New Citycat route

[somebody]

Looks like the Citycat is going to serve Northshore Hamilton and Teneriffe from 23 Jan 2012 (Next Monday).  http://translink.com.au/resources/travel-information/maps/120123-ferry-network-map.pdf

Seems kind of odd to me, given that the cross river ferry is remaining.

[Golliwog]

Do you mean Bulimba and Tenneriffe? They already serve Hamilton Northshore in peak only. The new timetable is also up, which shows that hasn't changed, but yes it is serving both sides of the river at Bulimba. Perhaps to give a better cross river frequency? Haven't looked at how the Citycat combines with the city ferry though.

[Golliwog]

Interesting. They are also releasing new timetables for the cross river ferries as they are operating some of the Bulimba-Tenneriffe cross river ferries with Citycats. Haven't looked in depth at what they're doing in terms of frequency though. Looks promising though. With citycats serving Tenneriffe, Bulimba and Hawthorne there are now two ferry crossings from the Bulimba area to Tenneriffe.

[somebody]

Do you mean Bulimba and Tenneriffe? They already serve Hamilton Northshore in peak only. The new timetable is also up, which shows that hasn't changed, but yes it is serving both sides of the river at Bulimba. Perhaps to give a better cross river frequency? Haven't looked at how the Citycat combines with the city ferry though.

Yeah, I mean Teneriffe.  It always served Bulimba.

Hmm, looks like it's still not a proper service at Hamilton NS.

[somebody]

Interesting. They are also releasing new timetables for the cross river ferries as they are operating some of the Bulimba-Tenneriffe cross river ferries with Citycats.

Isn't the crossing only 6 minutes anyway?  How much faster could the Citycat be?  Don't they still only have one gangplank in use at any one wharf, so I don't see that the dwell time would be better with the cats.

[Golliwog]

But it could allow the city ferries to be used elsewhere on the river to increase other cross river frequencies, say at Norman Park or something? Not sure, I haven't looked at the timetables in any great detail, or compared them with the old ones.

[Golliwog]

Ok, having had a bit of a look now, and the new City Ferry timetable seems a bit strange:http://translink.com.au/resources/travel-information/services-and-timetables/timetables/120123-bulimba-to-teneriffe.pdf

It has a few services during the day marked with *'s that mean they are operated by City Cats, which is all well and good, and I checked a few (the ones between 9.56am and 10.34am) and these line up with the times in the new City Cat timetable, so these services do both the crossing and go further up/down stream depending on the crossing direction. However, these (and another set between 4.35pm and 5.44pm) are the only City Cat services that are included on the City Ferry timetable, despite the City Cat running all day. It seems they have only included the City Cat services for the periods where the City Ferry isn't running. That said, the ~10am to ~10.30am gap does seem to exist in the current City Ferry timetable (I assume refueling or break time).

[SurfRail]

Ok, having had a bit of a look now, and the new City Ferry timetable seems a bit strange:http://translink.com.au/resources/travel-information/services-and-timetables/timetables/120123-bulimba-to-teneriffe.pdf

It has a few services during the day marked with *'s that mean they are operated by City Cats, which is all well and good, and I checked a few (the ones between 9.56am and 10.34am) and these line up with the times in the new City Cat timetable, so these services do both the crossing and go further up/down stream depending on the crossing direction. However, these (and another set between 4.35pm and 5.44pm) are the only City Cat services that are included on the City Ferry timetable, despite the City Cat running all day. It seems they have only included the City Cat services for the periods where the City Ferry isn't running. That said, the ~10am to ~10.30am gap does seem to exist in the current City Ferry timetable (I assume refueling or break time).

I would assume it is a case of grandfathering so people don't get confused.

They probably could have gotten away with no separate cross-river service except after dark I expect.  Plenty of room on the CityCats in the off-peak, and the headway is decent enough.