Bus delays, cancellations ...

[ozbob]

[UPDATE]
All buses travelling in Brisbane CBD are delayed up to 35 minutes due to severe weather conditions.

[Cazza]

https://translink.com.au/service-updates/255316
"The 5.26pm route 385 outbound bus is cancelled due to heavy traffic congestion. The next outbound route 385 bus departs Cultural Centre Station at 5.46pm."

https://translink.com.au/service-updates/255311

"The 5.36pm outbound route 385 bus is cancelled due to heavy traffic congestion. The next outbound route 385 bus is due to depart Cultural Centre Station at 5.46pm."


Two 385's cancelled in a row smack bang into the middle of peak hour. Good luck to that 5:46 service. TfB if you're watching, might want to schedule a TAG or artic on that service

All board!!!

[ozbob]

Real-time information is temporarily unavailable on all buses and ferries in South East Queensland due to an unplanned outage. Departure times may display as 'scheduled' on the TransLink website and MyTransLink app, and this will continue while technicians work on the issue.

[verbatim9]

Real-time information is temporarily unavailable on all buses and ferries in South East Queensland due to an unplanned outage. Departure times may display as 'scheduled' on the TransLink website and MyTransLink app, and this will continue while technicians work on the issue.

It was down yesterday as well.

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Live tracking outage across south-east Queensland bus, ferry network

The live tracking system that tells south-east Queensland commuters exactly when their scheduled bus or ferry will arrive is down.

The "unplanned outage" began early on Sunday afternoon and continued during Monday morning peak-hour, according to TransLink.

The live tracking system that tells south-east Queensland commuters exactly when their scheduled bus or ferry will arrive is down.

The "unplanned outage" began early on Sunday afternoon and continued during Monday morning peak-hour, according to TransLink.

TransLink has apologised to commuters with real-time bus and ferry service information unavailable on Monday.
TransLink has apologised to commuters with real-time bus and ferry service information unavailable on Monday.CREDIT:MICHELLE SMITH

It is understood the outage has been traced back to an issue with the GPS system in the vehicles not feeding information into the system which then keeps customers up-to-date.

"Real-time information is temporarily unavailable on all buses and ferries in south-east Queensland due to an unplanned outage," TransLink said in a statement.

"Departure times may display as 'scheduled' on the TransLink website and MyTransLink app, and this will continue while technicians work on the issue.

"We apologise for any inconvenience."

[ozbob]

Real-time information is now available on all buses and ferries in South East Queensland following an earlier unplanned outage.

[ozbob]

Customers travelling on inbound buses through Buranda busway station can expect delays of up to 20 minutes due to a mechanical issue.

[ozbob]

Greenslopes Station is temporarily unavailable for buses travelling outbound due to a fallen tree on the busway.

[ozbob]

All buses travelling outbound along the South East Busway are delayed up to 20 minutes due to a fallen tree on the busway at Greenslopes.

No delays are expected for buses travelling inbound.

[Paul B]

The 9.07 am route 379 outbound bus is cancelled between Adelaide Street Stop 42 near Albert st and Royal Pde near Gresham St, stop 26, Ashgrove due to weather conditions.  ?? as in too sunny?

[STB]

The 9.07 am route 379 outbound bus is cancelled between Adelaide Street Stop 42 near Albert st and Royal Pde near Gresham St, stop 26, Ashgrove due to weather conditions.  ?? as in too sunny?

Guessing it might be an aircon problem, can get quite hot in the bus without aircon, especially in summer.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/TransLinkSEQ/status/1222068053405466625

[ozbob]

Buses travelling in both directions from South Bank Busway to Mater Hill Station are delayed up to 15 minutes due to an incident requiring emergency services.
11:21 PM · Feb 2, 2020

[ozbob]

All Brisbane City Council buses are currently delayed up to 40 minutes due to severe weather conditions and heavy traffic congestion.

[ozbob]

Update: All Brisbane City Council buses are now currently delayed up to 60 minutes due to severe weather conditions and heavy traffic congestion.
6:11 PM · Feb 6, 2020·

====

Update: All Brisbane City Council buses are now currently delayed up to 30 minutes due to severe weather conditions and heavy traffic congestion.
8:15 PM · Feb 6, 2020

[Otto]

Update: All Brisbane City Council buses are now currently delayed up to 60 minutes due to severe weather conditions and heavy traffic congestion.
6:11 PM · Feb 6, 2020·

====

Update: All Brisbane City Council buses are now currently delayed up to 30 minutes due to severe weather conditions and heavy traffic congestion.
8:15 PM · Feb 6, 2020

Sometimes I just can't figure things out. Had the same work each day this week. Have run up to 20 minutes late on Mon, Tue and Wed on my first trip, the 4:52pm route 204 to Carindale followed by a 61 to Ashgrove due to leave Coorparoo at 6:24pm departing up to 15 minutes late.
Today with all the traffic kaos and rain happening, I was running perfectly on time ! Go Figure..

[ozbob]

Thanks Otto.  I have come to the conclusion that the reported bus service disruptions are rarely an accurate representation of what is actually occurring.  Bus regions that have excellent reported OTR have numerous reported service disruptions,  regions that have very poor OTR have very minimal service disruption reports.  It is just a charade sadly.  Your observations further highlight the disconnect from reality.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/TransLinkSEQ/status/1225502255920668680

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/WeAreBrisbane/status/1225515144177954824

A number of buses being diverted to Darra/Richlands station.

[ozbob]

^

https://twitter.com/Bianca_Stone/status/1225514993648590850

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/TransLinkSEQ/status/1225543630280065024

[ozbob]

^

Route 453, 454, P455 and P456 buses have returned to their regular journeys following the unplanned roadworks from a burst pipe on the Centenary Highway earlier. Expect delays of up to 40 minutes.
8:53 AM · Feb 7, 2020

[ozbob]

The roads out west have been a monumental cluster-fuk this morning, as expected with the Centenary Highway blocked.

[CQRail]

Took me 90 minutes to get from Jamboree Heights to Kenmore this morning. Was over an hour late to work.

[James]

Sometimes I just can't figure things out. Had the same work each day this week. Have run up to 20 minutes late on Mon, Tue and Wed on my first trip, the 4:52pm route 204 to Carindale followed by a 61 to Ashgrove due to leave Coorparoo at 6:24pm departing up to 15 minutes late.
Today with all the traffic kaos and rain happening, I was running perfectly on time ! Go Figure..

You aren't the only one. Usual bus home typically runs 5-10 minutes late. On Thursday it ran perfectly to schedule...

Route 453, 454, P455 and P456 buses have returned to their regular journeys following the unplanned roadworks from a burst pipe on the Centenary Highway earlier. Expect delays of up to 40 minutes.
8:53 AM · Feb 7, 2020

May have taken a burst pipe and traffic chaos, but we have finally managed to achieve our dream of getting buses feeding trains at Darra station!

[ozbob]

All buses travelling through Brisbane CBD are delayed up to 20 minutes due to heavy traffic congestion.

[achiruel]

https://translink.com.au/service-updates/286271

Route 700, 760 and 768 northbound buses delayed

Last reviewed: Monday 13 Jul 2020 at 6.10pm (2 hours ago)
Route 700, 760 and 768 buses travelling northbound from Tweed Heads are delayed up to 50 minutes due to border crossing delays.

Affected services
Bus
700
760
768

Makes you wonder why they don't just skip the stops over the border, it's only a few hundred metres extra walk and you'd likely get there long before the bus anyway.

[verbatim9]

Lots of delays for buses once again today along Coronation Drive and Milton road. The traffic has been really bad all this week and last week, with extensive queues from Toowong right past Juliet Street on the M1. The Government needs to consider a plan to get traffic off this corridor. The tunnel is needed from Toowong Cemetery to Buranda.

[verbatim9]

They need to start planning a mass transit corridor from South Brisbane via West End St Lucia UQ and Indooroopilly eventually ending at Kenmore village. That way alot of bus traffic can be taken off the Coronation Drive corridor.

[achiruel]

Getting people back on to public transport that already exists would go a long day toward ameliorating this problem. Unfortunately, TMR seems to have no plans to encourage people back on to public transport.

[Cazza]

You'll find that most of this arvo's CBD delays were because of a crash on the Story Bridge. I agree that Corro Dr isn't the greatest of corridors for buses to drive down during peaks but there's nothing that truncation/feederising most of those services as well as bus priority won't fix.

Going onto Google Maps with the traffic overlay on anytime after 3pm and you'll notice how congested the city and suburbs are. It just is so infuriating then seeing on Anytrip how many buses are delayed because of this and just know how little bus lanes/priority there is across the city.

Only recently I found out they've removed the bus lanes southbound on Ann St between Commercial Rd and James St, literally one of the only proper bus lanes the city had outside of the busway network! That was the only thing keeping the CityGlider's OTR from really slipping away. And now look at it any time during the day. Running upwards of 10 mins late before it even starts it's next run due to the limited terminus recovery time and the accumulation of lateness over the course of 2 or 3 runs.

Bus lanes and other priority measures (such as B-Lights, green links and indented bus bays) are such quick and easy solutions to getting buses out of this daily gridlock and get more people onto them. Commuter confidence is one of the most important factors in public transport ridership, and if you're going to be sitting in congestion to and from work each day, I'd much rather it be in the comfort of my car rather than a bus.

There really needs to be a strong push to BCC to reinstate and install bus lanes right across the city (alongside the bus network overhaul) when the Metro comes online. Congestion is already costing SEQ more than $1b/year, with most of that coming from the Brisbane region. Something's gotta change. And then will be the perfect time.

[verbatim9]

The have ruled out bus lanes and priority on Coronation Drive, because it would reduce general traffic lanes and cause traffic jams up to UQ and Indooroopilly.

[Cazza]

But it won't... It will improve the current daily crawl along this stretch. And even if it did cause a backlog, you're then ignoring the fact that it already happens (not all the way to Indro and UQ like you've pulled out of the air), but back to Toowong and Gailey Rd.

The single bus lane running southbound on the harbour bridge in Sydney has a higher capacity than all the southbound general traffic lanes combined. Does that not speak volumes in itself? Cars are the most inefficient forms of urban transport. That's a fact.

A Corro Dr bus lane will encourage an uptake in PT due to the improved speed and convenience of using a bus (or even train for that matter). Some afternoons, buses take upwards of 90mins to do the Toowong to CBD stretch of Corro Dr. 90 f%cking minutes to cover a measly 3.5 odd kms?!! With bus lanes (and a proper bus network) they'll be able to skip all these traffic queues and do this stretch in 15 mins, maybe 20 should the traffic be queuing across intersections.

They have ruled out bus lanes and priority across the city due to a lack of political willpower, vision and proper understanding of just how much potential they have. Wynnum Rd upgrade? No bus lanes. Ann St? Apparently not good enough anymore to deserve bus lanes. Kelvin Grove Rd? Apparently not congested enough to need bus lanes. Lutwyche Rd? Apparently not even close to cool enough to connect the missing link of busway (or even bus priority) along one of Brisbane's highest patronage yet most congested corridors (yes I am aware this is a state government corridor). Kingsford Smith Dr upgrade? No bus lanes. Not only have they proposed to have a glider service running down this corridor, but it is also the main access road to the Eagle Farm bus depot!

Bus lanes may look like they are just a waste of road space because they aren't filled like normal car lanes, but as we all know, a standard bus can take up to 60 cars off the road, by using the space of just 3 at the very most.

Also, who's they that you've quoted? Who's made this claim that cars will bank up to Indro and UQ?What evdicence is there to support this? I would be very inclined to see any sort of research behind this theory and who's actually said anything along these lines.

[Cazza]

30 minute delay for inbound SE Busway services. AnyTrip showing a bus queue from Greenslopes to Mater Hill. Wow! This bus reform can't come soon enough. On that note, with a capacity improvements to the cultral centre, will it soon be time to pull most rockets off the CCB? In the arvo peak, those rockets staring at Queen St Station and run via the CCB are actually timetabled (in most cases) to take longer to get to Buranda than those services to that run via the Cultural Centre. Food for thought.

[SurfRail]

Could just bite the bullet and put bus lanes on the CCB to Elizabeth St inbound and from Ann St outbound.

[Cazza]

I have thought about that. The inbound wouldn't be too difficult (although the bridge pillar of the Vulture St overpass may cause some issues) but with the outbound, you would need some sort of jump zone if you were to run it in the 2nd from left lane (like this one in Sydney: https://www.google.com/maps/@-33.833526,151.2121377,3a,75y,208.99h,84.75t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1soly0v-2oXXDZc0uE2Y_Afg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192). Merging is probably one of human kind's greatest downfalls, and with such a high volume of traffic on this section of Mwy, I don't see it ending well.

But let's be real, bus lanes in Brisbane? Likely story!

[techblitz]

instead of fiddling with bus lanes on coro why not just look to the p443 and its success??
p443 while not at the top...is definitely near the top on a passengers per service metric for rockets...last figures had it at 37pps so would now easily be back to at least 42pps which is roughly double the p142)...
Something is clearly working there....can we find some more legacy way tunnel use??

[James]

There is no need for a bus lane down Coronation Drive. We already have a perfectly good public transport corridor running through this area, it is called the Ipswich / Springfield line and has plenty of capacity for much of the PM peak. The 30bph or so running down Coro should be terminating at Indro & Toowong, with pax transferring to the train, or the 412 / 444 if they want a Coro Drive stop.

If you did put in a T2/bus lane, you would only need it inbound, as inbound is where the buses are getting delayed. Once the bus is heading outbound it tends to make pretty good time, the problem is your 412 outbound is formed by a 412 inbound, which has been delayed by 45 minutes.

The other problem is all the fearmongering over COVID-19 has led to people fleeing public transport. The government really needs to make a concerted effort to get people back on PT. PT has not been the site of superspreading events like restaurants, bars and cafes have been, yet here we are worrying about PT while the hospitality industry operates almost as usual.

[techblitz]

There have been some rather in-depth studies into removing lanes to cater for buses in various cities..........coming to a similar conclusion.
They have been highly beneficial in some....absolute disasters in others....so damned if you do damned if you don't...

Some of the studies show that the either marginal(or if your lucky significant) uptick in bus patronage courtesy of reduced transit time will be offset with increased cost to business eg: freight/construction && decreased road safety due to driver frustration / reduced benefits of an extra lane with regards to overtaking / increased parking/idling violations...

Want a coro drive bus lane??.....better back it up with all day 5 minute frequency indro - city and give indro station more bus services and layover space....
Could work...

For now though.....better off focusing on getting people into the city via legacy way.....more functional peak rockets....so service more stops and streets at the start before sending them express thru LW....

Take a look at the p443 vs p456....
The latter only covers 9 stops before heading into the tunnel vs the 443`s twenty....
A lot of work needs to be done on increasing bus stop coverage in the centenary area..
If people have too far to walk to their peak-hour service......they will simply drive and sit on a congested coro or moggil...

[Cazza]

There is no need for a bus lane down Coronation Drive. We already have a perfectly good public transport corridor running through this area, it is called the Ipswich / Springfield line

Yes but whether it's 20 routes or 3 key routes running down Coro Dr, it won't stop the near daily car park (just like this afternoon for example). As you've said, the run on delays this causes to the 412 (and other routes that don't even go near Coro Dr like the 380, 390 or even the 100 for example) all get caught up in the delays due to TfB's stupid run sheets and unwillingness (for whatever reason) to have runs set up so a bus doesn't traverse every corner of Brisbane within a few hours.

The easiest way to fix this would be inbound bus lanes. Since TfB don't seem to want to move past having an inbound 454 regularly run an outbound 100, or an outbound 475 come back into the city to do an outbound 162 (that's a new one I saw this arvo!) or even the more common inbound 4xx into an outbound 380/381, bus lanes are the answer (for both now and after the hopeful 2023 bus reform).

As I personally now travel from Newmarket to Woolloongabba 2 days a week, it's pretty astounding to me just the general neglect for bus lanes and bus priority across the city. Travelling from Newmarket to the city each morning (to change buses at either Roma St or the CC) takes way longer than it should. A bus lane from Alderley to Blamey St would be perfect way to help buses improve run times, increase reliability  and encourage people out of their vehicles.

And that's just one of countless examples of bus lanes that could be put in overnight. Gympie Rd, Old Cleveland Rd (for most of it between Carindale and Langlands Park), Mains Rd, Kingsford Smith Dr, Ann/Wickham Sts, Stanley St (from Coorparoo to the Gabba), parts of Ipswich Rd (from Beaudesert Rd to the Gabba), parts of Wynnum Rd (including the recently "upgraded" bit) all would be very straight forward to do. As I said, these could all literally be put in overnight with close to 0 public backlash (except from those who you'd expect). You're welcome BCC, no need for years of some sort of analysis, I've just done that bit for you. Now please go build them!

Even just putting in more b-lights and jump zones (like Ann St & James st or Coopers Camp Rd @ Bardon) as some sort of interim measure would do wonders. It all just comes down to the willingness to acknowledge there is a problem and having the initiative to actually do something about it.

Congestion is one of, if not the biggest economic hindrances of a city, yet it can be such an easy if proper plans are laid out and actually put into action.

Edit- I forgot to add that these delays this afternoon caused a 16 min service gap between outbound P443/444 services from King George Square (a 19 min service gap between P443 services). I went through the station at about 5:20pm (towards the end of this gap) to see the line of people for these 2 routes start at Stand 1A and stretch all the way down past Stand 1D!