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.