to see a single passenger in the bus. Cross-town routes are all well and good in theory, but it seems to be a bit of a air mover/taxpayer funding waster!

In other words the bus is empty at a terminus. 

Where in Mitchelton - station?  Before they pick up / after they set down at Brookside?

Between Brookside and Stafford Rd.

[techblitz]

BrizCommuter has seen five route 369 buses around Mitchelton, and has yet to see a single passenger in the bus. Cross-town routes are all well and good in theory, but it seems to be a bit of a air mover/taxpayer funding waster!

In other words the bus is empty at a terminus. 

Where in Mitchelton - station?  Before they pick up / after they set down at Brookside?

Between Brookside and Stafford Rd.

+1 briz

this bus route struggles for numbers between kedron park bus station and mitchelton big time.Buses are lucky to be half full in the mornings and after school but thats it. Luckily plenty of pax use it from dfo to toombul.The number of pax connecting at eagle junction is nothing to wrtite home about either. Time will tell with this bus route i guess.

[Golliwog]

I think part of the problem with the 369 is the network its attached to. Its hard enough for most to get to Mitchelton/Brookside on the existing network. I'd be inclined to try and use the 369 to see a movie at Stafford, but my local route is so poor, and neither runs late enough to use after most movies.

If they worked on improving the trunk-and-feeder-ness of the network, and shift away from trying to give everyone a one seat journey then I expect it would pick up. Hopefully this one makes it through the review.

[ozbob]

Changes to routes 303, 367, 397/398 from 8 October

--> http://jp.translink.com.au/travel-information/service-updates/details/1347430316

[BrizCommuter]

Another 2 empty (apart from driver) route 369s seen at Everton Park.

[SurfRail]

Another 2 empty (apart from driver) route 369s seen at Everton Park.

On a public holiday.

Yawn.

[ozbob]

The Satellite --> Council ready to do bus stop

[ozbob]

Couriermail Quest --> Northwest commuters are calling for increased bus services in Brisbane's outer suburbs

[Golliwog]

Saw a 412 UQ bound at around 11.45am this morning, too full to pick up 5 passengers waiting at the stop approaching Ryans Rd.

Also, traffic along Sir Fred is as bad as ever in the mornings. Back to Brisbane Street from the Coleridge Street round about most mornings.