Article: Why Palmwoods is the suburb Translink forgot

[Sunbus610]

Why Palmwoods is the suburb Translink forgot
10 Jun 11 @ 06:00am by David Crossen

Palmwoods resident Trevor Fear is sick of meeting dead ends in his fight to have bus services improved in the growing suburb.

Mr Fear said two bus services from Palmwoods to Nambour each weekday was simply not enough as the area continued to grow and more people required public transport.

He said his concerns were further compounded by the fact that neighbouring Woombye had 83 services each week day, despite being considerably smaller than Palmwoods.

On weekends, Palmwoods residents do not have a bus service, while Woombye has 26 services.

"My argument is there is 5000-6000 people in this area and existing services are considerably less compared to a smaller area like Woombye, which is easier for them to service," he said.

"I don't think it would alter it too much to have a few of those Woombye services incorporate a loop through Palmwoods.

"It would be a bit more fuel and a bit more of the drivers' time."

Read more HERE (Maroochy Journal)

PS: No surprise either, the coastal suburbs usually get preference and priority

[Fares_Fair]

Surprising statistics for the bus services to the Palmwoods township.
I often wonder if a child's abduction might not have occurred if we had bus services akin to Woombye's.

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[#Metro]

Hmmm...

FlexiLink?

[SurfRail]

Woombye is on-the-way.

Palmwoods is not.

I don't think commuters would appreciate a diversion out of the way on what is already not the world's fastest set of feeder bus routes.

More 639 loop services could be added maybe if patronage warrants, but Palmwoods is basically a rural hamlet compared to other areas in SEQ with more pressing demands for service upgrades.

[Arnz]

If I recall correctly, didn't Palmwoods had some privately funded feeder bus to Palmwoods station? 

As for direct bus services, I'd have to disagree with diverting the 610 in there.  As was suggested by SurfRail, more 639s would suffice (subject to patronage and fleet availability).

[#Metro]

Why is TransLink being blamed? Whoever designed the road layout and allowed the buildings to be developed in such hard to reach places should be blamed.

Sorry, but my view is- get a bicycle, bike racks at bus stops, park and ride at the train station. Maybe more buses or flexilink could be put on... but diversions just make the service so bad that no-one will catch it.

[Gazza]

"I don't think it would alter it too much to have a few of those Woombye services incorporate a loop through Palmwoods.

"It would be a bit more fuel and a bit more of the drivers' time."

A loop?
And we're only wasting the drivers time (Remember, the people on board are bus users, their time doesn't matter)

Woohoo for welfare routing 

[Fares_Fair]

Why is TransLink being blamed? Whoever designed the road layout and allowed the buildings to be developed in such hard to reach places should be blamed.

Sorry, but my view is- get a bicycle, bike racks at bus stops, park and ride at the train station. Maybe more buses or flexilink could be put on... but diversions just make the service so bad that no-one will catch it.

Hello tt,

Palmwoods is certainly not an out of the way township.

It is along the main road up to Montville, (there are 2 routes, the Woombye Montville Road and the Hunchy, then Razorback Road)
The main road to Maleny peels off at the top of the Woombye Montville Road.
The Monville State School is at the top of Razorback Road.
IMHO, it is more of a thoroughfare than Woombye.

Montville is a famous tourist hub these days.

The statistics as reported are significant, are they not ?
A few years back Palmwoods was the 5th highest growth area in Qld, when 2 new very large subdivisions opened up.
Perhaps it needs its very own bus services to be funded by TRANSLink and the public transport levy that all Sunshine Coast Regional Council ratepayers contribute.


Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[ozbob]

Well done Mr Fear on raising the issues. Would a shuttle bus to access the other bus services on the Nambour Connection road be of value?  Seems an easy fix to me.  Not sure if the shuttle would need to run in Woombye itself or just to the road junction.

--> map

[Fares_Fair]

Hello ozbob,

That would certainly be an excellent idea, and as you say a simple solution that could make good use of the current Woombye services.

Regards,
Fares_fair.

[Gazza]

Perhaps it needs its very own bus services to be funded by TRANSLink and the public transport levy that all Sunshine Coast Regional Council ratepayers contribute.

Indeed, they shouldn't be looping existing services, slowing them down.
If it's its own township then it should be its own service.

[Sunbus610]

I'd like to see TRANSLink and the Sunshine Coast Council trial (for 6 months or more) a brand new Nambour to Palmwoods bus service rather than rely on the current route 639 (Nambour town service) to include a Palmwoods service, it could be known as route 638, operate 1/2 hourly perhaps and be operated by Sunbus' smaller Custom Coaches "CB20" (Mercedes Benz 815D) buses as what is always used on route 639.

The new bus service could commence from Nambour rail in Civic Way, then Nambour CBD loop (Lowe St/Howard St/Currie St) and travel south via Lamington Tce, McKenzie Rd, Blackall Range Rd, Redmonds Rd, Old Palmwoods Rd, Blackall Street (main street, Woombye), Pine Grove Rd, Woombye-Palmwoods Rd, Main St (Palmwoods), Dunning St, Palmwoods - Montville Rd and terminate at Landershute/Citrus Rd intersection and then return.