I honestly don’t know if the demand is there for a full heavy rail link between Goodna and Loganlea. I think a limited stops road runner bus route would be sufficient, though I don’t know whether it would be necessary for this route to include Goodna - Springfield Central to Loganlea via Grand Plaza might be sufficient (the 527 runs half hourly and takes a half hour to connect Goodna to Springfield Central).
I’m usually not a fan of running bus routes along motorways, but for this kind of service covering these locations only, it would make sense to run along them.
I wouldn’t go to Springfield Central. Goodna-Richlands-Browns Plains-Loganlea. That way, you pick up both the Ipswich and Springfield lines.
The current length of journey between Ipswich and Logan/Gold Coast makes public transport very unattractive to anyone other than diehards, or people without another option.
I don’t think this service would be popular enough without a major anchor like Springfield on the end of it. There is a lot of demand for improved PT connection between Springfield and Browns Plains, which I think needs to form a part of this route.
If you just wanted to connect the Ipswich and Springfield Lines to the Beenleigh Line, why even bother going as far out as Loganlea? Put in a route going from Oxley to Upper Mt Gravatt via Salisbury Station and Griffith Uni, or Oxley to Eight Mile Plains via Coopers Plains, Sunnybank Plaza and Brisbane Technology Park.
If it REALLY must be a GC Line Station, take the last route, skip Coopers Plains and detour down Beenleigh Road, then go up Mains Road past Altandi, turn back onto McCullough Street and head for Eight Mile Plains.
Salisbury to Beaudesert rated an Infrastructure Australia high priority in their report out yesterday, alongside Ipswich-Springfield, Northern + Eastern Transitways, the Wave and more local / HF bus improvements.
Yeah saw this. They likely added the Beaudesert rail to coincide with the HSR corridor in the future. If the Qld Government does move on this it’s likely done in stages, like Salisbury to Park Ridge then to Beaudesert being completed in the 2040s.
I’m curious to get some perspectives on this thought. If the Salisbury to Beaudesert link ever gets built, would a reconfiguration of the local bus network work so that bus services from Browns Plains no longer run to the CBD? I was thinking about high frequency services connecting at the rail station near Browns Plains, servicing Browns Plains CBD and then running to Garden City down Mains Road, connecting with the rail network at Altandi. My thoughts were this would allow connections to the CBD at the station near Browns Plains, Altandi and the “Metro” at Upper Mount Gravatt. This would then free up capacity on the busway network for other areas that need it (e.g Springwood and Loganholme).
If rail services run every 15 minutes from Browns Plains, as well as the Beenleigh and GC lines and also high frequency M1 services, surely that would suffice?
The fact that 130 and 140 services already service Altandi, and connect to the M1 at Griffith University, suggests to me that perhaps these services are providing extra needed capacity on the busway. 150 is a little different, as it connects only to the Beenleigh line. It could offload passengers at Upper Mount Gravatt, but it also continues into the city, adding extra capacity on the busway.
I think the reality is that the Metrobuses don’t have enough capacity to take passengers from very well-used routes like these. Trains might be a different story, if we can fix the capacity bottleneck that will exist between Kuraby and Dutton Park post-CRR & LGCFR.
I agree with what you’re saying about the “metro” services not having capacity to take many additional passengers from other services. My hope would be if this was to happen that rail would be a good interchange option and with higher frequencies and better connection points (eg Altandi upgrade) this would work.
I also have wondered with the “metro” services that if this was to go ahead, that the SE Busway could perhaps have a two tier service. For example, a metro bus servicing all stations from the CBD to Eight Mile Plains, and a second service servicing all stations to Rochedale and then express to Buranda stopping perhaps at Upper Mount Gravatt.
If the Browns Plains bus routes ran to Garden City and the rail services were up to scratch, I reckon this could be a possibility. But I’m open to being convinced otherwise if anybody who has experience riding and/or planning these routes has reasons to say why.
As someone who does use these services somewhat regularly, although not on a daily basis, here are the issues I see:
The transfer between bus and rail at Altandi is far from ideal, especially to/from the northbound bus, which requires a sometimes lengthy wait to cross Mains Rd
Train frequency is poor. Ideally, I would want a minimum of 6 express tph, if we are going to enforce a transfer. This makes average wait time 5 minutes. Whether this is achievable, I don’t know.
How would the stop north of Kessels Rd be serviced? Allegedly, it’s a Park & Ride, but it also seems the only stop that reliably services most of the little pocket of MacGregor whose only other option is the hourly and daylight only Mon-Sat (no Sundays) 122. I think it’s maybe also used for people travelling to/from Nissan Arena for events.
When I throw out that idea, I was also envisioning the following:
Decent upgrade to Altandi to allow a more seamless interchange experience and the station near Browns Plains having a decent interchange as well.
The rail network having a 15 minute frequency from Browns Plains/Beaudesert to the city also servicing the stations between Salisbury and Boggo Road, and Altandi serviced by 15 minute Beenleigh services running express from Salisbury to Boggo Road and 15 minute Gold Coast services running express from Altandi to Boggo Rd with perhaps a stop at Salisbury to connect with the Beaudesert line. In an ideal world I’d love to see the line tunneled between Runcorn and Coopers Plains with an interchange station at Pinelands to straighten that section of line and create a better interchange.
I hadn’t thought about that Park n Ride on Mains Road. Do you have any idea what catchment that serves and how many people might use it each day? There’s not a lot of walk up patronage there is there?
I’m a bit out of date on the data in the patronage visualiser, but if you look at the 130 Inbound you’ll see something like half of its boardings come from the Altandi-City section. Some of that is arbitrary busway patronage but some of that is Mains Rd being a very strong corridor (dropping off a little along Pinelands/Calam Rd continues that).
The way I see it you want two stations north of the M6: one in Acacia Ridge (not sure which side of Beaudesert Rd) and one I’ll call Parkinson, on a slightly-extended Nottingham Rd. The 130 would serve it with a modest deviation. The nearest 130 stop is about 50 minutes to Queen St off peak (56 in peak). If the Nottingham Rd station were under 40 minutes to the city then the transfer should be worth it (Salisbury is 32min to Central today). But that’s under 15% of the 130’s patronage.
I wouldn’t deviate the 140 or 150 to Nottingham Rd, but in a sensible network one or both would probably extend past Grand Plaza full time to a Boronia Heights or Hillcrest station.
In terms of how many people use it, while I don’t have solid numbers I’ll put it this way - when I catch a 130 from Griffith Uni in the evening peak, I will be standing. After people get off at the Park N Ride I would have a seat, and probably one of my backpack too (but as I get off at the next stop, I don’t often make use of it). I would say a good 1/4 to 1/3 of the bus gets off there.
There would be little regular walk up patronage there - probably only that triangular residential area across Mains Road from the Cemetery, and maybe some people who live on Kessels Road opposite QSAC. The majority of people using the Park N Ride I would assume to be people who “live too far from Mains Road to walk” (be that for actual mobility reasons or just a belief that it is too far for them to walk).
I guess the other thing to consider is whether the proposed route would use Kessels Rd anyway, or via McCullough/Padstow like the 132. I can see arguments for both. Mains/Kessels is a pretty nightmarish intersection. That would mean Mains Rd at Robertson loses its service, too.
I would’ve thought they’d use Mains Rd at Robertson, considering how long it would take for a pedestrian to cross Kessels Rd—but, as noted above, this could disappear too, depending on routing.
What if the 140 goes Altandi-McCullough St/Padstow Rd-Garden City, and 130 remains on its current route. Would that be a reasonable compromise? It gives people boarding north of Compton Rd both options, and those coming from south of there have an easy interchange.
If you use McCullough Street, you lose a stop for the shopping precinct there - there’s a (rather small) stop outside Sunny Park on McCullough Street when heading east, but no equivalent in the western side on account of the large turning slip lane.
