The problem with this is that an external bike rack can only carry a couple of bikes, and the time taken loading the bikes delays the bus. Maybe installing small bike racks on selected bus stop shelters might be a better idea?
I actually saw some enforced etiquette this morning, where a teenage boy waiting to get on a 560 was told to wait by a Clarks ticket officer, allowing several women to board first. This was followed by a short comment about manners to the boy. I was quite pleased to see it, personally.
I think that they should first try doing this on lower frequency outer suburban serving routes that are lower patronage, where a 1 or 2 minute delay isn’t too big of an issue, I think that it would really help people who live in extremely car centric areas to still be able to make their commutes, and since those routes are lower patronage already I think it would be more manageable than if it was on a busway focused route.
But are lower frequency outer suburban serving routes that are lower patronage really being utilised by half-riding commuters? To me, those sorts of routes generally serve as a shopping cart run for local retirees and the like.
I would see cycling as a competitor to these routes, with riders using their bikes to bypass these local welfare services and get to more prominent bus stops with more frequent services.
but what are they supposed to do with the bikes when they get to the more prominent bus stops, leave it there? if there are bike racks and they’re going to the cbd sure, but if they are going to some other car centric outer suburb that is maybe 30 or 40 km away, I don’t think the model of leaving the bike at the stop would work, I also think that it would be more useful overall in regional cities like toowoomba and townsville where the public transport connections may be more lacking and there are some very long distance routes.
The problem I see with what you are suggesting is that the bike racks would only be serving fringe cases - someone undertaking a part-bike, part-bus commute to a non-CBD location using exclusively low frequency suburban routes. While some people would use such a solution, it would be of low use to many.
My concept is one that could potentially be used to allow bike/bus commuting to the CBD using more than just low frequency suburban routes. For example, someone from deep in the guts of a suburb like Sunnybank/Sunnybank Hills could ride out to one of maybe four or five designated stops along Pinelands/Mains Road, park their bike on a vertical bike rack integrated into the bus shelter, and then jump the multitude of peak services into the city.
It would be another option to address the last mile issue.
That being said, I do see benefits to your idea of adding bike racks to regional buses.
There’s a reason bike racks on buses are only used in meaningful numbers in North America - it’s tokenism. Having said that, if you are going to do it, you need to make a decent go of it.
The Brisbane trial failed because it was so limited. If memory serves the bike racks were only available to be used on the GCL and some Toowong operated routes - I think only the 427/428/432, the 440/441 (current 443/444), and potentially the 433/445. There was no guarantee a bike rack equipped bus would actually show up on these routes, and the racks were not permitted to be used if an equipped bus was off doing something else.
Canberra on the other hand has a network that is now near 100% operated with bike rack equipped buses. They are on every standard rigid or larger bus except for the 26 tag-axle Scanias. Minibuses are also out of scope - 2 Hino Ponchos are used for a specific route, and 16 Mitsubishi Rosas are used for paratransit. It works out to about 91% of the whole of the current fleet of 466 available for service today having bike racks (422 out of 466), or if you deliberately exclude the minibuses then 94% (422 out of 448). Obviously excludes the CDC Canberra fleet which also operates within the ACT to a limited extent.
For that sort of penetration up here - BCC currently has a fleet of what I make to be 1206 buses at today, so you would need to kit out roughly 1,134 buses to get to 94%. That figure ignores the TMR leased buses (75 of which are at BCC), and any buses owned by or leased to any other operator in SEQ.
I’d rather any funding available for this be spent on driver cabs and onboard PIDS, let alone running more buses.
I think there was more to it than that because passenger numbers at Loganholme have gone back to pre-rail shutdown levels, and the commuter-used carparks at the Hyperdome and at Rochedale have both been significantly emptier than they have been over the past few weeks.
On the 575 this morning, there were heavy crowds at Eight Mile Plains which proceeded to sardine tin the bus, but it doesn’t equate with the 573 last night, as the majority of those passengers weren’t alighting at Eight Mile Plains but heading further south. I think there might have been Clarks buses that went MIA…
DP75 (3:06pm ex Varsity) departed Nerang on its way to Brisbane full to the gills, with people standing up to the doors.
There’s a desperate need for extra northbound trains in the afternoon (and extra southbound as well). Just extend some Beenleigh stoppers in the peaks for Christ’s sake.
We were supposed to have Steam for today’s SDSR run to Clifton, but late in the week we apparently get an email from QR saying ‘no tender first operations’. Like, at all.
Fortunately i’m just a journey day volunteer and don’t have to deal with sh*t like this.
There’s not enough places to turn a locomotive around, so it’s virtually unavoidable to have at least some short stretches tender first. It’s why we have risk mitigation policies like 30kph limits on tender first ops. It’s all been going fine.
Can someone please talk some sense into those people down in Brisbane .
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