I just caught the bus down to Springwood this morning and it seems that the busway is close to being signed off. PIDs are working at the new Rochedale bus station and inspectors/engineers were on the busway looking over things.
Edit - Just spoke to some ticket inspectors and they mentioned in two weeks it’s likely to open
In and around Springwood Station as well as the new ramp coming off the busway extension
Has there been any publication of service changes? No indication on the translink site for the 555, for example, which will presumably be affected.
its a walkability nightmare
I’m assuming they will after Easter.
Better than it was before, as it was very pedestrian unfriendly… Lots of accidents occured around there as well on the off ramp Northbound. It’s seems like a really good safety upgrade considering the complexity of the interchange.
p.s. Just before I took the pic of the pedestrian underpass there was an elderly lady walking through, so considering that it must be a lot safer
As a resident of that area, I tend to agree - the current works have improved it considerably over the former status quo. It’s still no pedestrian wonderland, but it is better, especially the walkway under the highway.
Does this have anything to do with Busways and the Springwood Interchange?
Sigh!!
Springwood is very different to the type of location illustrated in the photo.
For one thing, Springwood is completely contained on the Eastern side of the highway - I would say that 90% of the people who walk along the greatly improved pedestrian path beneath the highway, are going to the station’s 2 Park N Ride carparks. Aside from that, everything else over there is light industrial, and mostly places you would visit with your car (Bob Jane T-Mart, Midas, Suspension place, vet surgery, etc). It’s not even Springwood over there, but Slacks Creek (south of Logan Road) or Underwood (North of Logan Road).
So let me get this right.
Bad planning is a the reason we can’t have good planning?
Got it!!
Customers might, but what about employees? They deserve a way to get to work that doesn’t involve driving.
I wonder if a peak-hours only route (industrial peak hours, not office) similar to the 302 in Brisbane would be worthwhile here?
A lot of this industrial area is covered by the 550 - it comes up Park Road then runs along the access road to Springwood Station, and also the 545 which runs along Kingston Road, servicing the larger portion of this industrial area that sits west of Slacks Creek (as in the actual creek).
There was a bit of a gap south of Park Road though - the 552 stops at IKEA, but then goes back down Paradise Road. However, now you can stay on the bus as it goes up Lake Road and get off at Reserve Park then use the relatively new pedestrian and cycle bridge over the creek to reach Rowland Street near Carlyle Street. That plugs a lot of that gap.
In other news, the busway extension to Springwood, including the Rochedale Station and Park N Ride, opens May 12.
So only minor timetable adjustments - meaning no more late running 555s :
It should help with that somewhat, as there’ll be no more doing the loop at Eight Mile Plains to get onto the M1, and no more slow crawl from the Springwood offramp to the station along Rochedale Road with the 4 sets of lights you have to trudge though.
It is indeed! Although, hilariously, when you read the release and click on the link to Rochedale Station, it brings up Albion Station! 
Something that I only recently realised is that, unlike the original video renders for the busway extension, there is no longer a bus-only onramp to the M1 at the busway terminus. This isn’t exactly a loss, as what was proposed in the video would have required all buses, including the services that bypass Springwood (566, P569 and 571) to do a loop of the station itself to then access the onramp.
Original video render:
Instead, I expect that these services will turn out onto the Highway Service Road, cross the Fitzgerald Ave/Logan Road intersection and use the general onramp. Not glamourous, but probably a better solution than forced joyrides around Springwood Station.
Google Maps:
How they are going to make this work for when the busway is eventually extended towards Loganholme will be interesting to see.
We get it: you hate buses.
