Saturday, June 16, 2012

Are TransLink and BCC failing university students?

Help, I can't get on a bus!
In this Courier Mail article it appears that the most overcrowded bus services in Brisbane all serve university precincts. The 412 which runs from the CBD to University of Queensland (UQ) is quoted as being "arguably the worst of the cities public transport routes from hell", due to being overcrowded and often stuck in traffic along Sir Fred Schonell Drive and Coronation Drive. The overcrowded route 66 that serves QUT Kelvin Grove is often mentioned on this blog. The 109 which runs from the CBD to QUT, and 130 which serves Griffith University are also listed in the Courier Mail article as being at the top of the overcrowded list.

According to the article, last month 126 buses a day were classed as being full, which is pretty disgraceful for a city that claimed by it's city council as being a "new world city". BrizCommuter would expect this figure to be worse earlier in the University year when more students actually turn up for lectures. In the article Brisbane City Council's (BCC) acting Public and Active Transport Committee chairman is quoted as saying "the council was constantly putting more buses on the road and was adding more routes and extra services where demand was the highest". Really? Where are the extra services to reduce overcrowding on the 412 and 66? Do TransLink and BCC (who own Brisbane Transport buses) realise that it is possible to run bus routes more frequently than every 5 minutes? Have BCC considered (re-) introducing bus lanes on congested roads such as Coronation Drive? Could TransLink get better value for money if Brisbane Transport was privatised?

It seems that both TransLink's and BCC's lack of action is making travelling to and from university a miserable experience for many university students. Sadly, this overcrowding may well turn many students off using public transport once they leave university.
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

5 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 16, 2012 at 10:25 AM

    I would actually say that the Toowong - UQ corridor is actually overserviced in offpeak. I took the bus to Toowong last week and there were only 2 other people on the bus. The 412 and 109 are fine as they are. If people want to get to the city and don't want to wait for the 109 then they can take the 29 to Park Rd and then take an inbound train. It's not hard.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SimonJune 16, 2012 at 4:23 PM

      A puzzling comment, Anon.

      You can wait 15 minutes for a train at Park Rd, and then it takes 12 minutes to reach Central, then you generally have a significant walk to where you are going.

      Delete
    2. thomas.magorJune 24, 2012 at 2:09 AM

      Or take the 29 to Woolloongabba and get the 66 or one of about 25 other city bound routes rocking up every couple of seconds.

      Or take the 209, 169 or 139 to Buranda ... and take one of about 25 other city bound routes rocking up every couple of seconds...

      Or take the CityCat to West End and take the CityGlider

      Why wait at Park Rd when there are so many high frequency bus services?

      Delete
  2. SimonJune 16, 2012 at 2:01 PM

    Too right, it is unclear that the funding BCC contribute to BT exceeds the savings which could and should be made if better planning and operation happened.

    ReplyDelete
  3. BrizCommuterJune 16, 2012 at 3:27 PM

    I assume that Anonymous is in no rush to get anywhere if he/she expects people to take the 29 and then wait for a train at Park Road to get to the CBD. You might as well wait for the next 109!

    ReplyDelete

All comments are reviewed before being published, and it may take a few days for comments to appear. If comments do not add to the conversation, or are just plain stupid, they will not be published.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)