Article: Patronage rises, but so do full buses

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Patronage rises, but so do full buses

Patronage rises, but so do full buses
Cameron Atfield
September 25, 2010 - 12:04PM

Patronage on Brisbane City Council buses has continued to rise, with more than 6.65 million passengers last month - but its not all good news for bus commuters.

Figures released to brisbanetimes.com.au showed 6,650,433 passengers travelled on a council bus in August, 269,893 (4.2 per cent) more than the same month last year, which saw 6,380,540 commuters use council buses.

But the growth also had a downside, with a 27.64 per cent increase in the number of buses too full to pick up new passengers.

About 1.39 per cent of BCC services (3043 of 218,366 bus trips) reported full last month, up from 2384 (1.18 per cent) recorded in August 2009.

Public and Active Transport Chair Margaret de Wit said most of those commuters left behind would have had minimal inconvenience.

"Over two thirds of these buses were on routes with a waiting time of less than 20 minutes for the next bus," Cr de Wit said.

"Let's not forgot we continue to free up more seats with one new bus hitting the road every three days and our new high frequency CityGlider buses running around the clock."

Cr de Wit said recent figures showed Brisbane bus patronage had increased by more than five million last year to a record total of 77 million passengers in 2009/10.

She said August's figures were a continuation of trend of increasing patronage this year, after 7,387,371 commuters used council buses in July, up 4.2 per cent on July 2009, and 5,980,517 passengers in June, up 4 .6 per cent on June 2009.

Cr de Wit linked the increase to new, air-conditioned buses, which had seen the size of council's bus fleet grow to more than 1100 vehicles for the first time.

"[Lord Mayor] Campbell Newman put 337 new buses on the road in his first term and is now well over half way to delivering another 500 new buses over four years," Cr de Wit said.

"I have no doubt in my mind that this is the main reason we've seen Brisbane bus patronage skyrocket from 48 million to 77 million in the six years since the Lord Mayor was first elected.

"Brisbane City Council buses are so popular that they're now carrying more passengers than the entire south-east Queensland CityTrain network."

[somebody]

What is interesting is that patronage has risen in the face of higher fares, and with minimal service improvement.

[#Metro]

This is a bit tricky. Did the mode share rise though???

[Jonno]

With patroage continuing to grow and number of full buses also growing is it not time for bus lanes Cr De Wit? This will allow the one bus to service more routes as they are not stuck in traffic and can complete their route quicker!!!  The silence on this issues is deafening

[somebody]

With patroage continuing to grow and number of full buses also growing is it not time for bus lanes Cr De Wit? This will allow the one bus to service more routes as they are not stuck in traffic and can complete their route quicker!!!  The silence on this issues is deafening

While we do need the bus lanes, don't we need service improvements more urgently?

[Jonno]

It is a catch 22.  Every bus stuck in traffic is operating below its capacity thus it takes more buses to increase frequency.  If the bus can complete the trip in half the time then it is able to move/continue onto to a new service thus increasing overall frequency.  The more efficient our buses then the more services each bus can support.  I see it as the one and the same.  Bus lanes will increase reliability and travel times but also alllow the fleet to operate more services.

[somebody]

Ok, but that really only applies in peak.  Off peak there are plenty of buses to run services.

[#Metro]

It is possible to walk and chew gum.
How long would it take to paint bus lanes on Coro Drive and attach signs to poles? A weekend?

http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=4504.0

[Jonno]

Ok, but that really only applies in peak.  Off peak there are plenty of buses to run services.

Yes but if more buses need to be built just to increase services in peak it recduces the money available for services either in and out of peak plus as recently observed there seems to be road disruptions in peak and out of peak which impacts the running of services.