The Queensland Government plans to cut services on the south east Queensland network and is calling for feedback
December 5, 2012
The Queensland Government plans to cut services on the south east Queensland network and is calling for more feedback on which routes should go.
Announcing pipedreams early this week for a frequent bus network without timetables, Public Transport Assistant Minister Steve Minnikin says government is also considering removing services on routes with low patronage.
“There are also a number of recommendations to reduce duplication, make timetable changes or remove services on routes with very low patronage,” Minnikin says.
The government made the decision to review bus services after figures showed patronage had decreased on 13 of 16 operators last financial year.
The review prompted more than 4,000 pieces of feedback during the first round of consultation.
Government is now calling for a second round of feedback before a final decision on the network’s future is made.
Proposed changes include:
- Removal of route 77 due to low patronage. A number of routes currently operate between Garden City, CBD and Chermside
- Truncating route P461 at Richlands train station due to low patronage and the availability of high frequency rail services to the city
- No longer running route P88 on the weekend as it duplicates a number of routes between Eight Mile Plains and Indooroopilly
- Combining bus routes between Goodna and Springfield to improve frequency
- Removing Gold Coast route 707 which duplicates route 700.
But while low patronage routes could be cut, Minnikin says government also aspires for more high-frequency, no-timetable services, similar Brisbane’s CityGlider, on major corridors.
He says buses could run every three to five minutes in peak and every ten minutes off peak on the major corridors.
Minnikin says the improvements could be funded with money saved by cutting other parts of the network.
“The review proposes better frequency and coordination of services between the CBD and major suburban hubs at Carindale, Chermside, Indooroopilly and Mains Road,” he says.
“Combining services could also improve frequency to Mt Ommaney, Albany Creek and Bulimba.”
Proposed network improvements include:
- Additional services for Brisbane’s most overcrowded routes – the top 10 overcrowded routes between August and October 2012 were routes 412, 130, 345, 66, 385, 169, 150, 100, 330 and 333
- Additional services for route 600, which carries 25 per cent of Sunshine Coast bus trips
- Additional services connecting to Sunshine Coast train stations
- Improvements to local bus routes across the Gold Coast, designed to provide easier access, ahead of the introduction of Gold Coast Rapid Transit network in 2014
- Extending some trips on Gold Coast route 700 into Griffith University to allow for simplification of the network
- Restructuring and renaming of older Gold Coast routes which have not been reviewed since the 90s
- Improving bus and rail connections north of Brisbane
- More services on route 500 in Ipswich.
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