City Glider

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Brisbane's 24-hour buses hit the road

Brisbane's 24-hour buses hit the road
COURTNEY TRENWITH
April 11, 2010 - 12:45PM

Brisbane's newest buses took to the road this morning and will provide the city's first 24-hour service from next weekend.

The new West End to Teneriffe bus service kicked off at 10am and will run for 18 hours a day, Sunday to Thursday, between 5.30am and 11.30pm.

Come Friday and Saturday, it will work continuously through the night.

Introduction of the service was brought forward to coincide with the recent early opening of the Clem7 tunnel, which runs between Woollongabba and Bowen Hills and under the Brisbane River.

The 20 distinctive new blue and white CityGlider buses operate every five minutes during peak times and every 15 minutes at other times, at a cost of $5 million per year, shared between the State Government and Brisbane City Council.

The route provides 83,000 more seats each week and runs from the West End ferry terminal, via Montague Road, Mollison Road and Melbourne Street, before crossing the Brisbane River on the Victoria Bridge and running through the CBD and Fortitude Valley, finishing at Teneriffe ferry terminal.

Passengers are required to use a GoCard or buy a pre-paid ticket and will be charged for travelling in one or two bus zones.

However, a fee reprieve is in a place until April 30.

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman and Premier Anna Bligh launched the new service yesterday.

"These new buses will help us reach our target of 500 buses over four years and boost the number of people catching buses, which is already more than the entire South East Queensland rail network," Councillor Newman said.

[WTN]

Looks like just another BUZ service "glossed over" to me.  

I walked past City Hall on Friday and saw the new Adelaide St shelters replacing the regular shelters near the 199 stops.  Sure, the new stops and livery are colourful, but I don't think they were necessary.  

[somebody]

No, they aren't necessary.

PT in Brisbane seems obsessed with saying how wonderful they are, when we know that in actuallity there are not.

[#Metro]

Trams on tyres they are not...

Other than that, very happy there is a new bus route through West End.
I will definitely be using this one!

CityGlider every 5 minutes in peak hour 960 pax/hr/direction
Light Rail every 5 minutes in peak hour 3600 pax/hr/direction

Light rail may cost 2.5 times more to operate each year, but it can carry almost 4x as many pax.

[ozbob]

The map link on the TransLink CityGlider page is now working...

viz. http://www.translink.com.au/resources/timetables/100411_cityglider.pdf

[ozbob]

Went for a ride out to Westend on the CityGlider (A1047), caught the bus 5.58am from Adelaide St, 3 pax on board. Left Westend 6.26am, 5 pax ...

Noted A1038 had some issues with windscreen wipers ..

[ozbob]

West End Ferry Terminal  Monday 12th April



Photograph R Dow 12th April 2010

[#Metro]

Hmm. Really can't seem to find the cityglider info on the TL website.
Typed "CityGlider" in the search box. Not found
Looked at all the route brochures- not found

I'll use the RailBOT link...

PS: TL tweet, route 299 begins today.

[stephenk]

My view is that light rail would be the best option, but happy that there is the introduction of a new service.

But at 500% higher construction costs, and over 100% higher running costs, LRT cannot really be justified for this route. This is based on BCC figures.

[somebody]

But a 500% higher construction costs, and over 100% higher running costs, LRT cannot really be justified for this route. This is based on BCC figures.

I would wonder why the running costs would be so much higher.  Maintenance?

Must say that I do agree that it cannot be justified.  At only a bus every 10 mins off peak, and a standard size one at that, I don't see that the corridor is busy enough, even though it's Brisbane's busiest bus route.

EDIT: I meant off peak, not in peak.

[#Metro]

Ex post justifications aside, lets look at some questions:

How high does patronage have to be for LRT to be viable?
4 million a year?
10 million a year?
500 million a year?

How high does the frequency have to go before LRT becomes feasable?

A bus every 5 minutes?
A bus every 1 minute?
A bus every 30 seconds?
A bus every 19 seconds?

[longboi]

Isn't it BCC's plan to move to bi-artics eventually anyway? I think with the right mix of high capacity bi-artics and frequencies to match demand, the argument for LRT is moot.

[somebody]

I couldn't accept it at daytime frequencies below 12/hour of standard size buses.  Going to bendy buses nearly doubles the capacity.

[ozbob]

From the Brisbane mX 12th April 2010 page 4

New city bus glide

[stephenk]

Ex post justifications aside, lets look at some questions:

How high does patronage have to be for LRT to be viable?
4 million a year?
10 million a year?
500 million a year?

How high does the frequency have to go before LRT becomes feasable?

A bus every 5 minutes?
A bus every 1 minute?
A bus every 30 seconds?
A bus every 19 seconds?

The BCC cost comparison between bus and LRT was at 5 min headways.

As for 1 minute, 30 secs, and 19 secs average headways, these are not possible for LRT. For example the most frequent LRT track in Melbourne has trams on average every 1.5 mins/40tph. As far as I'm aware Muni Metro in SF also does not exceed a timetabled 40tph.

[#Metro]

No, there has been a misunderstanding.

BUS frequencies. How many people have to catch the bus before it becomes better to LRT
How many buses per minute do we have to go to before it becomes better to have LRT

As for bi-arctics, I'll believe it when I see it. I has been 3 years, many announcements, but I haven't seen one.

[#Metro]

I think Melbourne trams can have headways lower than 90sec (1.5minutes).
I think they can be as low as 60 sec, don't know if they can go lower.

[stephenk]

I think Melbourne trams can have headways lower than 90sec (1.5minutes).
I think they can be as low as 60 sec, don't know if they can go lower.

They can run with shorter headways than 90secs, but not consistently due to things such as traffic lights. The minimum timetabled peak capacity is 40tph (Swanston St/St Kilda Rd), which is an average of 90secs. I do not personally know of any LRT systems with average timetabled headways currently less than 90secs.

[dwb]

I caught the Glider again this afternoon and touched on at Teneriffe Ferry then off at Adelaide St, transferred to the 385 in KGS and the system correctly charged me for a transfer. I touched on and off at the front of the bus after making friends with the driver. Of course the sticker was over the screen so I had to just go by the lights and sound.

Haven't yet tried rear door.

Yesterday I had the intention of getting Go to charge me two trips for dropping out the Glider portion (ie transfer not in same zone) however I missed the 1hr transfer window by 6mins as I'd caught the Glider all the way from West End, to Teneriffe, waited there, then caught it back to the city before getting on another service.

[WTN]

I rode the Cityglider from Adelaide St to Cultural Centre yesterday.  I noted concrete at the Adelaide St stop still drying, dried up slurry around the posts, and dusty footprints inside the bus.  Looks like the construction was a rush job and it doesn't look pretty.  Besides, there's no need to replace good regular shelters.

I saw Citygliders roll through every few minutes (this was peak), so missing one was no problem.  But once on board, it's very much the same as a standard size bus.  Even the drivers all seem to have the regular BT uniform.  I even saw a Cityglider parked at Wooloongabba station!

[Jon Bryant]

As the Glider buses are all painted as such, there are enough painted to run them at 5 min intervals In peak and I presume do not run on other routes for fear of confusing the public. Then why not run them at 5 min intervals in peak and non-peak to maximize bus utilization.  More drivers needed and additional bus for maintenance rotations but the big expense is the bus so let's use them.   

[Golliwog]

You say that now, but I have caught a bus in the downtown loop livery, but was actually the 385 BUZ to the city. But that is the risk of having buses painted for various routes. They seem to do that alot in Nottingham, they have like 3 or 4 routes clumped together under each colour and those buses are painted that colour. Its a good theory, it makes catching the right bus easier, but you cna have problems, because what happens if all your yellow buses happen to have a mechanical fault?

[dwb]

If you look at the pavement generally around City Hall with bitumen patches etc it looks like they might do a major refurb after all the construction at City Hall... so the quick fix concrete at this stop is not such a big deal.

The concrete dust on the floors of the buses however is generally from the brand new West End terminal.

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

New cashless buses heavily guarded

New cashless buses heavily guarded
April 17, 2010 - 11:33AM

Brisbane's first 24 hour cashless bus service that takes in Fortitude Valley's nightclub precinct, is heavily guarded for passenger safety.

The CityGlider service started on Monday and runs 18 hours a day, Sunday to Thursday, between 5.30am and 11.30pm and every 15 minutes around the clock on weekends.

Transport Minster Rachel Nolan said today the buses were equipped with the latest CCTV technology and had extra guards so passenger could feel safe about travelling late a night.

"There is actually three levels of security protection," Ms Nolan said.

"First, we already employ a network of Translink transit officers and their hours will be extended to protect late night bus shelters and be around bus stops to manage crowds and make sure people have a 'Go' card.

"In addition to the transit officers, we'll employ specific security guards .... and police are always on hand.

"Both the security officers and transit officers have a direct line with police."

She was uncertain if the bus stops would be in line-of-sight for guards who patrol conga lines waiting for taxis in the early hours.

"The bus stops are about 800m apart (in the Valley)," she said.

"There won't be the same people doing both, in that we do employ security guards for cab ranks.

"The way it works is that the State has put a levy on the cab companies and they employ security guards."

Ms Nolan said the CityGlider service would complement taxis and make it easier for people to vacate the Valley.

"I think it will relieve pressure on the cab queues," she said.

"We already have NightLink bus services, but this is much more frequent."

AAP

[ButFli]

I was on the CityGlider last night after midnight and there were no security guards on the bus or at any of the stops. So much for security.

[#Metro]

CityGlider left me behind at the bus stop today. It runs express apparently- and does not service every stop.
How are people supposed to catch it easily if it just glides past their bus stop? There is no reason why this route needs to be Express as the time saved would be extremely marginal.

[dwb]

The article does not actually state that there will be guards on every bus, or at any particular time of day.

As far as I'm aware the current approach is that nightlink services will get a guard.  The first nightlink services are at 1:05am, hence any other bus you catch before this time does not have a guard.  If you caught a bus at say 0015 I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't have a guard.

I would suspect the guards would be instituted in a similar fashion as the nightlink services and most likely work the same shift, meaning guards on buses from ~1am.

Did anyone catch a service after 1am?

[ResGroup]

I have data on the use of the CityGlider and the N199 between 1:00am and 4:00am at weekends.  The data shows that on average there is a bus (CityGlider, N199) arriving and departing from Hill End Bus Terminus at 8 minute intervals in the early hours of the morning.

An average bus will arrive with 0.8 passengers,  yes fewer that one person per bus, on average!  Typically a bus will arrive with a couple, or a group of three people, but then the next one, two or more buses will be empty, except of course for the driver and a security guard.  The average bus departs from the terminus with 0.25 people, plus the driver and the security guard! 

Seventy percent of the buses arrive empty and depart empty.

The ratepayers of Brisbane and the taxpayers of Queensland are paying for a very expensive personal taxi service!

We do not have any data to how many passengers alighted in Montague Street but we did follow a number of buses from Melbourne Street to Orleigh Street and it is clear that very few people indeed are using the CityGlider service between these hours in any part of West End.  The buses were travelling quickly along their route because of the paucity of passengers with the result that two buses end up at the terminus together and the further consequences of two engines running, the second bus driving forward when the first one leaves....  all noise in the early hours of the day, or rather night when we should be sleeping! 

The CityGlider Rapid Bus Service is not needed in Hill End at any time and its introduction anywhere in West End at night is at the very least premature. The buses are there to serve the expanding population shown on the South Brisbane Riverside Plan but the high-rise blocks have not yet been built and yet the residents of Hill End and the users of Orleigh Park are suffering the consequences.

[longboi]

If you don't like noise, MOVE OUT OF THE CITY!

I do hope your post is a joke, ResGroup.

[Golliwog]

I think their complaints are valid, but they miss the point that most people don't catch a bus or train right to the end of the line.

[#Metro]

I think that their complaints are valid, though I would rather the BCC buses remember to shut down their engines when idle.
I think it is a reason to introduce make some mitigating measures rather than cancel the service.
I don't think the sign which says "shut down engines" on the old bus stop has been put on the new bus stop.

I have caught the bus service myself, including week nights.
There are about 13-15 people using it at the Ferry Stop when I was on.
The main problem I have with CityGlider is that its accessibility. It should not be express.
It should stop all stops, and I think there are others of this opinion too.

Ultimately I think CityGlider will improve access to the surrounding areas, encouraging people and businesses to relocate to the West End/Montague Road area. It will also have a positive effect on the desirability of properties along the route. There are already many businesses/organisations doing this or already established there.

If the noise is particularly extreme, council could consider, for example only, some form of mitigation scheme to assist homeowners along the route to install double glazing could be considered after an environmental noise and engineering report was perfomed. A split contribution would be justified on the grounds that although the service is creating noise (we have to see whether this was over and above OH&S Guidelines as all urban areas have noise from cars, boats, conversations etc), the installation of such mitigation would be a private, not a public benefit. So a 50/50 spit on the costs would seem fair.

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Thousands glide through city

Thousands glide through city
TONY MOORE
April 20, 2010 - 5:42AM

More than 34,000 commuters used Brisbane's first 24-hour bus service in its first week of operation.

The CityGlider bus service, which is running free of charge until May 1, attracted more commuters than the Clem7 tunnel attracted vehicles over its opening seven days.

A Translink spokeswoman said a figure of 34,000 commuters was anecdotally regarded as "above average" for the start of a new bus service.

She said there were no reported security incidents on the early morning services of Friday or Saturday.

"CityGlider services late Friday and Saturday nights were well patronised but no specific data was not collated," she said.

Translink has employed additional security guards to patrol all CityGlider buses from midnight to about 6am on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Translink confirmed it would review how CityGlider has affected existing bus services at West End within six months.

However, property owner David Morris, who lives near the Orleigh Street bus terminal, said the late night services were excessive.

Mr Morris said very few people used the late night and early morning buses all the way to the terminal.

"The data shows that on average there is a bus arriving and departing from Hill End Bus Terminus at eight minute intervals in the early hours of the morning," he said.

"Typically a bus will arrive with a couple, or a group of three people, but then the next one, two or more buses will be empty, except of course for the driver and a security guard.

"The ratepayers of Brisbane and the taxpayers of Queensland are paying for a very expensive personal taxi service."

Mr Morris said the bus service was not yet needed for Hill End and "premature" for West End.

The CityGlider began on April 11, with the bus service running for 24 hours on Fridays and Saturdays.

[somebody]

I do hope your post is a joke, ResGroup.

I would suggest that the 24 hour aspect of the CityGlider is a waste of money.  Nightlink defines a serviced area as a stop within 4km and yet there's still a lot of unserved area.  Why run this bus on the next street from the N199?  Even the Newstead part isn't far from other services.  Those funds would be far better spent on an N444 or N150 service.

[Golliwog]

But the City Glider is not seen as part of the Nightlink network. Although, it does seem to be treated as if it is. Seeing as the City Glider is here to stay, would it not make sense to remove the N199 and use the buses running this route to run an N444 or N150?

[somebody]

But the City Glider is not seen as part of the Nightlink network. Although, it does seem to be treated as if it is. Seeing as the City Glider is here to stay, would it not make sense to remove the N199 and use the buses running this route to run an N444 or N150?

I don't think so actually.  The N199 route is a far more useful route than the CityGlider.

[ButFli]

It's a sad day when someone is advocating a reduction in services on Brisbane's most utilised bus route. Hands off our 199!

[longboi]

I do hope your post is a joke, ResGroup.

I would suggest that the 24 hour aspect of the CityGlider is a waste of money.  Nightlink defines a serviced area as a stop within 4km and yet there's still a lot of unserved area.  Why run this bus on the next street from the N199?  Even the Newstead part isn't far from other services.  Those funds would be far better spent on an N444 or N150 service.

I would suggest that is only because it is in its infancy and a lot of the catchment area is still as yet undeveloped (Montague Rd precinct, Newstead).

[somebody]

I do hope your post is a joke, ResGroup.

I would suggest that the 24 hour aspect of the CityGlider is a waste of money.  Nightlink defines a serviced area as a stop within 4km and yet there's still a lot of unserved area.  Why run this bus on the next street from the N199?  Even the Newstead part isn't far from other services.  Those funds would be far better spent on an N444 or N150 service.

I would suggest that is only because it is in its infancy and a lot of the catchment area is still as yet undeveloped (Montague Rd precinct, Newstead).

Even so, why should this area get a far superior service to the rest of Brisbane??  It's not fair!

I have definitely noticed "haves" and "have nots" in Brisbane's public transport system.  I would be one of the "haves", and I'm still frustrated by Translink incompetence.

Why should the "haves" get their service upgraded before the "have nots"??  And even if Montague Rd & Newstead where developed, there would be far more worthy places to spend Nightlink $.

[longboi]

I do hope your post is a joke, ResGroup.

I would suggest that the 24 hour aspect of the CityGlider is a waste of money.  Nightlink defines a serviced area as a stop within 4km and yet there's still a lot of unserved area.  Why run this bus on the next street from the N199?  Even the Newstead part isn't far from other services.  Those funds would be far better spent on an N444 or N150 service.

I would suggest that is only because it is in its infancy and a lot of the catchment area is still as yet undeveloped (Montague Rd precinct, Newstead).

Even so, why should this area get a far superior service to the rest of Brisbane??  It's not fair!

I have definitely noticed "haves" and "have nots" in Brisbane's public transport system.  I would be one of the "haves", and I'm still frustrated by Translink incompetence.

Why should the "haves" get their service upgraded before the "have nots"??  And even if Montague Rd & Newstead where developed, there would be far more worthy places to spend Nightlink $.

Probably because thats where the numbers are (Look at route 199 patronage).

[somebody]

Probably because thats where the numbers are (Look at route 199 patronage).

Are you refering to the post 1am on Sat/Sun morning services, or the CityGlider as a whole?