Bus delays, cancellations ...

[HappyTrainGuy]

Try every single bus heading north through ccbs haha.

[Paul B]

I guess 30-minute delayed 170 and 150 aren't worth mentioning ? Noticed Translink take up to 2 hours to respond in the evenings.

[ozbob]

Sloppy stuff ..

https://twitter.com/TransLinkSEQ/status/1072403238836727809

[HappyTrainGuy]

Not correct at all. Buses were queued west end-Southbank-ccbs over the bridge into qsbs. Buses in qsbs were not moving.

[James]

Huge delays this evening - definitely more than 15 minutes. Buses going into QSBS/KGSBS were banked back right across the bridge and back along the busway and Melbourne St, causing a knock-on effect to Adelaide St services too, which couldn't access the left turn slip lane from Victoria bridge. Lucky to get one bus per traffic light cycle going through.

I was caught up in it, was fortunate enough to have decided to walk to CC today instead of getting the bus, so then walked further to the city.

[HappyTrainGuy]

Massive delays once again to all city bus services using the Cultural Centre bus station in every direction. Traffic lights went out before the storm fizzled over. Traffic banked up preventing buses exiting/entering via Grey Street. This inturn blocked buses from going south-west as terminating buses queued up as they waited for traffic to clear. QSBS services queued up and blocked northbound services. Essentially bus grid lock caused by poor network design. Expect Schrinner to point out why we need metro 

Bus drivers once again directing people to get off at South Bank station and transfer to a train if they want to get into the city. Multiple routes cancelled due to late running. Drivers also telling passengers to transfer to trains at Roma Street and at QSBS.

[techblitz]

thats the beauty of it though HTG.....they both support each other as a backup if either one fails...cbd bus network down? No probs jump onto a train...vice versa? no probs jump onto the bus....besides....people are used to mode switching through the city anyway....plenty of practice with weekend rail trackwork 

[HappyTrainGuy]

thats the beauty of it though HTG.....they both support each other as a backup if either one fails...cbd bus network down? No probs jump onto a train...vice versa? no probs jump onto the bus....besides....people are used to mode switching through the city anyway....plenty of practice with weekend rail trackwork 

Pitty it doesn't work elsewhere outside the cbd.

[techblitz]

what about the 77??.....does that not serve as a good backup for moving between Windsor and Buranda if either mode fails thru the CBD?? I should probably be glad you spruik it...because I use it for hassle free movement between Chermside and Buranda shops 


Besides....here are some outer cbd backups that have regularly served me well from archerfield:

to Goodna:

Sherwood/darra station or 115 I/b - GCL,110 o/b - 103, or 110 - 100 - 463

to Zillmere:
Salisbury/zillmere station or 110/115 >> 325,330,327(Toombul),110,115 or 330

to Pinkenba

Salisbury,doomben or 110/115 >> 301,303,302

to browns plains

Salisbury / fruitgrove station or 110 > 100 > 534 or 115 >150/140

to richlands

Sherwood/GCL, darra/103 or 110 > 101 or 100 > 460

to Tingalpa

southbank/salisbury/Wynnum central or 110/115 - 222/200 > 225 or 227/220

to upper Kedron

FG/BNG line or 110/115 >> 385 - 362 - 367. Whack in the 390 for the city to Mitchelton..

need I go on??.....the vast majority of metro suburbs DO have backup there if either mode goes down....you could nitpick the certain uncovered areas but they are vastly outweighed by the rest...

heck...just the other day I managed to move flawlessly for work between home and kallangur via 110 - 330 - 327 - 680....only to be messed around @ Kallangur station and the 683...20 minute wait for the train because apparently it MUST operate as a loop service and avoid petrie 

Its like this HTG...with all my PT travels....I find 90% of my issues either along the rail line and/or private operator translink areas...
Also time to adknowledge that these very backups have saved an endless amount of stress for people who have had to put up with and will continue to put up with #railfail.

[HappyTrainGuy]

In the case of yesterday there were no 330/333/345/385 buses going north because city terminating services and outbound services were stuck. When they eventually got the route underway they were stuck behind QSBS services because bays were full. This was a Saturday. And even then the limitations are there outside of the core. 326/327/336/337 span of hours are woeful during the week let alone on the weekend.

We saw with the railway network going tits up when a truck took out the overheads. 326/327 was useless because peak hour services don't run to strathpine. And there were only 2 services to transfer onto.

Translink review nearly a decade ago had a true backup should one mode fail with multiple redundancies. Not to mention there were proper interchange routes which helped enable it. Now if something happens in the city routes in the suburbs suffer because every route goes to the city.

[techblitz]

In the case of yesterday there were no 330/333/345/385 buses going north because city terminating services and outbound services were stuck. When they eventually got the route underway they were stuck behind QSBS services because bays were full

yes but failure on that sort of level is classed as a 'rare event'....when electronic hardware fails....it is no different when a train breaks down in a tunnel or on a bridge.....the rail network grinds to a complete halt.
You cant be selectively critical on one and not the other...
Both modes through the CBD are EQUAL in terms of possible critical failure....
Both have been caused by political incompetence.....and both have suffered due to poor infrastructure planning and decision making..

Now if something happens in the city routes in the suburbs suffer because every route goes to the city.

agreed but there are still crosstown routes in there to save the day....369 is another example if you need to move crossways from eagle junction..
All bar the 385 that you have listed above can be backtracked in the opposite direction via the rail line if all the buses in the cbd are stalled.

333  >> train to Toombul then GCL/308
345 >> train to Carseldine then 340 to gympie rd + 5 min walk
330 >>  train to sandgate then crossways on the 326 << this route doesn't seem to have too bad a frequency for connecting sandgate to bracken ridge.

You cant argue time factor either because if the rail network is taken down with no alternative bus route available then people suffer similar penalties waiting for a railbus. 1hour sometimes two...

Translink review nearly a decade ago had a true backup should one mode fail with multiple redundancies. Not to mention there were proper interchange routes which helped enable it.

I didn't have any issues with TL`s northside review.....south side I did....remember the most loss aversion happened on the south side with protests backed by red team opposition councellors/ministers being the main source....including the then shadow transport minister and current premier.

[HappyTrainGuy]

Quite rare?? I can think of 3 events in the last couple weeks affecting a lot of northside bus routes. If a train gets stuck in a tunnel there are work arounds. Quite quick workarounds. With CRR that will eliminate some issues with a failure in the core network. Something that doesn't apply to brisbane's bus network because of how many routes go to the city. If there's an issue in the city that could impact an inbound 333 which would inturn affects the outbound 333 and then the 338 that it forms.

And now how many people actually know all the routes and timings off the back of their hand?

[techblitz]

you seem to be linking 3 seperate events.....first one was the story bridge incident....second a broken down bus.....and 3rd a power outage.....looks pretty bloody rare to me....

HTG to be honest given all of the crap that has happened with railfail...I think its been a blessing that the buses are still going to the city....you should probably ask some fellow bus users if they feel the same......ask them would they like to be fed into a station where their train is randomly cancelled or skipping the station..
I can only imagine the 100buz and all the crap that commuters would have copped at Oxley with the 'now running express to darra' random changes.....or how about the Mitchelton feeder? Even more people not able to get a seat at Windsor etc.....

Salisbury....damn glad I didn't have that 1.2+km walk then navigating the stone age non-dda facilities just to get a train that was randomly going to turn up.....and then theres the good ol trackwork..
naa.....give me a bus anyday.....if it gets stuck in a rare event then I'm willing to wear it....

And now how many people actually know all the routes and timings off the back of their hand

probably about as many that know that their railbus is arriving in an hour....sometimes two.....or that if a train sh%t`s itself....that they maybe stuck in it...sometimes for hours...

[James]

you seem to be linking 3 seperate events.....first one was the story bridge incident....second a broken down bus.....and 3rd a power outage.....looks pretty bloody rare to me....

HTG to be honest given all of the crap that has happened with railfail...I think its been a blessing that the buses are still going to the city....you should probably ask some fellow bus users if they feel the same......ask them would they like to be fed into a station where their train is randomly cancelled or skipping the station..
I can only imagine the 100buz and all the crap that commuters would have copped at Oxley with the 'now running express to darra' random changes.....or how about the Mitchelton feeder? Even more people not able to get a seat at Windsor etc.....

Salisbury....damn glad I didn't have that 1.2+km walk then navigating the stone age non-dda facilities just to get a train that was randomly going to turn up.....and then theres the good ol trackwork..
naa.....give me a bus anyday.....if it gets stuck in a rare event then I'm willing to wear it....

And now how many people actually know all the routes and timings off the back of their hand

probably about as many that know that their railbus is arriving in an hour....sometimes two.....or that if a train sh%t`s itself....that they maybe stuck in it...sometimes for hours...

You don't get it. Every week there is a major incident delaying our bus network. Whether it is a fire alarm, a crash or broken down bus is irrelevant, the issue is one sneeze and the entire network enters into a death spiral of delays and cancellations. Over the past few weeks, I've been keeping track of the OTP of my bus home at 5pm, measured as departure from Adelaide St. It has never run on time. The best result I've gotten is 2 minutes late. On nights where it has rained, or there have been major events, the bus runs 10-20 minutes late.

If I could avoid the delays, I would catch the train home - but it doesn't matter, because my bus is still stuck in the CBD. Yes, there are the ongoing rail fail issues, but that is why you have a decently redundant bus network as well, not one which throws tons of resources down one corridor, such that when that corridor breaks down, the rest of the network is stuffed from there.

If you had a feederised northside system, if for whatever reason all City-bound routes are stuffed it, you can hop on a train and get a cross-town bus across town to close to where you are going. Sure you have the 369 currently, but if you want to go north or south of Stafford Rd, you end up trying to catch buses on the same heavily delayed corridor.

[HappyTrainGuy]

you seem to be linking 3 seperate events.....first one was the story bridge incident....second a broken down bus.....and 3rd a power outage.....looks pretty bloody rare to me....

HTG to be honest given all of the crap that has happened with railfail...I think its been a blessing that the buses are still going to the city....you should probably ask some fellow bus users if they feel the same......ask them would they like to be fed into a station where their train is randomly cancelled or skipping the station..
I can only imagine the 100buz and all the crap that commuters would have copped at Oxley with the 'now running express to darra' random changes.....or how about the Mitchelton feeder? Even more people not able to get a seat at Windsor etc.....

Salisbury....damn glad I didn't have that 1.2+km walk then navigating the stone age non-dda facilities just to get a train that was randomly going to turn up.....and then theres the good ol trackwork..
naa.....give me a bus anyday.....if it gets stuck in a rare event then I'm willing to wear it....

And now how many people actually know all the routes and timings off the back of their hand

probably about as many that know that their railbus is arriving in an hour....sometimes two.....or that if a train sh%t`s itself....that they maybe stuck in it...sometimes for hours...

No offence but you are missing or not seeing the point that I'm making. I know there are issues with the rail network. Never denied that. But there are lots of issues with the bus network at least on Brisbane's Northside. And it's not just big rare incidents in the city. It's congestion on Gympie, Sandgate, Webster roads. It's rain. It's car crashes. It's road works. The smallest of delay has a flow on effect. Take the 375. A delay at Ashgrove has a flow on effect for the Stafford run. A delay at chermside affects nearly every bus route. 325 inbound stuck on hamilton road approaching Gympie road. 77 too. And no one catches the bus where I live. Poor runnning hours. Confusing route destinations. Different terminus locations. Different route running depending on the day.

[achiruel]

https://twitter.com/TransLinkSEQ/status/1077742494354419712

I'm guessing that's supposed to be 11:50am, not PM. And I also strongly suspect this is caused by congestion around Indro Shoppingtown. I wonder how the rail-buses are faring today?

[James]

https://twitter.com/TransLinkSEQ/status/1077742494354419712

I'm guessing that's supposed to be 11:50am, not PM. And I also strongly suspect this is caused by congestion around Indro Shoppingtown. I wonder how the rail-buses are faring today?

I'm sceptical that it was caused by Indro - I was there earlier today and the congestion along Musgrave Rd was no worse than a usual Saturday morning. A check of the real-time right now indicates most services out there are running close enough to schedule. Perhaps there was congestion along Blunder Rd approaching the Ipswich Mwy?

The rail buses tend to run along Coonan St and bypass the centre entirely, so unless the traffic is totally shot (which Google Maps says isn't the case right now) they won't be affected.

[ozbob]

Buses travelling in both directions from Woolloongabba station will experience delays of up to 15 minutes due to a bus with a mechanical issue.

[techblitz]

I know there are issues with the rail network. Never denied that. But

Yes, there are the ongoing rail fail issues, but

ideally you should be saying >> 'I know there are issues with the bus network but the rail network is also [expletive]

Look...until these rolling stock,rostering issues are fixed......there is no but.......no increased rail feederization unless it involves the express stations where there is genuine 15 minute out of peak frequency so we can wear some of these random sh%thouse rail cancellations...
Anywhere else which doesn't have that frequency is too much of a risk...not worth the hassle...

Lets take it back to the TL bus review......we are at a completely different scenario to what was planned......back then it was proposed that we feed more buses into a fully functioning rail system......totally different now..

[achiruel]

Lots of mechanical issues this morning, I counted at least 10 on TransLink's Twitter feed, a mixture of Westside, Surfside & Veolia.

[ozbob]

All buses travelling inbound through Woolloongabba station are delayed up to 20 minutes due to heavy traffic congestion.

[Paul B]

delays in all directions leaving the city. must be a lot of heavy passengers out and about

[James]

delays in all directions leaving the city. must be a lot of heavy passengers out and about

Game day. Traffic gets heavy around Woolloongabba, which in turn banks back on to the Riverside Expressway southbound, which hence spills into the city and back on to Coronation Drive. Increase in bus passengers - particularly along the inner SE Busway - also adds to congestion along the Victoria Bridge, making congestion worse on the bus network too.

If we had DST, this would be much less of a problem - games start at 6:15pm so that the southern states get their games starting right after the TV news at 7:15pm. A 1hr shift forward (to 7:15pm start time) would move this peak demand out of peak hour.

[Paul B]

Ah makes sense. Just imagine a scenario where Brisbane's system was forced with a fortnight of Melbourne open tennis transport! It'd be utter chaos

[ozbob]

Buses travelling both directions in the Brisbane CBD will experience delays of up to 45 minutes due to heavy traffic congestion.

[ozbob]

All Brisbane City Council buses travelling both directions will experience delays of up to 45 minutes due to severe weather.

[achiruel]

Stops missed: Logan Road, Greenslopes

Last reviewed: Saturday 16 Mar 2019 at 7.01am (7 minutes ago)
The following stops are temporarily unavailable due to fallen power lines obstructing access:

Logan Rd at Greenslopes Mall, stop 25/24, Greenslopes
Logan Rd at Donaldson Street, stop 23, Greenslopes
The nearest stops for inbound passengers are:

Logan Rd at Greenslopes, stop 22, Greenslopes
Logan Rd at CB Mott Park, stop 26, Holland Park West
Logan Rd at Holland Park, stop 29, Holland Park West

[James]

Network-wide BT delays of up to 30 minutes because it's raining. Would be nice if TransLink actually reported it rather than simply leaving people to wait in the rain.

[ozbob]

Buses travelling both directions in the CBD will experience delays of up to 40 minutes due to heavy traffic congestion.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/TransLinkSEQ/status/1110808693447249920

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/TransLinkSEQ/status/1110827001164763136

[Cazza]

Is that 3 weeks in a row where the bus network has completely shat itself because of rain or some other incident? Where are the bus lanes and other priority measures when you need them, hey?

[verbatim9]

Is that 3 weeks in a row where the bus network has completely shat itself because of rain or some other incident? Where are the bus lanes and other priority measures when you need them, hey?

There was alot of traffic on Coronation Drive the whole day. Caught a bus after 6 pm on Adelaide Street, big queues of waiting passengers. Lots of car traffic along Adelaide Street buses needed to weave in and out of cars just to get to stops. Adelaide Street is a debacle! It should be limited local traffic only between  6 am - 10 am, 3pm - 7 pm weekdays and special event periods as well as Saturdays from 7am - 9am, 3pm - 6pm. Cars and trucks should use Ann, Edward, Elizabeth, Turbot and Alice as thoroughfare streets to get through the city. George Street should be limited traffic from Alice to Adelaide Street, with the same peak times as above.

^^Limited traffic streets should be updated and pushed out to GPS devices and Google maps warning drivers of limited access streets (local traffic only) No! through traffic buses and taxis excepted) in the CBD at certain times

[Cazza]

The thing is, Adelaide St is already buses and local traffic only between George and Edward St (https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-27.4701796,153.0227721,3a,26.8y,30.37h,91.86t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sc_MDTOzDGh_J8nThImD1LQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 and https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-27.4676222,153.0261693,3a,25y,202.66h,97.33t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sCJs4ETbv9OTdlehx0A6qBg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656).

[James]

^ I think it may actually be the turn into Edward Street which is banking up cars and stopping buses getting through. That, and unfavourable traffic light cycles restricting the movement of cars out of Adelaide St when the lights do go green. The ban should be extended further along Adelaide St up to Wharf Street, and enforced as well - too many Uber drivers and non-local traffic using Adelaide St!

[Paul B]

The delays started before the rain. I saw a P344 running an hour late (4:55 departing 5:55)
noted a 321 and a 360 running about 45 mins late.
nothing on translink's site (a blanket statement but nothing afterwards, maybe it embarrasses them to tell people of 60 mins delays?).
Later at Chermside, a 60mins late 335 outbound. Busway-only services seemed to be going a lot better as expected
Driver told me it took him 30 mins to go from Turbot St to Queen St

[techblitz]

too many Uber drivers and non-local traffic using Adelaide St!

and there you go....you have just highlighted a negative with uber......due to the benefits of surge pricing...rain is a blessing & gives drivers a chance to make up for the quiet periods....unfortunately its the buses that have to deal with it.
Take it back to the pre uber days......people were forced to wait longer for their taxis because they were in limited supply.....they either gave up and took a bus or sat there waiting...

Uber spruikers dont realise that its a no limits operational model......so as population grows.....even more drivers are going to cash in on the wet weather and surge pricing.......so what you saw the other day could be infinitely worse next year and so on....
The only way to counter it is to push back through legislation....either enforce congestion tolling,rideshare vehicle limits or limit surge-pricing..

But lets not single out uber here...its the gig economy in general that's putting a lot of cars/bikes on the road.
Also the increasing amount of construction trucks....Ipswich rd is congesting earlier than it ever has...

Congestion is getting bad...i think the next major bus review will only be able to cover the shortfall for population growth....there will literally be no money for new services....just yesterday i overheard bus control stating 15 kids left behind on cavendish rd so they had to try and quickly scramble another bus to have them picked up....that's how strapped the network is becoming..

[Paul B]

What would be the low-hanging-fruit on the next bus review? Given that they wouldn't dare change any of the BCC's stupidly wasteful routes, then what? the prepaid rockets to the bayside suburbs and Logan?

[Cazza]

Uh oh...

https://translink.com.au/service-updates/225581
"The 3.30pm route 950 inbound bus is cancelled due to a operational issue.

The next inbound route 950 bus departs Plaza Circle near Littleton Dr, Highfields at 5.08pm."

I'm sure there will be plenty of concerned school kids wondering where on earth their bus is.

[ozbob]

Tour de Brisbane

On Sunday 14 April, Brisbane welcomes the Tour de Brisbane with 110km cycling all over the city.

From 4.30am - 2.30pm, there will be major disruptions on the bus network, so we recommend you avoid or delay your travel, or consider catching the train.

If you do need to travel, be sure to check the TransLink website and notices at your affected stops and stations ahead of time.

Important: due to the complexity of the rolling changes with the race, journey planner information will not be accurate.