I’m sure those who’ve had the experience of travelling from Logan (or the Gold Coast) to Ipswich via public transport have had to endure the very long trip via Roma St (made even longer on days like today, with trackwork closing both the inner Beenleigh and Ipswich lines).
I’d like to suggest that Translink introduce a new route, connecting Logan and Ipswich, running mostly express, connecting to major interchange points along the way
Start at Springwood station (I would choose this over the Hyperdome, due to potential future M1 connection).
Loganlea Station (Beenleigh, Gold Coast trains, local buses to Hyperdome, Browns Plains, Beenleigh, and Yarrabilba).
Browns Plains Station (many bus connections, including the HF 140 & 150 routes, and 540 to Beaudesert).
Maybe Inala Plaza Station—I’m a bit unsure about this, as it adds to the trip time quite a bit (at least 10 minutes). It does have the 100 BUZ, and a few local routes, but not the importance of the other stops, IMO).
Richlands Station—Springfield line, all stops services to CBD, 101 and 460 buses.
Goodna Station—Ipswich line, express services to CBD, several bus routes including 500, a main trunk route for Ipswich (which should be 4 bph, but that’s another topic).
We all know outer suburbs suffer from car-dependence; giving them some options to travel without going via the CBD could surely help!
While it is undoubtedly a good idea, I think you are trying to cover too many diverse locations on the way, and potentially missing out on others.
Firstly, I don’t think this route really needs to service Loganlea Station - it would require a bit of a deviation to include it, and it is a location that is relatively well serviced. If you really did want to service it, I would strongly recommend starting the route from Loganholme rather than Springwood to save time.
Personally, I can think of two options that I like. The ‘connectivity option’ would start the route at Springwood, sent it down Kingston Road to Wembley Road, along Wembley Road through Logan Central (you could divert it to directly service Woodridge Station by going up Ewing Road, Carmody Street, to the station and then back the way you came, or you could just allow the other local routes to connect to it), then run it all the way down Wembley Road to get to Browns Plains Road and Grand Plaza. From there, I would skip Inala and Richlands and just take the Logan Motorway and Brisbane Road straight to Goodna.
The second option is from Springwood, the bus gets onto Compton Road and travels straight along it, through Karawatha, stopping at Sunnybank Hills, then up Beaudesert Road to Learoyd Road/King Ave/Inala Ave via Inala Plaza, then Richlands Station and across to Wacol (seeing as it is right there). Obviously this is a less connective from a Logan perspective, skipping Logan Central and Browns Plains, but it does link the busway, the Mains Road Corridor (including links to Browns Plains), the bus station at Inala Plaza, the Springfield Line and the Ipswich Line. The main downside is the lack of connection to a Beenleigh Line Station, although you could stop at the LGCFR’s relocated Trinder Park Station without too major a detour.
It would lose a lot of its reason for existing by not doing so (i.e. connecting Gold Coast with areas west like Browns Plains, Springfield, & Ipswich).
As to whether it starts at Loganholme or Springwood, it makes very little difference. Distance from Springwood is 8.8 km/10 minutes with clear traffic, or from Loganholme is 8 km/11 minutes with clear traffic. Obviously, these will both be affected by traffic congestion for large parts of the day, but that applies equally to both.
I can see benefits to both routes. Springwood mainly the potential future M1 connection, but Loganholme connects to a lot more local routes. I guess in reality, the 555 will still cover the corridor, so Loganholme is a better choice, in that case (IMO).
I would also not object to a State Route 30 bus route, as I think we need that as well as the M6 one.
I wouldn’t terminate either at Wacol, though. It’s a bit of a nothing as far as bus interchanges are concerned, only having the 463 stop there, which already services Goodna. Goodna also has the 500, 524, and 527. I think it’s worth the extra few minutes to improve interchange options.
But are we designing this as a route to bring the localities of Logan and Ipswich closer together, or are we solely making it a shortcut between the three railway lines? While you could make a route to cover both, I don’t think it would do either role particularly well.
If your main aim is just to connect the rail lines, just run a roadrunner “rail connect” route from Loganlea Station to Goodna Station via Richlands with no stops in between - allow the local network to do all the connections to those three points. According to Google Maps, driving non-stop between all three stations using the Logan Motorway, Centenary Highway, Progress Road and Ipswich Motorway will take ~30 minutes - this is the most rapid way to connect them.
If the main aim is to increase connectivity between the Logan and Ipswich LGAs, you really need a route that goes from Springwood, Logan Central and Browns Plains with a limited intermediate stops (largely avoiding the Motorways IMO). This will be a more connective route, but it will be slower. If we use my “connectivity option” route above, but modified to include Richlands, Google says it would take just under an hour to drive it, so probably 1hr 15mins when stops are included?
I feel the roadrunner is the better idea. It’d also be nice if they finally built the station at Carole Park and made it relatively simple for a bus to access from the Gateway, then it wouldn’t need to divert off to Richlands.
Instead of connecting it to Inala Plaza, you could maybe connect it to Forest Lake Village, which is more in the way and also has a connection to the 100 buz, and essentially following the 460 to Richlands
Something else I’d like to add to this, since this bus would be fastest running along the Logan Mwy, a good option for providing service with speed could be something like what they have in Sydney: an island platform in the middle of the motorway, where busses cross over each other to get to the island (M2 Motorway, Oakes Road):
Hmm, maybe something like this? Potential for mid-motorway stations would be at Parkinson and Berrinba/Kingston due to needing time for busses to head to/from the middle of the motorway to/from on/off ramps.
I always had an idea for a 595 Springwood - Goodna route. Start at Springwood Interchange, Compton Rd, (R) Calam Rd, (L) Hellawell Rd, Learoyd Rd, (R) McCotter St, (L) Beaudesert Rd (reverse route would be Beaudesert Rd (R) Bradman St (L) Learoyd Rd), (L) Elizabeth St, (L) Mitchell St, (R) Bellamy St, (L) Watson Rd, (R) Learoyd Rd, King Ave, Inala Ave, Inala Interchange, Inala Ave, Poinsettia St, Progress Rd, (R) Archerfield Rd, (L) Pine Rd, Richlands Train Station, (R) Progress Rd, Wacol Station, Wacol Station Rd, (L) Wilruna St, Brisbane Tce, (L) Layard St (R) Woogaroo St, (L) Ryan St, Goodna Station.
I did originally think of terminating it at Wacol however there are better onward connections at Goodna. Pax won’t have to get on a train for two stops to get on another bus again.
I’m not sure if this concept would adapt well to the Logan Motorway. It works well in the Sydney example because that highway goes right down the middle of fairly densely-packed, highly linked suburbia. It forms a central arterial through the heart of the area.
The Logan Motorway is different in that there are relatively few places where the motorway runs down the middle of a residential area. While it goes past other a number of residential areas, these residential areas do not span both sides of the motorway like in Sydney, but are generally separate enclaves on one side of the motorway or the other. Instead of running down the middle of a suburb as a central arterial, the Logan Motorway often forms an outside border around a location, which makes it of limited benefit to the suburb as a transport node location (I call this the “Edens Landing Station effect”).
For a lot of the suburbs in this area, I think it is the main arterial roads that the suburbs are centred around, and these are where the PT services should be/generally are centred around.
Density is really a proxy for catchment area. Catchment area is multi-modal, its not just walk up from nearby residences.
For example, Perth trains do well in the middle of motorways because buses and P&R feed them. The designers calculated that a station could not be supported on walk up patronage alone.
Could a similar approach here?
The implication here is that for this to work you would need to build large P&R and potentially feeder buses as well.
Keep in mind that this isn’t a bus route into the CBD - it’s an East - West bus route between Logan and Ipswich. Would such a route really have the patronage to warrant the cost of large stations featuring P&Rs, and a dedicated feeder bus network (keeping in mind every major resi area targeted would really need its own feeder bus)?
It wouldn’t. And this is one reason I liked the roadrunner idea you posted above - it would have few stops, and those stops already have park and ride facilities and feeder buses. Why build more infrastructure when we could use existing infrastructure?
A roadrunner also has a very clear purpose - long distance journeys and connecting up radial corridors. When it comes to long distance public transport journeys, they’re only competitive with car travel if they have few stops (or have dedicated infrastructure to bypass congestion, but that isn’t relevant here). And I think coverage routes stop being attractive to users after a certain distance. If someone wants to travel all the way from Springwood or Loganlea to somewhere in Ipswich, they don’t want to be stopping every two minutes to let people on and off. Express services are appealing.
It should be noted there is already a route between Ipswich and Logan - route 534 between Springfield Central and Browns Plains. It’s sort of trying to serve two masters, as it covers the whole Springfield Central loop, then runs express along the Centenary to Ellen Grove, then turns back into a coverage route to get to Browns Plains via Forest Lake. It does run every half an hour all day though, which is pretty good for a service that’s purely outer suburban.
There’s also the 463, which goes between Goodna and Forest Lake. This is again a hybrid route, paralleling the railway line from Goodna to Wacol and mostly just stopping at train stations, and then becomes a full coverage service from Wacol to Forest Lake. Half hourly in peak and hourly off peak, not as good as the 534 but still useful. Maybe this could be extended too, so there’s a link between Browns Plains and both railway lines in Ipswich.
