Article: Peter Matic (Toowong ward) is supremely confident a citycat terminal ..

[ozbob]

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Peter Matic (Toowong ward) is supremely confident a citycat terminal will be built at the end of Park Rd

Peter Matic (Toowong ward) is supremely confident a citycat terminal will be built at the end of Park Rd

    by: Jonathon Howard, Westside News
    From: Quest Newspapers
    August 30, 2012 12:01AM

A Citycat terminal will be built at the end of Park Rd, says Toowong Ward Councillor Peter Matic.

Cr Matic promised to secure the estimated $5 million to build the terminal in his election campaign.

"This investment includes $1 million in the 2012-13 financial year to begin early works.

Pre-investigation works are currently being undertaken and will be complete by the end of September, with community consultation expected in the months after this," Cr Matic said.

He said $10 million in funding over four years, would be used to install backflow devices.

Contact the Toowong ward office on 3403 2520

[achiruel]

This is even further evidence that we need a two-tier service. Outer one express New Farm Park to Guyatt Park, stopping only Riverside & South Bank. Inner all stops New Farm Park-Guyatt Park.

[Golliwog]

This is even further evidence that we need a two-tier service. Outer one express New Farm Park to Guyatt Park, stopping only Riverside & South Bank. Inner all stops New Farm Park-Guyatt Park.

I'd want the inner one to stop all stops New Farm to West End. No point making West End-Regatta a forced ferry change. Other than that, I don't use the ferry network enough to be able to comment.

[#Metro]

This is even further evidence that we need a two-tier service. Outer one express New Farm Park to Guyatt Park, stopping only Riverside & South Bank. Inner all stops New Farm Park-Guyatt Park.

I agree. The ferry service is degrading in terms of speed a lot. It took over an hour to get to Bulimba from UQ, not good enough.
Half an hour from the CBD. Time for a two tier all day service pattern.

[triplethree]

This is even further evidence that we need a two-tier service. Outer one express New Farm Park to Guyatt Park, stopping only Riverside & South Bank. Inner all stops New Farm Park-Guyatt Park.

I'm not convinced. There are only so many vessels; split the existing service into two stopping patterns and you will halve the frequencies on each pattern. At the wharves where both patterns stop you'll probably have 4 ferries an hour but at odd frequencies (e.g. 7 mins then 23 mins); at the all-stops wharves you'll be waiting forever while the express ferries zoom by at a rate of knots.

It will be a bit like the situation you have at CityRail stations like Summer Hill or Tempe where you have to wait up to 30 mins for a train while a gazillion expresses fly through.

Having a faster trip from, say, Bulimba to UQ is desirable -- but until more ferries are purchased, the price of speed will be frequency.

[#Metro]

I'm not convinced. There are only so many vessels; split the existing service into two stopping patterns and you will halve the frequencies on each pattern. At the wharves where both patterns stop you'll probably have 4 ferries an hour but at odd frequencies (e.g. 7 mins then 23 mins); at the all-stops wharves you'll be waiting forever while the express ferries zoom by at a rate of knots.

It will be a bit like the situation you have at CityRail stations like Summer Hill or Tempe where you have to wait up to 30 mins for a train while a gazillion expresses fly through.

Having a faster trip from, say, Bulimba to UQ is desirable -- but until more ferries are purchased, the price of speed will be frequency.

Adding more ferry stops will significantly and profoundly degrade trip journey times
The CityCat is already too slow, particularly to Bulimba. Trip times will get worse when Park Road and West End II come online as well. Citycat terminal at Tennriffe slow things down as well.

Splitting the operating pattern into two tiers will allow faster speed and more passengers to take advantage of it.
And yes, this might require more ferries on the water. Public transport needs to serve people's needs - continuing the current paradigm is pointless - the purpose of public transport like this is to move people quickly and lots of them.

[HappyTrainGuy]

Question. Do the Citycats have enough patronage to warrant additional fleet for a two tier stoping pattern along with keeping decent patronage on both tiers. If so who is going to pay for it or could that same funding be injected into the bus network/interchanges at ferries for those on longer trips.

Edit: Clarity.

[triplethree]

Adding more ferry stops will significantly and profoundly degrade trip journey times

As will poor frequency. No use having a faster trip if you have to wait 15 minutes more for it.

Having an all-stops/express dichotomy will work when there are sufficient vessels and crews to support high frequencies on both stopping patterns. But it won't happen with the current resources available. I hope they become available but in the current political climate it's unlikely.

[somebody]

I think they shouldn't run between North Quay-Regatta-Guyatt Park.

[#Metro]

Question. Do the Citycats have enough patronage to warrant additional fleet for a two tier stoping pattern along with keeping decent patronage on both tiers. If so who is going to pay for it or could that same funding be injected into the bus network/interchanges at ferries for those on longer trips.

Can't use bustitution because there is no comparable substitute service that does cross river trips. Can't put buses in the Brisbane River or put bridges everywhere. The patronage for the citycat is higher than BUZ services, around 5 - 6 million per year. When you consider that many BUZ services have a 2 tier service (i.e. BUZ 130, 140, 150 vs 111) then I think it is warranted. There has also been a lot of public support for express services on the BCC, which is why peak CityCat expresses were introduced in recent years as well.

The CityCat also has the advantage of having an effective class A ROW - with NO traffic lights or congestion, unlike road traffic, and also serves trips that would be impossible to do any other way (West End to Guyatt Park for example).

A 30 min trip (45 min - one hour if waiting time and walking is included) to Bulimba isn't competitive and as each new terminal is added, speed will significantly degrade as CityCats take a lot of time to speed up, slow down and perform docking manouvres. BCC is happy to support their CityCats as also they support their buses (pity they don't support rail despite 50% of the network stations being inside the BCC boundaries).