FY 23/24 555 was 1,312,846 trips.
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Route 555 generally has a 15 minute frequency, even during peak periods it seems (it might be supplemented by express/rocket peak only services during peak hour).
Sample of Route 555 timetable, showing 15 minute bus frequency during inbound AM peak hour. (annotations added)
This might explain the high loadings that might be seen from time to time. Sure the bus is full, but it was only running at 15 minute intervals. Additional services when turned into a feeder service would address that.
And Brisbane Metro M1 is not running at its full frequency. In Phase 1 itās running at 5 minute frequency, but this could be increased to every 3 minutes.
If the M1 Brisbane Metro service were extended to Springwood, and the remaining 555 feeder service ran at 10 minute frequency, this could work well.
These changes would save about 20 km of duplication (Springwood-CBD), which is significant, and could be used to fund more frequent bus services in Logan itself.
Notes
Metros every 5 minutes on weekdays and
24 hours on weekends
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569 operates every 7.5 during peak, and 581 every 15, giving Springwood at least a bus every 7.5 minutes, usually more, as thereās several other ārocketsā stopping there like the 551, 561, 573, and 575. I donāt think either station is underserviced during peak (at least when all services operate, which often doesnāt happen during school terms). Off-peak is a different issue.
Anyway, considering Metro to Springwood is a long way off, is there any sense in terminating the 555 at either Eight Mile Plains, or perhaps Griffith University, like many other Logan services?
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Iām not really understanding what curtailing the 555 would achieve.
If I was starting the SE Busway from scratch (side note, I wouldnāt - it would be a train), the 555 would be in the top 3 trunk routes that I would be prioritising (M1, 150, 555). Everything else would come after that, and be either complementary to one of those three or interchanging with them.
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Iād say the point of truncating the 555 is to run more 555s, e.g. every 10 instead of every 15 minutes during off-peak times, while reducing additional outlay.
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Agreed. Change is difficult but is necessary. Now that the Brisbane Metro is operational, the value add from having 555 duplicate the M1 from Eight Mile Plains inbound is minimal.
Logan Clarkās only have 6 artics. And for a catchment within Logan City Council that is seeing one of the fastest growth rates in SEQ as well..
Look, Iām all in support for terminating the 555 to Griffith University, if it means increased off-peak frequency to 10 minutes from every 15. Itāll invariably improve on-time running as effectively half of its journey will be halved.
Rochedale busway station needs it.
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I think with Metro extension south, it might make sense to wait until the next upgrade is done and thereās busway/BRT all the way to the Hyperdome? Otherwise you have to figure out where to put chargers at Springwood and theyāll be obsolete with further extension.
From the data I have, the vast bulk of the 555 passenger load is still very much Logan ā South Bank & City, matching @nathandavid88ās observations.
Given Brisbane Metro has a capacity of max 180 people per BeRTie, the same principle applies as for any other potentially-feederised route which is that weāre looking to squeeze air first and foremost; if the bus is mostly full on average at a given time of day itās likely not worth feederising.
I want to note that (a) feederising the 555 to get from 15 down to 10 minute frequency off-peak. and (b) extending the M1 assume substantially different levels of resourcing. The busway extension is happening quite soon, so thereās not that much time for extra demand to materialise for (b). Some M1s could short-terminate at 8MPā¦ but how is that different to running the 555 with BeRTies?
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I wanted to add, thereās currently plans for BRT only to the northwest of the hyperdome, though it isnāt too far off it.
(Source: https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/projects/Pacific-Motorway-M1-Daisy-Hill-to-Logan-Motorway)
Could it then be argued that the 555 should be an express service? And if so, what should it be? I was thinking, at a bare minimum skipping Holland Park West and Greenslopes would be good. Potentially taking the Captain Cook Bridge to the city (skipping Mater Hill to Cultural Centre) may also have some benefits, and Buranda can be an interchange point.
If a lot of the load is to/from South Bank, it wouldnāt make much sense to skip it.
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Honestly thatās a fair point
555 usage of Greenslopes and HPW is tiny; I think it supports the skip.
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Actually, this is incorrect and it is a sore point that has bugged me since the Metro-related changes to the Logan network - the 569 is not timetabled to a consistent 7.5mins during the entire morning peak.
The 569 runs at 7.5mins frequency from its first service at 6am until itās 7:30am service. However, there is then a 15min gap to the next service at 7:45am, and again to 8am, and finally 20 minutes to the final am service at 8:20am.
The most annoying thing about this is that from 7:30am to 8am, this synchronises the arrival times of 569 and 555 services, and with that full 15 minute wait between services, both the 7:45am 555 and 569 are both consistently sardine tins as a result (I donāt often catch the 8am services, but the occasions I have, there were still heavy crowds for both as well).
When these bus changes were made, even with the increase in 569 services, the removal of the 566 and 571 still resulted in a general reduction of timetabled services between Loganholme and the CBD. Prior to the changes, between 6:55am and 8:05am there was supposed to be a 566, 569 or 571 service consistently every 5-6 minutes (this is excluding the 555). Obviously going from 5mins to 7.5mins is neither here nor there, but going from 5mins to 15mins was a kick in the teeth.
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