If any it would only be open data at this stage.
M2 routes are currently not showing real time data in Google Maps. Not sure if it’s a Google thing, Translink or bus driver sign on error.
When I was journey planning today real time data was unavailable for the other bus I was catching, so who knows.
There were issues with the QR real time data in the afternoon commute too.
Yeah, the Translink App was noting that Real Time was down yesterday evening.
ABC News story
Which made the PIDs at bus stations utterly useless yesterday.
The Translink App was still reporting Real Time issues as of 7am this morning. There were a lot of express services on the boards at Loganholme showing up as a scheduled time, but given the amount of services they’ve been cancelling this week, that might have be the reason for this, rather than a Real Time issue. Had to wait for 15 minutes for any Brisbane-bound service (expresses are supposed to turn up every 5 minutes).
This morning I caught a 130 into work and found that the bus jam at the Cultural Centre Tunnel Portal, which snaked back to South Bank on Tuesday, was practically non-existent. It was a smooth run right up to the intersection, where we were the second bus in the queue. Even the line up to under the BCEC that has been happening for months wasn’t there.
I don’t know whether I was just lucky, or whether they’ve tweaked the lights sequencing or what, but I hope it continues!
I think there’s going to need to be a bit of adjustment with getting the Metros to park even closer to the front of the platform.
(Conversely, with the bus in the second stop parking a little further back.)
Twice now I’ve seen a pulling-out bus have to absolutely crawl past with only a few CM to spare on the metro’s back corner.
col site for tracking individual routes
Real-time QLD Transport Live Map | AnyTrip QLD
Probably old news for everyone else.
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Just had a look and there’s a lot of congestion right now. It says M2 is delayed 11 minutes. Is this normal?
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Pretty normal. The network changes that were meant to coincide with the Metro haven’t been implemented yet (only a select few targeted at school children were implemented) so it is the same old congestion that the 66 got caught in.
I believe the network changes are going to be implemented with M1, so we shall see how that shakes things up. I wouldn’t say that I’m overly optimistic.
This is exactly why we need actual solutions not just new buses or nice paint jobs. Brisbane’s actual public transport infrastructure is aging. Metro is nice but it doesn’t really do anything for us - the bus way upgrades are so much more important than the buses (or charging infrastructure) themselves.
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I’ve had 2 goes on it this week - RBWH to City Hall, and CC to UQ Lakes. My observations:
- There is a LOT of clutter in the vehicle, particularly grab rails sticking out which make it challenging for a bigger person like me to actually fit in a bucket seat.
- Ticketing validators being positioned only at the doors encourages people to crowd them and slows boarding and alighting. They should have more installed on the off-side of the vehicle like on Melbourne trams (those are obviously at doors on both sides but the effect is the same since doors will only be open on one side at any given stop).
- The air-conditioning seems to be working better than it was during the route 169 preview (although I cannot say if that is just because it is now on a summer cycle, or down to the particular bus, or whether the driver has any control over it).
- Ride quality was no better than the CNG MAN artic I rode immediately afterwards on my trip to UQ Lakes. Certainly nowhere near as good as a Flexity 2
- I’m not sure what the significance of the door chimes is. They seem to be a version of the Westminster bells, so I’m guessing the first 4 notes are for doors opening and the second 4 notes are for doors closing.
- Voice announcements were sporadic or barely audible.
- The displays on both trips ran into issues with keeping up with the trip (still showing arriving at Normanby despite being in the Countess St layover).
- Slightly unrelated - there now appear to be 2 separate signposted "Stop D"s at UQ Lakes, which is odd. Presumably they need both positions to cater to the vehicle demand but it is off-putting.
- Is Mater Hill being extended at all? I am not sure it is going to cope when full service is eventually implemented. The platform looks barely long enough to accommodate a single bi-artic and a single rigid bus - good luck fitting on a bi-artic and anything else longer.
Very mid experience to be honest.
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They’ve been changing everything around over the last 6 months, it should settle down now I guess.
I found the same issue with the displays lagging on Boggo Road having already stopped there and left. I haven’t been on enough of them to work our if this is a vehicle specific issue, or a whole fleet one.
That double Stop D at UQ caught me out when I went for my joyride, and almost resulted in me missing my 169 return trip. The second signpost really needs to be changed to indicate a layover bay rather than a duplicate stop.
As for Mater Hill, while its platforms are definitely far too short, because of the way it is wedged in between the two halves of the Mater Private, fairly hard up against Stanley Street and beneath Water Street, I don’t think it can be extended without some fairly major work (similar to Buranda).
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How do the CNG MAN artic compare with the electric HESS buses overall?
They are slow, have the wrong gearbox fitted for what they do, and don’t have enough doors. If anything they should be retired and replaced one-for-one with more 3-door artics. Even with Brisbane Metro, more of those will be needed. They should also be planning to replace all of the tag axle buses one-for-one with artics as they are similarly compromised.
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