Can Private Buses be used to ease congestion?

[justanotheruser]

I catch very few buses these days but used to work at RBWH. I caught the 333 everyday to work and agree that overcrowding was a real problem. Some Translink officers said we could catch the private bus company Hornibrook Bus Lines to get to the hospital. I pointed out that if we tried to get on the bus the driver would say they were not allowed to drop people off before chermside on outbound runs due to contract conditions. Does anybody know if this has been rectified or was it some drivers forgetting about changes since Translink came in?  If they are not allowed to drop people off then surely this could be changed to help ease congestion.

Can anyone help with finding out the facts here?

[Otto]

I catch very few buses these days but used to work at RBWH. I caught the 333 everyday to work and agree that overcrowding was a real problem. Some Translink officers said we could catch the private bus company Hornibrook Bus Lines to get to the hospital. I pointed out that if we tried to get on the bus the driver would say they were not allowed to drop people off before chermside on outbound runs due to contract conditions. Does anybody know if this has been rectified or was it some drivers forgetting about changes since Translink came in?  If they are not allowed to drop people off then surely this could be changed to help ease congestion.

Can anyone help with finding out the facts here?

I worked for Bayside Buses, now known as Veolia. They had a similar arrangement as Hornibrook pre Translink.. Veolia could not drop off till Carindale outbound or pick up after Carindale inbound. Post Translink,  Veolia can now pick up and set down along the mainline 250 route ( Old Cleveland Road ) right into the city.. Between Carindale and Stones Corner, Veolia will only stop at " White " coloured bus stops as well as the Buranda, Gabba, Mater, Sth Bank, Cultural Cnt busway stops . The 250 is very much like the BT 200 route except via ( and stopping at ) Stones Corner.

I would guess that very similar arrangments would apply to Hornibrook..

Regular BT passengers have been a bit slow catching on to the fact that the 250 is an alternative to the 200 service along Old Cleveland Road..

[STB]

The Logan City services are the same, they are allowed to pick up and drop off anywhere along the busway.

In time the 250/270 will pick up, there's a long history of Veolia not being allowed to pick up and drop off between Carindale and the City, so it will be a gradual thing.  It was the same for Logan, and even nowadays while it's fairly high with regular users who would've only stuck to BT in the past, and are now using the Logan services as an alternative.  There are still quite a few who appear to be unsure if they can board the service and therefore stick to what they know, a BT bus.

Lately though the patronage has been increasing who are doing short trips between Carindale and Buranda and vice versa, who may of used route 200 in the past.

The stopping pattern for route 250/270, is all busway stations pick up/set down  Cultural Centre to Buranda, then Cityxpress stops Stones Corner to Carindale, then all stops to Redland Bay.

The stopping pattern for the express Veolia routes (to Capalaba - 251, 257, 265, 267, 271, 273, 275) is Express Buranda Busway to Chandler Park and Ride and vice versa.  The express pattern for Veolia expresses heading to Southern Redlands (279, 281) is express Buranda to Griffith University, although unofficially there have been instances where passengers have approached the driver say on approach to Greenslopes and got him to drop the said passenger off.  Not official and annoys the heck out of the rest of the passengers but it does happen every now and then.

Mount Gravatt Bus Service Route 261 is a bit different, and stops all busway stations, set down/pick up.

The stopping pattern for route 555 is all busway stations set down/pick up, while the Logan expresses vary from express Buranda to Garden City (566, 569, 571) to express Buranda to Griffith University (551, 561, 573, 575, 577 and 579), and vice versa.

The Hornibrook buses are still set down only inbound, and pick up only outbound to Chermside.  So far it hasn't had the stopping pattern overhauled like the other companies have.

[ozbob]

Thanks for your responses Otto and STB.  Very useful information.

Regards
Bob

[brismike]

Yes . . Otto and STB are the Wikipedia of Brisbane and area Bus Services.   

[justanotheruser]

thanks for the replies guys. although the interesting thing I found was that it was the bus drivers themselves who were telling people (well after translink came in) that they could not take the passengers.

[#Metro]

Hmm.

If people want to catch a bus, let them. For heaven's sake, sometimes people follow rules that make little sense just for the sake of it.