Article: Rail-bus bust-up disrupts service

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Rail-bus bust-up disrupts service

Rail-bus bust-up disrupts service
Article from: The Courier-Mail

Steven Wardill, Patrick Lion and John Mickel

December 19, 2007 11:00pm

A FINGER-pointing fracas between the agencies supposed to deliver the region's integrated public transport system has erupted over an alteration to a minor bus route.

Route 303 services a few people from some of the city's most affluent suburbs by linking the train stations at Eagle Junction and Doomben by bus outside peak times.

Co-ordinating authority Translink last week advertised a change to the route from Monday that would have cut the frequency of the service and exchanged the Doomben stop for one at Portside Wharf.

However, the bus never left the new station, leaving commuters perplexed about why the service was cancelled and reinstated to its original form before an inaugural journey.

Coalition transport spokesman Tim Nicholls yesterday claimed Translink was forced to abandon the move because it forgot to approve the change with Queensland Rail, which funds the service.

"How are commuters expected to know what's going on with their bus and rail services, when TransLink and QR haven't got a clue?" he said.

However, Transport Minister John Mickel yesterday blamed Brisbane City Council for changing the route beyond what Translink had approved.

"Brisbane Transport was responsible for producing the revised bus timetables and advising all stakeholders," he said.

But a Brisbane Transport spokesman said the information Translink advertised about changed stops was wrong.

"The information for stops went out but the timetables were stopped," he said.

Brisbane Transport was having new information printed which would be available from December 24.

Mr Mickel said while the issue was a first it highlighted the need for a new authority to centrally co-ordinate all the region's public transport.

Meanwhile, Brisbane City Council doesn't know when 40 suspected runaway buses will return to service after a day of testing yesterday.

The Courier-Mail revealed yesterday the Mercedes-Benz fleet had been sidelined after several buses accelerated by themselves.

But Labor public transport chairwoman Victoria Newton last night said engineers who spent five hours testing the buses could not replicate the problem.

"Until such time that Daimler-Chrysler and Brisbane Transport are satisfied that these buses have a clean bill of health, they will remain out of service," Cr Newton said.

"To date, no trips have been missed or cancelled."