On the Buses

[James]

On board the 314 - only person on the bus! The driver seemed surprised when I got on. And in true BCC fashion, a possibly connecting train left just as the bus arrived at Deagon station. Worse than the 161!

[HappyTrainGuy]

 

LONG LIVE OUR BELOVED 314!

[ozbob]

Yo!

[kazzac]

Again today I observed an inbound 124 service along Beaudesart RD ,Moorooka,after 3.30pm this afternoon followed closely by an inbound 125 service .these services should be timed better ,one should arrive at Moorvale(Moorooka) about 10 -15 minutes before the other one.not less than 5 minutes behind each other

[HappyTrainGuy]

You could say the same for most of the network unfortunately.

[James]

LONG LIVE OUR BELOVED 314!

To be fair, there was at one point one other passenger on board. Attached is the photo of the bus, just him up the front having a chat to the driver. With the hail-and-ride operation, its just like having your own taxi service. Attached is a photo of the man - aside from that, the bus was all mine! A safari tour of a beach side town with views of Moreton Bay and Moreton Island, all for free, all mine! I can see it now - BeachGlider.

The 10:55am 310 service was also very poorly loaded. It only had one passenger (aside from myself) aboard for large sections of the journey, the highest number on board being four. What I found interesting is I saw a lot of passengers waiting at yellow stops - indicating to me the 306 does get some decent patronage while the 310 carries air. The other passenger departing the CBD had a final destination beyond Sandgate, indicating to me the 310 could be chopped tomorrow with minimal loss. I mean, the thing runs close to a railway line half the way and duplicates pre-existing bus routes on the rest of the route.

[HappyTrainGuy]

There's a reason why the 310 was proposed to turn off at Hamilton Road and feed into Chermside

[techblitz]

Currently on mackay transit bus route number 5!
Most services all do loops to/from from canelands plaza
16 pax onboard. 

[cartoonbirdhaus]

From a service with an obvious welfare role! (Just three services on a Saturday, none on Sunday. No major trip-generators outside the CBD.) What an indictment on the BT system.

[BrizCommuter]

Full inbound 340 observed at RCH Herston just after 4pm today.

[HappyTrainGuy]

Full inbound 340 observed at RCH Herston just after 4pm today.

Ah the joys of the uneven 340 loadings (it can at times steal all the 333 patronage due to the timetabling).

[longboi]

Full inbound 340 observed at RCH Herston just after 4pm today.

Ah the joys of the uneven 340 loadings (it can at times steal all the 333 patronage due to the timetabling).

And there once was a time where it looked like that issue would have been solved.

Not that it matters at that time of day (unless you're going to the Cultural Centre) but still...

[techblitz]

back from my journeys up north and I must say that bus fares in mackay are better than Brisbane.
Hopped on a 214 outbound at 5pmish yesterday with about 25 passengers on board once I hopped off @ southbank.
Im assuming the maroon glider did well origin night 

[ozbob]

back from my journeys up north and I must say that bus fares in mackay are better than Brisbane.
Hopped on a 214 outbound at 5pmish yesterday with about 25 passengers on board once I hopped off @ southbank.
Im assuming the maroon glider did well origin night 

Fares on Q Connect urban bus are roughly half to 2/3 of what fares are in SEQ  http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Travel-and-transport/qconnect/Urban-bus-services.aspx

Hope it stays that way as TransLink takes over ...

[techblitz]

Just saw 30 at least pile onto an arctic p142 at adelaide st. Beast of a bus route which would compete with its rival the p546 as the busiest prepaids in brisbane.

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Brisbane City Council bus driver watched movie on iPhone while driving, not sacked

[techblitz]

Couriermail --> Brisbane City Council bus driver watched movie on iPhone while driving, not sacked

Ive witnessed some comical things from drivers..the other day a 300 driver forgot to raise the bus heading out from toombul...bang she goes lol
Curently on a 3.50 ex pinkenba 302 and about 20 pax hopped on at newstead river park stop to completely fill the bus up with standees...lots hopped off at the valley and central station. Another example of a good fast direct cbd bound route....i think an extra couple of 302s after 5pm wouldnt hurt.

[Golliwog]

Couriermail --> Brisbane City Council bus driver watched movie on iPhone while driving, not sacked

Ive witnessed some comical things from drivers..the other day a 300 driver forgot to raise the bus heading out from toombul...bang she goes lol
Curently on a 3.50 ex pinkenba 302 and about 20 pax hopped on at newstead river park stop to completely fill the bus up with standees...lots hopped off at the valley and central station. Another example of a good fast direct cbd bound route....i think an extra couple of 302s after 5pm wouldnt hurt.

Had a driver once who liked to read the newspaper at red lights. When I mentioned it to a mate his response was "Oh, yours only did it when he was stopped? Lucky..." 

[SurfRail]

Couriermail --> Brisbane City Council bus driver watched movie on iPhone while driving, not sacked

Ive witnessed some comical things from drivers..the other day a 300 driver forgot to raise the bus heading out from toombul...bang she goes lol
Curently on a 3.50 ex pinkenba 302 and about 20 pax hopped on at newstead river park stop to completely fill the bus up with standees...lots hopped off at the valley and central station. Another example of a good fast direct cbd bound route....i think an extra couple of 302s after 5pm wouldnt hurt.

Can't remember if the 302 was going to be scrapped.  That is one move I would have opposed because there was no guarantee the remaining route in the area would have been any good, and the area is woefully underserviced for its needs. 

[techblitz]

it was going to be replaced with a secondary from Pinkenba-toombul but with forced transfer at around bretts wharf/remora sts onto a HF Hamilton service/or ferry for passengers wishing to head to the city.

It would now seem clear that the 302 gets majority of its passengers around newstead. Bar the 405pm pinkenba which diverts down fison ave and picks up a LOT of special needs workers.
Translink failed to include this diversion on their review maps most likely leaving many of those workers wondering if the new secondary route was ever going to divert down fison.

I would say in all honesty the HF route through Hamilton & newstead would have had far more benefits than the inconvenience of forced transfer required by the workers from Pinkenba/eagle farm etc.

[Fattious]

Looks like new software has gone live on the passenger displays at QSBS. As observed on the A platform.

[longboi]

Looks like new software has gone live on the passenger displays at QSBS. As observed on the A platform.

Now displaying a live CCTV shot of the bus desto.

[James]

Went on urban safari again today. This time to the south west.

Caught a 468 from Indooroopilly to Oxley. The route's alignment between Indooroopilly and DFO is strange (helped in part by street layout). It doesn't stop at Fig Tree Pocket and does a somewhat strange deviation around the DFO. Traffic calming everywhere is the reason why this route needs a decent steam ironing, combined with indirect routing.

Connected to rail at Oxley - and this is where my story about poor rail connections begins. Bus was 4 minutes late into Oxley, passengers had to wait 15 minutes for the next train. It wasn't helped by the fact we were 3 minutes late out of Indooroopilly, but it is experiences like this which drive the direct trips mantra. Then had my own bad experience - Ipswich train was 4 minutes late into Darra, thus missing my 462 air parcel connection.

After getting duly frustrated, I went to Richlands and caught an I/B 462 while also seeing a 466. Both buses were empty leaving, 462 being empty for the whole trip. I don't see how Centenary Village (or the other areas the 462 passes through) justify a bus service.

103 Darra - Mt Ommaney was well loaded with quite a few passengers - both connecting from rail and going to Mt Ommaney/local destinations. Looking at how well this route was doing, we can only really dream about how well HF25 could have done. 106 also wasn't doing too badly, although most passengers could have had their trips catered for by going for a bit of a walk + rail + bus connection. It does raise a few local trip issues, but its a bus route that could be cut with little pain.

[techblitz]

mantra indeed.
An absolute mess. Always good to talk to the bus drivers about their experiences as well. You can find some surprising stuff out.
Well you've witnessed the excessive air carrying around richlands rail first hand!
If you get a chance you should take a trip up to upper Kedron and ferny grove buses which you will pretty much see the same. 367,397,396.Trips are very scenic though 

[Golliwog]

mantra indeed.
An absolute mess. Always good to talk to the bus drivers about their experiences as well. You can find some surprising stuff out.
Well you've witnessed the excessive air carrying around richlands rail first hand!
If you get a chance you should take a trip up to upper Kedron and ferny grove buses which you will pretty much see the same. 367,397,396.Trips are very scenic though 

I learnt all about the 398 and 397 back in high school. I used them once or twice each to get to Kmart Arana Hills. Never again! Such circuitous routing. I've only ever done the 367 through Upper Kedron as part of the off-peak loop when it is understandably poorly used, but I've never seen if the Upper Kedron leg alone gets very busy during peak. It'll be interesting to see if the change to the 367 to keep a direct Upper Kedron - Station route all day long helps anything, though any patronage benefit from that move is likely to be offset by the frequency drop.

Still, if you've ever seen the 399, that's how you run a decent route. Only 2 runs in each peak yet every time I see it theres about >20 pax on it, despite that timetable leaving little margin for error in which train you get.

[minbrisbane]

On M-CG right now.  Only 3 passengers.

[minbrisbane]

I'm on my maroon limousine.  All alone and being chauffeured to KGSBS.

[#Metro]

Photos are good if you can get them. The more air on film, the better!!

[HappyTrainGuy]

Duran Duran?..ohh... air... on film....  Is there a reason why the limo can't be subbed by the 340? That's always got air KGBS-Gabba.

Its such a pitty that some of the big ticket items in the translink review haven't been copied across to BT's review to get rid or limit the amount of air being transported around. Even changing the buz standard a little could free up some extra cash.

[techblitz]

Did some nice little crosstown connections today from  qe2 to wynnum west

260 > 598 > 225 > 224

All relatively decent waiting times inbetween connections. Light loads on all bar the 598

I did have the option of 260 > 240 but the 260 arrives capalaba just as 240 leaves <<< crap timetabling for nathan campus to gumdale,wakerley residents on the return trip home.

[STB]

Did some nice little crosstown connections today from  qe2 to wynnum west

260 > 598 > 225 > 224

All relatively decent waiting times inbetween connections. Light loads on all bar the 598

I did have the option of 260 > 240 but the 260 arrives capalaba just as 240 leaves <<< cr%p timetabling for nathan campus to gumdale,wakerley residents on the return trip home.

It's scheduled to be a 5 min connection (260 due to arrive at :55; 240 due out at :00), and would've had no problems with doing that sort of thing yesterday when the 260 I was on arrived on time at Capalaba Bus Station.  Unless you get caught up in a traffic jam on Mt Gravatt-Capalaba Rd, the timetable is generally quite solid.

[techblitz]

Did some nice little crosstown connections today from  qe2 to wynnum west

260 > 598 > 225 > 224

All relatively decent waiting times inbetween connections. Light loads on all bar the 598

I did have the option of 260 > 240 but the 260 arrives capalaba just as 240 leaves <<< cr%p timetabling for nathan campus to gumdale,wakerley residents on the return trip home.

It's scheduled to be a 5 min connection (260 due to arrive at :55; 240 due out at :00), and would've had no problems with doing that sort of thing yesterday when the 260 I was on arrived on time at Capalaba Bus Station.  Unless you get caught up in a traffic jam on Mt Gravatt-Capalaba Rd, the timetable is generally quite solid.

Funny you should say that...there was a traffic jam at 1.30pmish down mt capalaba rd 

Just so you know.....the 262 leaves qe2 on the dot at :00 and arrives at :55 up till midday.
Once the change over to 260 occurs.....the buses leave there at :10 and scheduled for arrival at capalaba :00. For hourly services that dont really get much patronage. It would be in mt gravatt buses best interest to keep the :00 :55 connections the same all day instead of switching to :10 :00

Lets wait and see for The 260 mods and what transpires with it missing mtgrvatt-old capalaba rd.

[STB]

Did some nice little crosstown connections today from  qe2 to wynnum west

260 > 598 > 225 > 224

All relatively decent waiting times inbetween connections. Light loads on all bar the 598

I did have the option of 260 > 240 but the 260 arrives capalaba just as 240 leaves <<< cr%p timetabling for nathan campus to gumdale,wakerley residents on the return trip home.

It's scheduled to be a 5 min connection (260 due to arrive at :55; 240 due out at :00), and would've had no problems with doing that sort of thing yesterday when the 260 I was on arrived on time at Capalaba Bus Station.  Unless you get caught up in a traffic jam on Mt Gravatt-Capalaba Rd, the timetable is generally quite solid.

Funny you should say that...there was a traffic jam at 1.30pmish down mt capalaba rd 

Just so you know.....the 262 leaves qe2 on the dot at :00 and arrives at :55 up till midday.
Once the change over to 260 occurs.....the buses leave there at :10 and scheduled for arrival at capalaba :00. For hourly services that dont really get much patronage. It would be in mt gravatt buses best interest to keep the :00 :55 connections the same all day instead of switching to :10 :00

Lets wait and see for The 260 mods and what transpires with it missing mtgrvatt-old capalaba rd.

It's departed at :10 past the hour ever since it first started up back in 2005.  In the old timetable it was scheduled to arrive at Capalaba Bus Stn at :55 (the Capalaba Park and Ride has added about 4 mins to the timetable).  IMO, speaking about Capalaba Park 'n' Ride, routes 250, 262 (not 260) and the peak routes (except 265 and 273) should use the park and ride.

It will be interesting as there is currently a quite a lot of students and workers who catch the 260 from Capalaba and Gainsborough Park and change to routes 179 and 180 at Wishart to access Mansfield and the Mt Gravatt TAFE.  Looks like they may get a longer trip by going via Gardner Road in the upcoming changes.  IMO, I think route 262 should go via Gardner Rd (not 260), and upgrade both routes to run all day which has been talked about since around 2006/07, but has been held off due to extra buses needed to run it (and hence extra costs).

EDIT: Btw, the 260/262 times are fixed on the university lecture/tutorial start/finish times.

[HappyTrainGuy]

Welcome to the BT Northside 500. This is the 6th round of the 2013 championship and todays race will be starting at Chermside Interchange and finishing at the Aspley Interchange.

All the buses are lined up on the grid waiting for the lights to go out.


And they're off!!!!


And they are in the pits. What's this? It looks like #330 accidently pitted at the wrong time. It has to wait in the fast lane until his team mate #335 leaves the teams pitbox. He's now blocking the pitlane. This is not going according to schedule and #330 is just losing tons of time. This is also effecting #598 who just sits idle in his pitbox until the #330 clears the fast lane.


Vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmhsssssssss! #336 overtakes #340 going across Gympie Road but wait... what this... #340 is making a move for the lead!


And he's past!!! oh hang on #336 is making a comeback and yes.... yes its pulling off a fantastic pass just 150m down the road.


This is great racing! And now my phone is out of battery.




crap!

[James]

On the note of bus races, I'm about to delve into something which really drives me up the wall - the twice-hourly Hawken Drive 400 - 411 vs. 428.

I went down to the post office on Wednesday mid-afternoon to conduct some business at the St Lucia Village post office. As I walked out, I saw just what I don't want to see. The 411 came by, followed 5 seconds later by the 428.



30 minute service gap for a 5 minute trip down the road.   

Meanwhile, a few minutes later at Ironside...


(Disclaimer: This was not taken three minutes later, but it is an example of what you will see every weekday off-peak).

CONGA LINEEEEE AT IRONSIDEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Want to get down the road quickly after missing the bus? TransLink recommends walking.



What frustrates me most about this service gap is that it is so bloody easy to solve. Make the 432 all stops. Make the 411 leave 15 minutes later. With the 414 changes coming soon, this will have near no impact on students being able to get from Uni to Gailey Road in a reasonable time.

The Hawken Drive/Swann Road corridor is a corridor which needs some service rationalisation and an easier to understand timetable. Odd service gaps from Indooroopilly (my favourite is the 40 minute gap during Uni breaks between the 2:07 428 and 2:47 432, especially given another 432 leaves six minutes before the 2:07 428), random bus frequencies and a seemingly random non-clockface timetable combine to give a corridor which during the weekday off-peak, despite Hawken Drive having 5 buses per hour pass down it (at a minimum), that no stop has a 15 minute frequency from UQ between 10am and 3pm to UQ and 9am - 2pm from UQ. It is simple. This doesn't even require a network review or violate BCC's mantra of direct services everywhere. It is just common sense. But no, we live in Queensland, thus such a change is far too hard.

[minbrisbane]

On the final outbound 186.  18 pax onboard. 

Whilst this route is very popular it loses out on reliability.  It's a regular occurence to have a leapfrog battle in the AM, and of late even in the PM! 

[techblitz]

On the final outbound 186.  18 pax onboard. 

Whilst this route is very popular it loses out on reliability.  It's a regular occurence to have a leapfrog battle in the AM, and of late even in the PM! 

do many pax catch this service to/from klumpp rd p& r at all?
reason I ask ....is I have noticed it being parked a little better over the last 12 months.

[minbrisbane]

On the final outbound 186.  18 pax onboard. 

Whilst this route is very popular it loses out on reliability.  It's a regular occurence to have a leapfrog battle in the AM, and of late even in the PM! 

do many pax catch this service to/from klumpp rd p& r at all?
reason I ask ....is I have noticed it being parked a little better over the last 12 months.

IMHO It's probably the busiest stop.  Sometimes up to 8 - 10 people board here.

[techblitz]

On the final outbound 186.  18 pax onboard. 

Whilst this route is very popular it loses out on reliability.  It's a regular occurence to have a leapfrog battle in the AM, and of late even in the PM! 

do many pax catch this service to/from klumpp rd p& r at all?
reason I ask ....is I have noticed it being parked a little better over the last 12 months.

IMHO It's probably the busiest stop.  Sometimes up to 8 - 10 people board here.

yep about checks out as there is usually 20 up to 40 cars there on weekdays. A positive sign.

[#Metro]

On the note of bus races, I'm about to delve into something which really drives me up the wall - the twice-hourly Hawken Drive 400 - 411 vs. 428.

Ah, how my heart bleeds when I hear the wretched fate of the commoners who are denied equitable access to the Royal Personal Chauffeured Rocket Brisbane Transport 161. Oh what a travesty it surely is that not every person within this great city of ours can have the delight of a bus from the front door (almost) of the Hilton Hotel itself and the door of one's humble abode.