Caught the bus this morning. Noticed that all door boarding is on BCC buses but not Logan etc. Policy should be consistent SEQ-wide to allow all door boarding IMHO. Thoughts?
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This isn’t new. Clarks have never allowed all door boarding on their fleet, and the drivers sometimes give a serve to people to either don’t see or ignore the Front Door Boarding only stickers on the back doors.
I can understand their reasoning, given how often I’ve seen a group of teens slip through the back door without paying on BCC routes. That said, the inconsistency does annoy me, and does cause confusion at stations along the busway that are shared with BCC routes.
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At 50c a pop the desire to prevent fare evasion is not worth it. Drivers especially should not worry. If the operator or Translink want to put Authorised Officer’s on to check - go for it, but as a driver I’d not be interested. Board and alight safety and efficiently please.
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Trains and trams have all-door boarding. The fare enforcement/proof of payment really comes down to Authorised Officers to enforce, not the drivers.
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I agree, but I’ve often noticed that fare evaders engage in other illegal and antisocial behaviour, e.g. chroming, vaping or smoking on the bus. I can understand why drivers don’t want them.
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I’m on a 555 now, just departed a busway stop. Two passengers who might be non-english speaking background just boarded from the back door.
Driver has just yelled from the front of the bus not to use the back door, as per the signs. Passengers look confused as it’s hard to hear properly from that distance and they might not have been able to read the sign anyway.
Seems like an obvious and easy quick fix, all door boarding should be standard across SEQ, if not Queensland. Exception for ad hoc safety reasons only.
Drinking plain bottled water should also be legalised on all PT services across QLD too. It will stop people getting heat stress or heat stroke, especially given the low service frequencies on the network.
All this should be fixed up before the 2032 games, as there are going to be a lot of visitors from countries all over the world.
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Update - the bus just left South Bank and three more people boarded from the back. One has headphones on.
Driver yells again, passengers who boarded don’t notice.
All door boarding is already happening, making it policy will just be a formality.
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I know they say no drinks on Public Transport but I will still have water, and occasionally also soft drinks or energy drinks on both the bus and the train anyways. They don’t really enforce those rules. I have a condition that requires me to drink a lot of water, especially on hot days, but even on cooler days, I still drink excessive amounts of water. This is why I always bring a water bottle or a drink with me almost all the time.
Anyways, in addition to allowing drinks though, can we also have a drink station at every bus stop and train station please!.
I think the drivers must be tired of giving out directions not to board at the back of the bus! Seems there is a case for at least allowing all door boarding on the busway I reckon.
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I have water and bubble tea on public transport all the time and it’s never been an issue. Except for citycats. I was outright denied entry to a city cat twice because i had a bubble tea. SNO’s don’t care and bus drivers drivers don’t care. Just don’t leave a mess and no one cares. But apparently its a crime on a city cat. (i’d like to see them deny bulimba office workers having a coffee in the morning)
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Queensland Rail specifically excludes water from their no food and drink requirement under their Train Etiquette page, and I believe signage onboard CityCats do as well, IIRC.
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QR signage also states no drinks except bottled water, I’m surprised that buses don’t. Like a few people have said above though, I’d be shocked if there’s any real enforcement of this rule
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Yeah but there are a few times where I have gone to central station, got a frappe or a coke slushie from the Maccas upstairs then rushed down to make my train. Done it plenty of times before and others here probably have done a maccas run at central too.