The $444m Northern Busway extension is now open between
Windsor Lutwyche and Kedron. The most recent version of the plans (below) shows proposed bus lanes linking the existing Northern Busway from Federation Street stop in Windsor to the start of the next section of dedicated busway at Truro Street in Lutwyche. These proposed bus lanes were along the often congested Lutwyche Road and would have been used by all of the Northern Busway corridor bus routes except for the 330 and P331 which will use Airport Link instead once it is open.
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| The missing in action "proposed bus lane" (dotted red lines) |
Unfortunately, these bus lanes connecting the two dedicated busway sections are missing in action (or should that be missing in congestion). Thus buses will still have to share road lanes with car traffic for approximately 1.5km between the disjointed busway sections. With the new LNP government attempting to get rid of waste, surely having buses stuck in slow moving car traffic is a wasted resource? BrizCommuter is unsure of which government or council department was responsible for the failure to implement the proposed bus lanes. However, this is yet another example of pro-car / anti-public transport policy in SE Queensland. With Campbell Newman (who eradicated Coronation Drive's bus lanes when he was Lord Mayor) at the helm, don't expect these bus lanes to suddenly materialise!
Updated 18/06/2012 11:30am
TransLink have produced a diagram (link below) which identifies which bus routes will use Airport Link, which bus routes will use the Northern Busway, and which bus routes will continue to use Lutwyche Road. Well done TransLink, but is this map displayed at all Northern Busway and Inner Northern Busway stations?
http://translink.com.au/resources/travel-information/network-information/maps/busway/120618-northern.pdf
I was on the second 330 bus leaving this morning from Brackenridge to go through the northern busway. If I read it correctly, the 330 will have it's route changed once the airport link is open. Certainly the way it is seems to be slower than along the main road, having to wait at the lights to enter the busway what seemed like an eternity. Anyhow we arrived in the city 5 minutes late.
ReplyDeleteThe wait at the Federation Street lights is also painful for bus passengers.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Project Change Report in 2008 (see link below), the removing of the southbound gympie rd tunnel (which has resulted in the bus sitting at stafford rd to turn right) was to only have an effect in morning peak hour of 1 min. Judging by the past 2 mornings this is more like 5-10mins and has all but nullified the time savings in the other sections of the busway. All I can hope is that the final airport link alignment helps to improve this delay, as currently despite all the additional services it now takes me longer to get to the city from chermside then last week. The estimates used to justify the project change in 2008 should be challenged.
ReplyDeletehttp://translink.com.au/about-translink/what-we-do/infrastructure-projects/northern-busway/windsor-to-kedron
I live three blocks from Truro Street bus station, and I'm amazed at two huge oversights of the now-open Busway.
ReplyDelete1) Why wasn't a pedestrian overpass built into the initial design? They are employing Translink officials to stand on the outbound platform to tell passengers to walk a time-consuming circuit around the station to access the west, because a direct route wasn't factored into the design. It's a pain, particularly when the Maygar Street pedestrian crossing doesn't align with either end of the bus station.
2) Why do none of the 'express' buses stop at Truro Street. I'd understand if it was on Lutwyche Road and would block traffic flow, but Truro Street and Federation Street bus stations are more like Busway Stations-'lite' than typical bus stations. It costs only perhaps 10 seconds for buses to stop there as they cruise along the system - surely making them stop to increase the frequency of services to this area of the system is a no-brainer?