BrizCommuter Blog

[BrizCommuter]

Hi, just a quick blatant plug for a new public transport blog, with views and opinions on Brisbane's public transport.

http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com

BrizCommuter uses public transport for the daily commute, and occasionally at weekends and in the evenings. BrizCommuter mainly uses rail, sometimes buses, and would use CityCats if they ran up Kedron Brook. BrizCommuter also likes to take a photo or two, which can be seen in the blog.

Enjoy.

[ozbob]

G'day!

Welcome.  Excellent blog and loved the frequency post.  Good work!

[BrizCommuter]

Thanks Ozbob.

Today I've added an article with an exclusive image of a Go Card's internals  - The anatomy of a Go Card.
http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com/

[#Metro]

You X-rayed the go Card! 

[BrizCommuter]

You X-rayed the go Card! 

BrizCommuter has a radiation licence, and had to make a test image, so decided to x-ray a Go-Card.

Some users in London managed to remove the internals of their Oyster Cards and attached them to watches, or in one case, the end of a magic wand. Transport for London then decided to be spoil sports and decided that only intact Oyster Cards were valid.

[#Metro]

magic wand! 

[WTN]

magic wand! 

In the hometown of Harry Potter!

[STB]

I wonder if it's technically possible (but not advisable of course!) to implant it under the skin?

Bio-ticketing: the next phase?

[O_128]

i would like to see the go card merged with uni student cards

[BrizCommuter]

A few more posts on the quiet car, and hourly train services.
http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com/

[#Metro]

Brisbane's half-hourly off-peak train service is poor, and well behind many other cities including Perth and Melbourne. Yet in Brisbane, passengers such as shift workers, travelling late at night and Sunday mornings, have to endure hourly gaps between services. Queensland Transport, TransLink, and QR - this is not good enough!

100% Agree. It is looking more shameful by the day.
1000s of people moving into SEQ per week and scraps for people in the non-peak hour, no feeder services, half hour waits at stations late at night.

Weekend timetable should have Saturday and Sunday timetables the same.

[#Metro]

Wow, love the blog! Keep it up!

Commuters and tourists who use the Sunshine Coast Line must have the strongest bladders in Australia. Why? Queensland Rail regularly run trains north of Caboolture which don't have toilets.

LOL

As well as being denied toilets, QR's no eating and drinking rule means that commuters could get in trouble for drinking from a bottle of water on long journeys. BrizCommuter wonders if Amnesty International have been informed of the breach of human rights occurring on the Sunshine Coast Line?

You cannot know the situation when you step of a 30 minute train journey, busting to go, and then head to the rail station toilet only to find to your absolute horror that the thing is locked up and behind iron bars.

BrizCommuter heard an announcement promoting the quiet carriage during his evening commute in said carriage tonight. The announcement was probably the noisiest thing in the quiet carriage, slightly drowning out the noise of a wheel flat, and rock music leaking out of a passengers headphones.

[BrizCommuter]

More incessant moaning from BrizCommuter recently added, including flickering lights, AirTrain, and Milton TOD.

http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com

[BrizCommuter]

Don't read if you a monorail obsessive - http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com/ 

[#Metro]

But SEQ does have a monorail system, both on the Gold Coast.

---> Sea World
---> Broadbeach to Jupiters Casino

http://www.humantransit.org/2009/08/briefly-on-monorails.html

Good for niche applications- shopping centres, theme parks and between large airport terminals.

Not a fan of monorails though.  

[somebody]

I like the blog too, but you didn't steal the Fortitude Valley bus stop 211/212 thing from these pages did you?

I actually think have the 335/P339/346/353 routes through the Valley and RBH isn't appropriate and they should really be following the 325 via Normanby route.  But perhaps I am wrong.  That would make the only bus from stop 212 being the 334, unless I'm missing one.

With the monorail, there may be some merit in using that for the City Loop bus route, but wouldn't it be better to just increase their frequency?

[BrizCommuter]

I like the blog too, but you didn't steal the Fortitude Valley bus stop 211/212 thing from these pages did you?

I actually think have the 335/P339/346/353 routes through the Valley and RBH isn't appropriate and they should really be following the 325 via Normanby route.  But perhaps I am wrong.  That would make the only bus from stop 212 being the 334, unless I'm missing one.

With the monorail, there may be some merit in using that for the City Loop bus route, but wouldn't it be better to just increase their frequency?

The 37x from Fortitude Valley to RBWH is a busy sector. Other routes from Fortitude Valley to RBWH less so, as commuters are usually at the other bus stop.

Increasing City Loop frequency would be much more cost efficient than building a monorail. Recent conversations with QUT students show that many who would like to use it don't as it too infrequent (frequency = walking time to Central) and often overcrowded.

As for your first comment, have a think about about who BrizCommuter may be? BrizCommuter would however like to remain anonymous. This means that he can continue berating the failings of the Queensland Government, TransLink, and QR, without being censored.

[somebody]

Increasing City Loop frequency would be much more cost efficient than building a monorail.

Isn't that what I said.

As for your first comment, have a think about about who BrizCommuter may be? BrizCommuter would however like to remain anonymous. This means that he can continue berating the failings of the Queensland Government, TransLink, and QR, without being censored.

If you want to insinuate something, you can use a PM.

EDIT: I wan to add though, I cannot post comments to your blog.  Is that intentional?

[#Metro]

If you are going to have a loop bus, it needs to be high frequency and direct because its main competition is not the car, but direct walking!!!

[BrizCommuter]

Increasing City Loop frequency would be much more cost efficient than building a monorail.

Isn't that what I said.

As for your first comment, have a think about about who BrizCommuter may be? BrizCommuter would however like to remain anonymous. This means that he can continue berating the failings of the Queensland Government, TransLink, and QR, without being censored.

If you want to insinuate something, you can use a PM.

EDIT: I wan to add though, I cannot post comments to your blog.  Is that intentional?

There should be no problems posting comments. All comments are moderated though, so it may take up to 24 hour to appear.

[BrizCommuter]

BrizCommuter now has a rottwieler like grip on TransLink's leg, and will not let go until TransLink say the safe word "15 minutes off-peak". Enjoy.

http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com/2010/10/translink-annual-report-200910.html

[ozbob]

The lack of critical interest by the media in the report was very disappointing.  The bus figures particularly are always a mystery ...

[BrizCommuter]

A few more blogs added, including "What we can learn from Japan", and "Mr Newman's road obsession".

[ozbob]

Great articles, thanks for sharing them.  Particularly impressed with the child care centres at stations in Japan.  I look at Oxley and Darra and even Richlands, what a wasted opportunity to gain infrastructure capital by incorporating commercial activities at the rail stations. Darra has not got drinking water or fire services or water at all on the platforms 2 and 3, and probably 1 but I haven't actually been on that platform yet.

[BrizCommuter]

And now for something amusing (unless you live on the Sunshine Coast Line, at which point you have probably lost your sense of humour).
http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com/2010/11/i-want-express-to-my-stationitis.html

[BrizCommuter]

Wishlist for phase 2 of the 2011 timetables.
http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com/2010/11/2011-phase-2-timetable-wishlist.html

[BrizCommuter]

Oh dear (again)! 
http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com/2010/11/ferny-grove-upgrade-now-half-baked.html

[ozbob]

Yes, Queensland is characterised by an innate ability to botch major infrastructure projects, particularly rail.  Time for some serious sorting in the policy and planning departments ..

[#Metro]

I like reading Brizcommuter!  

http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com/


88 - Lucky for some?

TransLink recently announced the P88 bus route, starting on Monday 13th December - timetable here. This frequent pre-paid route runs from Eight Mile Plains to Indooroopilly, via the South East Busway, (then via a 360 loop onto the) Captain Cook Bridge, King George Square, Roma Street, Coronation Drive, and ending up in Indooroopilly (but not in the bus station).

The announcement of this route, asks for many questions:
1) Why not just make the 111 more frequent on the South East Busway?

2) Is the bypassing of Mater Hill, South Bank, and Cultural Centre an admission that the South East Busway is near capacity in the peaks? This means South Bank will be bypassed at weekends and evenings by the P88, when that area is a popular destination.

3) Is using the congested Captain Cook Bridge (and Coronation Drive) a good idea for reliability?

4) Is an extra bus route along Coronation Drive really required, especially when there will soon be 15 minute off-peak frequency on the almost adjacent Ipswich Line?

5) Why doesn't the P88 terminate in Indooroopilly Bus Station?

6) Wouldn't consolidating city stop locations for Western Brisbane bus services be more useful for commuters? The array of different city stop locations for buses heading in the same direction, each with an infrequent service, makes TransLink's slogan of "Making travel easy" somewhat laughable!

7) Wouldn't running more peak 444's which are often full to capacity be a better use of resources (same goes for other bus routes that suffer from full buses)?

Will all bus stops along the P88 route have go-card top up facilities nearby?

It seems strange that a transport authority which took an agonising 7 months to extend the 66 to RBWH is now adding a bus route that is leaving many commuters asking why?

2) Is the bypassing of Mater Hill, South Bank, and Cultural Centre an admission that the South East Busway is near capacity in the peaks? This means South Bank will be bypassed at weekends and evenings by the P88, when that area is a popular destination.

I would like to get a straight answer on this. What is the theoretical and practical (i.e. real world) capacity of the SE Busway right now and how many more buses can we add to it before it congests itself. With this situation looming, one would think by now that there would be more than the grand total of 2 superbuses on the busway network.

[somebody]

I don't know what you mean about the 360 degree loop.  Eastbound in QSBS tunnel to south bound on Cribb St would only be about 270 degrees.

I assume you have read the other comments on this site, but I will also add comments on ATDB have also slammed this route.

[Golliwog]

The 360 degree loop is going from the SE busway onto Captain Cook Bridge. Where the bus turns left just before reaching Mater Hill turning inbound and keeps turning left until its on an overpass going over the top of the busway.

EDIT: Looking at the Indooroopilly stop location, the timetable lists it as Musgrace Rd stop 24 app Station Rd, which is right where the bus interchange is. I think perhaps stop 24 could be the 'official' name for what is also refered to as Indooroopilly platform C? Its the only stop there that could legitimately be refered to as approaching Station Rd.

[somebody]

Ah, Ok, but I'm not sure why that 360 degree loop is even worth mentioning.  It's the only way it can be done at present.

No, there is a separate stop midway along Musgrave Rd, which happens to be stop 24.  Often used by buses laying over.  I believe it is served by only the 433 & 445, technically.

[BrizCommuter]

Ah, Ok, but I'm not sure why that 360 degree loop is even worth mentioning. 

Journalistic flair!

[BrizCommuter]

BrizCommuter's opinions on the quiet carriage.
http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com/2010/12/qr-quiet-carriage-now-permanent.html

[Jonno]

BrizCommuter, can you tell me more about this mobile photo technology. 

[#Metro]

BrizCommuter is still waiting for the QR Frequent Carriage, the carriage that turns up more often than every 30 minutes!

Bring on the Frequent Carriage!!!

[BrizCommuter]

BrizCommuter, can you tell me more about this mobile photo technology. 

It's a mobile camera, that allows you make phone calls as well. 
I should proof read more often!

[BrizCommuter]

Is TransLink discouraging the use of public transport?
http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com/2010/12/is-translink-discouraging-use-of-public.html

[somebody]

Of even greater concern is the decline in rail patronage in Q2 09-10, i.e. Sep '09-Dec '09, before the fare rises kicked in!

[ozbob]

There was an adjustment for weekly tickets, they were previously counted as 11 trips but that was changed to 10.  This also had an effect on the data reliability.