Tale of Two Cities

Sydney CityRail - more advanced timetable info

Recently in Sydney, a new timetable was announced for late 2013, more than a years notice of changes. The changes are detailed in this Sydney Morning Herald article. BrizCommuter has taken a look at the difference between public information over Sydney CityRail's 2013 timetable, and Queensland Rail (QR) / TransLink's belated stage 2 (phase 2) timetables.

Sydney CityRail late 2013 timetable

• More than 1 year notice of changes in government press release.
• Considerable information on service changes, reasons behind service changes, who will be conveniences, and who will be inconvenienced. 

QR / TransLink stage 2 timetable

• One liner on TransLink's website about late 2011 introduction. Didn't happen.
• Reply from complaint to TransLink stated early 2012 introduction. Didn't happen.
• TransLink 2012 Network Plan stated introduction in 2011/12 financial year. Didn't happen.
• Schedulers couldn't provide any useful information about the timetable at 2 recent QR CRG meetings. 
• Queries to both TransLink and the new Transport Minister about the introduction date have had no reply. 

The stage 2 (AKA phase 2) timetable is not the only public transport issue that remains a state secret in Queensland. The QR passenger load survey went missing in action when patronage declined due to huge fare rises - how convenient. Full bus figures are not released in the quarterly TransLink Tracker.  More recently, will the general public get to read the "expert panel" report which suggested a half-baked version of Cross River Rail? BrizCommuter was hoping for more openness and accountability under the new LNP government, but so far this doesn't seem to be the case.