Brisbane's New Bus Network (Brisbane Bus Network Reviews)

Queensland Greater Brisbane
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326

I know this is a fairly minor change to timetables, but I would appreciate a little bit more detail in the Translink notice. It’s VERY vague. I don’t need to have every little change listed in the notice, but does this result in new departure times from major locations, and does it impact in overall travel time for example?

And for the 550 and 560, what changes do the holiday timetable make to the service? Having updated printable timetables available at the time of the notice being posted would be good, as it’s easier to track changes across the whole day using them, rather than scrolling through 5 services at a time.

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327

The changes to the 560 timetable aren’t quite as minor as made out.

First service ex Loganholme on weekdays currently departs 6:01 am, will now depart 6:15 am, arriving at Browns Plains at 7:17 am on school days and 7:11 am on school holidays. This change also means the 560 westbound will no longer connect with the 6:29 am northbound all stops train, or the 6:34 am northbound express train.

Travel time westbound during morning peak is between 7 and 16 minutes longer, with the 7:45 ex Loganholme being the most affected, taking 1:13 for the journey.

Currently, westbound morning peak journeys range from 0:53 to 0:57 . The new timetable during school terms ranges from 1:02 to 1:13. During school holidays, it’s a consistent 0:56.

Eastbound morning peak, the first bus ex Browns Plains departs 10 minutes earlier, at 5:47 am, arriving Loganholme at 6:51 am, 4 minutes earlier than previous. Trip time has increased from 0:58 to 1:04. On school holidays, it arrives 6:45 am, 10 minutes earlier than the current timetable. It arrives at Loganlea station 4 minutes earlier, 6:27 instead of 6:31, which makes connection with the 6:29 northbound all stops service maybe possible (it’s a pretty short walk from the eastbound bus stop to the inbound train platform), but I wouldn’t want to rely on it. It does make the transfer to the 6:34 am inbound express train a fair bit more realistic, though.

I haven’t looked at PM peak.

Weekends, trips depart Browns Plains 16 minutes earlier, and trip time has increased from 54 to 58-60 minutes. This also means the last trip ex BP leaves at 5:47 pm on Saturdays intead of 6:03, and 4:47 instead of 5:03 on Sundays.

Westbound, trip times have increased from 52 minutes to 53-55 minutes. Earliest trip ex Loganholme on Saturdays is 7:02 am currently, changing to 6:45 am, latest departure was 6:02 pm, now 5:45 pm. Earliest on Sundays changes from 9:02 am to 8:45 am, and latest from 5:02 pm to 4:45 pm.

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328

It’s the Friday before the changed timetables start, and we still don’t have printable timetables available. Not sure what’s happening at Translink, but the quality of customer service has declined over the past few months, IMO.

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329

I think it has been steadily declining ever since the LNP came into power.

Before the election, Translink’s social media team seemed to be quite active with both service interruptions but also general posts to foster public engagement (things like “what station is this” posts and other more light hearted posts). However, since the last election, the page seems to have largely devolved into one that posts largely just service updates, and much less of the general public engagement posts.

Interestingly, Queensland Rail’s social media continues to post much more public engagement content, in between the dry posts alerting of the ongoing industrial action.

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330

Look, I haven’t seen a single socials post about State of Origin, and that says something because usually the team put up some form of gag.
Last season they had one about the go-cards tapping on but this year there’s nothing :frowning:

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331

I sure hope the new timetables fix the persistent late running of the 560, but I have my doubts, as I’m currently on the second eastbound 560 of the day, running 14 minutes late.

Not sure even the new timetable has enough adjustments to allow on time running, but I guess I’ll find out next Saturday.

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332

I think they heard you, because their Instagram account is active again after more than a month of full silence.

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333

It’s now the second day of the new timetables, and the printable timetables still haven’t been updated.

They should remove the old ones IMO, and just not have any, rather than have outdated timetables on the site.

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334

Something not right at Translink these days. Tardiness, lack of attention to detail.

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335

Has there been like a major funding cut or something to them?

336

There have been some changes with staff. I think this is a factor.

The acting head of Translink in Queensland is Dean Helm

He took over leadership of the division following the resignation of the former Deputy Director-General, Dr. Deborah Hume. Dean Helm also serves concurrently as the acting head of the Network Services and Operations Division for the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR).

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337

Public Circus was told an internal town hall earlier this month did little skirting around the topic of a hiring freeze, with workers in the Transport and Main Roads corporate division told very matter-of-factly vacant positions would not be filled. Nor would backfill positions or secondments be approved.

…

Circus has heard from multiple sources that staff within TMR are struggling to keep up with daily tasks due to the strained workforce.

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We were told this low morale was reflected in a recent internal staff satisfaction survey, which one source speculated was the trigger to hold a town hall on March 11.

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The Circus whisperer said “morale’s terrible” in the stretched department, which has led to simple tasks such as timesheet approvals being delayed as they’re pushed up vacant management chains.

“The day-to-day work is quite quickly slowing down because there’s just not enough people to do it,” the source said.

…

We put these claims to TMR who didn’t dispute the town hall sequence of events, but they did reject the F-word.

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“Vacant positions are being allocated and filled to best meet business needs, including the critical infrastructure projects and operational requirements for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

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338

Well, there you go. Staff issues affecting morale. I think it is obvious to close observers such as BTQ forum participants that all is not well within Translink/TMR. The Ministerial leadership is poor, to wit, the e-mobility fiasco, and the rail fail of late. They are months behind with reporting of routine data.

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339

State gov departments aren’t cutting staff per se, but they are choosing not to renew a lot of the temp/contract positions and haven’t really been filling positions if people quit.

EDIT: Whoops, that’s what the post above me says!

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340

There’s been some quiet changes to the network that were implemented on Monday just gone. Routes 112 and 177 are no longer serving the stop that serviced the former Griffith University Mount Gravatt Campus, while route 123 has been taken out of it’s now former route of Middle Street and Mandarin St in Robertson.

They might be forced to review the 112 and 177 in the coming years if the rumors end up being true that the former campus becomes a QPS training facility. Also, the Griffith Uni busway station has now become simply an interchange, and just as busy as Buranda from my frequent trips there.

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341

If they end up needing to change the 112 and 177 routing I think they should have the 112 go to the Mt Gravatt Central terminus following the same routing as the 177 from Gaynesford St and the 177 go to the stop underneath the Holland Park West busway stop (though I’m not sure if it would retain the routing between Nursery Rd and Messines Ridge Rd or be changed to follow the 113/182).

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342

I don’t think that’s happening any more. From what I’ve heard QPS didn’t consider it secure enough, and I’ve seen more recent paraphernalia from the LNP state gov / Griffith trying to sell it off to the private sector

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343

Personally I’d rather see the former campus be turned into public space, a lot of those buildings are from the 60s/70s/80s, and are probably are near or at the end of their lifespan and will need to be demolished (wouldn’t be surprised to find asbestos in some of the older buildings as well).

If it could be turned into parkland/bushland with a public lookout (it has an awesome view of the city at the top), I’d support that.

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344

The site is being marketed via an Expressions of Interest campaign that wraps up in August, with the site being carved up into two portions - the Education Precinct that encompasses the former campus proper, and the Sporting Precinct which encompasses the sports grounds closer to the highway and busway station.

The Government’s expectations are that the education precinct and the sporting precinct will continue to be used for those purposes. One of the four primary objectives in the Information Memorandum reads:

Community Recreation - Preserve the site’s community use by retaining existing public spaces and recreational amenities and programs including Yarranlea Primary School, the Aquatic & Fitness Centre, the Tennis Centre and the Sports Oval.

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