On the Buses

[techblitz]

Currently on the 101 to forest lake from pine rd stop ( 1 stop b4 richlands)....noted 8 pax to on the way to richlands and 7 on the way out. Pine rd stop doesnt register on the gocard reader...... No surprise there..prolly still has the 466 and 462 registered

Took 534 f-lake to grand plaza....15+ boarding here with almost all  hopping off at grand plaza.im assuming a lot of passengers are commuting cross-town to inala for shopping on saturdays.

Now onto a 550 

[ozbob]

Tracked an artic on an apparent school run W1161 desto ' Not in service ' picking up school students in Darra Centenary Village this morning as I passed through there in a horseless carriage.

I have never seen an artic in there before (although this may be regular, don't know).  About 20 school children picked up.

[techblitz]

Connected at roma st on a very well loaded 111 at 2.45 hoping to get to enoggera station by rail but train was leaving as i arrived....14 mins to next one.
Enter plan b

All going well with a bit of luck...i reckon i had a good chance of intercepting that train....
Walked back up the steps..booyah... 345 pulls in lol...full to the front with standees.

Was a nice fast trip straight to alderley station buz stop. Luck played a part on the very busy south pine/enoggera rd and i was free to nip across the road.....30 secs later the train pulled in...1 stop to enoggera

[ozbob]

Route 300: Virtual trip --> http://media.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/selections/route-300-a-virtual-trip-4656686.html

[ozbob]

Buranda



Photograph R Dow 21st August 2013

[STB]

Had to do a bunch of errands today around the eastern suburbs.  Caught routes 254, 240, 225, 204, 200, 250 and finally route 254 back.  Departed on route 254 at 10:45am and finally caught the 4:10pm 254 back.

Just a few obs:  the 3:15 (??) pm 250 out of Carindale to Capalaba was sardine can standing load, full of workers and high school students heading all the way to Capalaba (ran about 10mins late).

Route 225 at 1:31pm (actual dep 1:38pm - 7mins down) from Wynnum to Carindale, picked up the majority between Tingalpa and Carindale with about a 30% load.  There were a few that got off, and about 5 got on at Wynnum Plaza to which they got off in the Tingalpa area.

Quite a few paper ticket people, with them asking if they could top up on the BT buses, to which was a no, so they purchased a paper ticket instead.

[techblitz]

Had to do a bunch of errands today around the eastern suburbs.  Caught routes 254, 240, 225, 204, 200, 250 and finally route 254 back.  Departed on route 254 at 10:45am and finally caught the 4:10pm 254 back.

Just a few obs:  the 3:15 (??) pm 250 out of Carindale to Capalaba was sardine can standing load, full of workers and high school students heading all the way to Capalaba (ran about 10mins late).

Route 225 at 1:31pm (actual dep 1:38pm - 7mins down) from Wynnum to Carindale, picked up the majority between Tingalpa and Carindale with about a 30% load.  There were a few that got off, and about 5 got on at Wynnum Plaza to which they got off in the Tingalpa area.

Quite a few paper ticket people, with them asking if they could top up on the BT buses, to which was a no, so they purchased a paper ticket instead.

Nice stb.

Being thursday thats probably considered busy for the 225 at that time. Your observations also confirm that this route is popular around the section bt initially wanted to can services for the 225 but ended up being disregarded.
Anyway to reduce overcrowding on the 250 around 3pmish?

Heres my obs for top end adelaide st 4.45 -4.55 all outbound services....

446 4pax
382 14 pax
181 30pax
217 20pax
205 20pax
179 25 pax
142....packed to brim as usual 
And last but not least my 119 with about 25 after buranda

[techblitz]

At mater hill 7.30am noted folowing outbounds... a 1pax marron glider,3 pax 200 but surprisingly a 15 odd passenger 222 <<< not bad for saturday a.m
11 on my outbound 100 buz
Also noted logan coaches and bbl doing railbuses past mater ( not on the busway)

[James]

At mater hill 7.30am noted folowing outbounds... a 1pax marron glider,3 pax 200 but surprisingly a 15 odd passenger 222

The above is what occurs when you have a 222 coming through at 7:32am, MaroonGlider at 7:33am and 200 at 7:36am. The 222 vacuums up most of the MaroonGlider/200 passengers, with the remaining MGLD/200 pax either heading to Wooloongabba or Carindale Heights. All three of those services could have been consolidated onto one bus carrying almost 20 pax.

And of course, in usual BCC mediocrity, no bus comes for another 10 minutes.

[kazzac]

The other day when I was driving along Beaudesart Rd Moorooka after 3.30pm I passed an inbound 125 service immediately followed by an I/b 124 service : :bna:the 125 service was picking all the pax waiting at the stops,I know that there isn't another service travelling along there  Beaudesart Rd for about 15-20 minutes that's why route 110 should be BUZzed so Beaudesart Rd from Acacia Ridge  to Moorooka has  a BUZ like Ipswich Rd has BUZ 100

[techblitz]

The other day when I was driving along Beaudesart Rd Moorooka after 3.30pm I passed an inbound 125 service immediately followed by an I/b 124 service :bna:the 125 service was picking all the pax waiting at the stops,I know that isn't another service travelling along there  Beaudesart Rd for about 15-20 minutes that's why route 110 should be BUZzed so Beaudesart Rd from Acacia Ridge has  a BUZ like Ipswich Rd has BUZ 100

interesting note on the 540

the trip via Ipswich/beudesert rds takes 8 minutes less from the city to browns plains at pm peak than the 140

[Set in train]

http://jp.translink.com.au/travel-information/service-updates/details/1377813425

Bus stop closed:

Orange Grove Road at Aldi, stop 52
Alternative bus stop:

Orange Grove Road near Georgina Street, stop 52A

This is incorrect, the details have been transposed. There is a forest at stop 52A, at stop 52, there is a drain.

[techblitz]

Good on you to noticing this.
The burning off that was happening yesterday looked awfully close to the suggested alternative stop by TL.
http://jp.translink.com.au/travel-information/network-information/stops-and-stations/stop/004943

If you street view it....its still awefully close to the forest that was being burned off.Im sure there were no safety issues Its used by school route 834. Smoke was VERY bad though. Im sure the houses across the road are used to that every year 

[ozbob]

Twitter

Robert Dow ‏@Robert_Dow

Brisbane bus commuters perform citizens' arrest http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/brisbane-bus-commuters-perform-citizens-arrest-20130904-2t5f4.html ... via @brisbanetimes

[achiruel]

I was wondering what was going on there last night! I went past that bus, there was a regular police car, a paddy wagon, a crime scene van & an ambulance.

[James]

On board the 9:10pm 411, and in typical TransLink fashion, we're right behind a 412.

"We're going to the Un-i! We're going to the Un-i!"

[ozbob]

^ 

[techblitz]

interesting day on the buses today.

Took a 120 inbound from Salisbury east which was 10 mins late......driver decides to adjust his sign to 'blank' and do only drop offs from Salisbury east onwards (roughly half way of the route) 
One standee on the bus and a few spare seats 
Cant say ive ever seen that before...

Had a long chat with a 590 driver who said that drivers from carina depot are fairly unhappy with the increased unreliability of the 590 with the new changes. Weekends are a big issue. Also said that trade coast depot will partner up with garden city to run them from October.

[James]

Was aboard the 4:30pm outbound 412 and 5:23pm outbound 428 this afternoon... 412 went out completely full (thank you people who go grocery shopping), 428 had standees.

Just boost the frequency of the 428 already. The fact there is 4bph between UQ and Indro at 8pm on a Friday night, yet 1bph on a Sundays. I personally think it would be an idea to fold the 425/427/428 into a Chapel Hill - UQ CFN route. But no, everybody must go to the city. YOU SHALL NOT TRANSFER!

[minbrisbane]

On O/B 111 just now, 6 pax in total.  The interesting thing, someone at CCB taking photos of the interiors, or sides of buses.

[Set in train]

interesting day on the buses today.

Took a 120 inbound from Salisbury east which was 10 mins late......driver decides to adjust his sign to 'blank' and do only drop offs from Salisbury east onwards (roughly half way of the route) 
One standee on the bus and a few spare seats 
Cant say ive ever seen that before...

Had a long chat with a 590 driver who said that drivers from carina depot are fairly unhappy with the increased unreliability of the 590 with the new changes. Weekends are a big issue. Also said that trade coast depot will partner up with garden city to run them from October.

Badly behaving bus drivers on the 120, why am I not surprised. The unreliability of this route is why I prefer to drive 1.7km to the Busway than walk 400m to the 120 bus stop near me. I have certainly changed my mind from the bus review time of wanting to retain it as a BUZ, get rid of it down to 2bph off peak.

590 has always been an unreliable route, there was a rejig of the timetable soon after it began but it didn't solve all problems. At least if TC and GC run them, there should be no time wasting changeover at Carina as there often is.

Thanks for your observations.

[STB]

I've had to catch route 562 for the past couple of days, and noticed while waiting for route 562 at Logan Hyperdome, the drivers tend to wait until AFTER the scheduled departure time before they wander over to the bus bay to pick up passengers, very slowly.  And end up leaving up to 5-7mins late.  And not just on route 562, but pretty much every route while I was waiting there.  Not good Logan City Bus Service, someone needs to whip those drivers.

[minbrisbane]

Funny you should mention LCBS.

I was astonished, I was waiting at GC interchange yesterday whilst a LC bus was left unattended and running for more than 25 minutes.

[HappyTrainGuy]

Gotta keep the air cool inside for all those passengers 

[longboi]

I've had to catch route 562 for the past couple of days, and noticed while waiting for route 562 at Logan Hyperdome, the drivers tend to wait until AFTER the scheduled departure time before they wander over to the bus bay to pick up passengers, very slowly.  And end up leaving up to 5-7mins late.  And not just on route 562, but pretty much every route while I was waiting there.  Not good Logan City Bus Service, someone needs to whip those drivers.

What was the arrival time though?

Could it be that the timetable has too much fat in it? So to avoid early running they depart later.

[STB]

I've had to catch route 562 for the past couple of days, and noticed while waiting for route 562 at Logan Hyperdome, the drivers tend to wait until AFTER the scheduled departure time before they wander over to the bus bay to pick up passengers, very slowly.  And end up leaving up to 5-7mins late.  And not just on route 562, but pretty much every route while I was waiting there.  Not good Logan City Bus Service, someone needs to whip those drivers.

What was the arrival time though?

Could it be that the timetable has too much fat in it? So to avoid early running they depart later.

I got off at Federation Drive.

Here's my Go Card data from the past few days on route 562.

02:21 PM    Loganholme stop A    02:50 PM    Federation Dr Opp F/S Copper Dr
Scheduled departure: 2:15pm Loganholme (I was one of the first to get on that service and we spent another 3mins loading passengers so ended up departing 9mins late); Scheduled arrival: 2:44pm

02:18 PM    Loganholme stop A    02:50 PM    Federation Dr Opp F/S Copper Dr
Same info as above (although we departed about 5mins late, not 9mins late).

[longboi]

Sounds like they're all just operating on "Islander time" then

They're operating just within the realm of late running (>5:59) so yeah maybe put something forward. The drivers might just need a reminder that some people need to transfer etc.

[STB]

Sounds like they're all just operating on "Islander time" then

They're operating just within the realm of late running (>5:59) so yeah maybe put something forward. The drivers might just need a reminder that some people need to transfer etc.

Hmm, I might just do that now I have the info on what is considered 'late running' for buses. 

Another annoying little LCBS quirk include drivers hitting the count button for Go Card users, giving a false reading on how many actually boarded!

[techblitz]

As long as its a timing point and they have had their required breaks...they are supposed to depart it at the scheduled time.
I do know that lcbs drivers get alerted with a beep if they are running ahead of schedule (hooked up to the new gps onboard stop displays) I spoke to a 562 driver a couple of months ago and she said that they get in trouble mainly when they leave stops early as they are potentially leaving customers behind. More complaints needed I would think for the late running for LCBS to action it.

If only the hyperdome was like Chermside....less layover space = less idling and timewasting 

[STB]

Decided to kill some time off yesterday after an early finish from university.

Took route 330 departing at 1:58pm to Chermside Interchange - about a half load. 

Transferred then to route 680 with a 2:22pm departure, had a constant quarter to half load all the way to North Lakes interchange with constant drop offs and pick ups.  North Lakes was very busy with school buses coming in dropping off kids.  Also the traffic in the area was incredibly bad!  It took us about 10mins to get out of the interchange and back onto Anzac Ave to Kippa Ring, cars absolutely everywhere and from what I saw, the carpark was chockers in the shopping centre!  On top of that, there's even more development coming, so a railway is absolutely critical, and I'd be looking at upgrading some of those bus routes to 15min frequencies, seriously!  We left with standees, which we still had after I got off at Peninsula Fair Shops. 

I wandered around the shops there for a bit, and then boarded the 4:25pm 695 to Sandgate, go card readers were out of action so was a free trip (although in reality, it was an extra journey - ie: more money as I still had transfers available but by the time I got to Sandgate station to touch on again it was a new journey, the transfers had reset).  Had about 10 people on board, and by the time we got to Sandgate, had about half that.  Then I checked out the new Sandgate station and headed home.

Overall - Route 330 - on time; Route 680 - on time departure, 7mins late arriving at Peninsula Fair; Route 695 - 5mins early at Sandgate station.

[techblitz]

Tnx stb

On a 111 ii/b Just noted an elderly lady lost and dazed in the heat walking on the busway right at the stones corner/buranda intersection. She is heading towards greenslopes walking on the side of the buslanes..
My driver stopped to let her know not to be on there....but hopefully someone actually picks her up on thier o/b routes.

[ozbob]

Logan Coach on rail replacement duties.  Oxley Road Oxley.



Photograph R Dow 13th October 2013

Quite a variety on the rail replacement (track closure Corinda - Rosewood) this weekend, have noted KBL, Thompsons, Logan, and TransLink liveried buses as well.  Also some plain white coaches.

[STB]

Tnx stb

On a 111 ii/b Just noted an elderly lady lost and dazed in the heat walking on the busway right at the stones corner/buranda intersection. She is heading towards greenslopes walking on the side of the buslanes..
My driver stopped to let her know not to be on there....but hopefully someone actually picks her up on thier o/b routes.

I would've thought that the driver would pick her up and take her to the nearest busway station and get busway control to get someone to look after her, as a duty of care?

[James]

Rain is falling, and Coro Drive is a car park... Again. Traffic back to Gailey Fiveways, not moving at all, buses suffering massive delays. I was travelling on an inbound 411, abandoned ship at the corner of SFSD and Gailey. Beat the bus by at least 15 minutes.

And still, we must send all the buses to the CBD! 

[techblitz]

TL notified

decided to check the 680 to see what time it leaves Chermside and I see this >>>

http://jp.translink.com.au/travel-information/network-information/buses/680

[longboi]

TL notified

decided to check the 680 to see what time it leaves Chermside and I see this >>>

http://jp.translink.com.au/travel-information/network-information/buses/680

Interesting. There's been a bunch of weird stuff happening as the website is currently being upgraded.

If you click on the individual service or look at the page for Chermside 'F', you get the times for Chermside.

[techblitz]

TL notified

decided to check the 680 to see what time it leaves Chermside and I see this >>>

http://jp.translink.com.au/travel-information/network-information/buses/680

Interesting. There's been a bunch of weird stuff happening as the website is currently being upgraded.

If you click on the individual service or look at the page for Chermside 'F', you get the times for Chermside.

thanks

yep it seemed to be fine before the site upgrade.

[James]

Having an exciting ride into the City in the Indooroopilly 400. So far the 460 is leading, with the 454 (my bus) in second and 444 in third! You simply can't beat this excitement! Who will make it to the City first?

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Bus crashes into Redland Bay house


http://images.brisbanetimes.com.au/2013/10/28/4866251/729bus-crash-620x349.jpg

[James]

On board the 11:25am 411 service. 7 pax, 12 minutes to go from my stop to the CBD... Bus running ahead of schedule with few stops.