Nowra coaches new timetable

[paulbrown3]

Nowra coaches is asking for feedback on a new timetable

http://www.nowracoaches.com.au/feedback.html

My 5 cents: get rid of bus numbers and route numbers - just one will do. More services. There should just be one operator for that area.

[burrumbus]

G'day Paul.Displaying the route numbers is a requirement of the commercial contract.Displaying the run numbers assists the numerous school students passengers which make up the vast majority of all rural areas patronage which school bus is which.Displaying the run numbers is far more important than the route number.Cheers.

[paulbrown3]

I know that route numbers are a requirement, but with nowra coaches on their route service they also show a bus number (not fleet bus number) as well as the route number.

[burrumbus]

That is a shift number,or run number for the shift that bus works,Paul.It is designed to assist school kids to get their correct bus.Many operators have a system like that.e.g-Martins Albury,Busabout Wagga,PBC Goulburn,Allens,Coolamon.Without it working out which bus did which school route would be very difficult in a large fleet.The buses which Nowra Coaches use on route service also get used as school buses.From memory shift 1 works Nowra town route service during the day,but gets used as a town school bus AM and PM.Hope this helps.

[Geoff]

I used to enjoy the challenge when Surfside used that same system. It was fun to sit down with all the timetables and draw up a zig-zag of each shift to see what work they all did.

Geoff.

[Craig]

Still no sign of the proposed town changes, but a new timetable was issued in March for the Bay & Basin routes 732 & 733.

The Tuesday and Friday bus Route 733 bus now departs Nowra around 2 hours later at 15:25 and now operates via Bomaderry Station after departing Stewart Place.

Among revisions on Route 732, the 16:07 732 ex Basin View Shops now commences 13 mins later.

Kind Regards


Craig

[tonyp]

This proposed timetable from 2014 is still on the web but not currently linked to the Nowra Coaches website. So what's happened to it in the intervening four years? Do these things disappear into the labyrinth at TfNSW for "review", never to be seen again? It's no point asking the operators, they won't even reply to you (presumably bullied into silence by TfNSW and concerned they won't get new contracts if they rock the boat) and TfNSW will simply issue a patronising load of vague waffle - once again if they deign to reply at all. Country bus services are certainly the Cinderella.

The timetable would be a welcome improvement to the present woeful service levels around Nowra and Shoalhaven. Not only that, timetables sometimes disintegrate under the weight of getting caught up in peak traffic tailing back through the inadequate road arrangements. My son gets an East Nowra bus to TAFE at Bomaderry and it's regularly 15 to 20 minutes late every day, which means he's late for class. That's quite an "achievement" out in the country. Before any of you city folk suggest it, the "earlier bus" is usually about 2 hours before - if there is one!

The bus wouldn't even manage to meet the train that it's timetabled to meet and he says that nobody is on the bus after the TAFE. I imagine that anybody wanting to catch the train would have wised up long ago and used their car, or set out on foot if they don't have one. Yet the timetable tells you to get to the bus stop five minutes before the timetabled time! As there's typically no actual bus stop in this part of the world (neither sign, seat nor shelter, meaning you have to guess where the stop is!), that's a long wait standing on a grass verge in the elements!

http://www.nowracoaches.com.au/pdf/aw1404766.pdf

[Fleet Lists]

Since the current timetable on the Nowra website is dated in 2016, it would superseded that planned one.

[tonyp]

Since the current timetable on the Nowra website is dated in 2016, it would superseded that planned one.

Yes of course, but since the current timetables are little different from those before 2014, that means that the proposed new timetables weren't approved by TfNSW and it is business as usual. Nowra Coaches was obviously aware that the long-standing level of service that has prevailed for years, throughout a period of substantial population growth, is completely inadequate for a population of now around 50,000 (between Nowra urban area and Bay and Basin), but TfNSW apparently doesn't feel the same.

So is it a state funding issue? To what extent does TfNSW fund rural bus services and how is the distribution of this funding decided?

[Fleet Lists]

The proposed timetable asked:"Nowra Coaches Pty Ltd are proud to present the following timetable proposal and seek feedback from local residents and interested parties."
The other possibility is that they did not get enough positive feedback.

[BroadGauge]

The timetable would be a welcome improvement to the present woeful service levels around Nowra and Shoalhaven. Not only that, timetables sometimes disintegrate under the weight of getting caught up in peak traffic tailing back through the inadequate road arrangements. My son gets an East Nowra bus to TAFE at Bomaderry and it's regularly 15 to 20 minutes late every day, which means he's late for class. That's quite an "achievement" out in the country. Before any of you city folk suggest it, the "earlier bus" is usually about 2 hours before - if there is one!

Is that the 724 service? http://www.nowracoaches.com.au/pdf/timetables/724.pdf

That route looks quite impressive for it's indirectness - it covers 38km of territory in it's 80 minute long circuit around the one town!

[tonyp]

Is that the 724 service? http://www.nowracoaches.com.au/pdf/timetables/724.pdf

That route looks quite impressive for it's indirectness - it covers 38km of territory in it's 80 minute long circuit around the one town!

Yes.

Edit: Bear in mind that the journey time is divided into two halves for inward and outward journeys and there are also meal breaks hidden in the timetables. Also, being outside the Opal area, for a good load (like that peak period run), a good 15-25 minutes would be lost during that run standing still at every stop exchanging passengers and collecting fares through the front door.

[tonyp]

The bus wouldn't even manage to meet the train that it's timetabled to meet and he says that nobody is on the bus after the TAFE. I imagine that anybody wanting to catch the train would have wised up long ago and used their car, or set out on foot if they don't have one. Yet the timetable tells you to get to the bus stop five minutes before the timetabled time! As there's typically no actual bus stop in this part of the world (neither sign, seat nor shelter, meaning you have to guess where the stop is!), that's a long wait standing on a grass verge in the elements!

The 724 bus from East Nowra was only 10 minutes late at Stewart Place bus terminus this morning and with an extremely stressed and flustered-looking driver, which is most unusual around here. He did the quickest wheelchair ramp deployment I've ever seen and then took off like a scalded cat. Looks like somebody is putting the pressure on! The bus they were using didn't even have a working desto display, just a card in the windscreen saying "Bomaderry Rail". I thought it was a rail bus at first. There seems to be a different bus every day - yesterday one of those useless CB80 Cargos with almost zero low floor. Always a good load (of late people) on this run. Nowra Coaches is a bit here and there, but the drivers present a good public face for them to compensate what is lacking in public relations at the office. Shoal Bus presents a better act overall.

[tonyp]

I received a reply from TfNSW about the Nowra Coaches draft 2014 timetable and they advised that:

However, please note that not all service change requests can be accommodated, as TfNSW also seeks to strike a balance between regional customer needs and the needs of customers across the entire NSW transport network. Thank you for your patience.

TfNSW is committed to undertaking holistic service reviews and is currently seeking funding to develop improved city wide public transport service plans to meet customer needs in rural and regional NSW as part of the Future Transport Strategy 2056.

Even with my patience, I won't be alive in 2056. Anyway, I sense the dead hand of Treasury here so it's pretty futile to take it further.

In a parallel enquiry about why Bowral town bus services (routes 814 and 815 of Berrima Coaches) don't actually serve the railway station and synchronise with the train timetable thereat, but terminate a few blocks short in town, TfNSW advised that they would investigate possibilities with the operator. I find the existing arrangement inexplicable in such a greater Sydney region commuting area.

On another topic, I found a clipping from the SMH of 4/8/80 which announced that the Liberal Party had voted to transfer all government bus services in NSW to private enterprise. Well, it has been a long haul. According to the Herald with its usual accuracy, these included government bus services in Wollongong. That one, at least, would have been dead easy to accomplish!

[Fleet Lists]

On another topic, I found a clipping from the SMH of 4/8/80 which announced that the Liberal Party had voted to transfer all government bus services in NSW to private enterprise. Well, it has been a long haul. According to the Herald with its usual accuracy, these included government bus services in Wollongong. That one, at least, would have been dead easy to accomplish!

That was while they were in opposition. It is actually amazing that when Greiner got into power in 1988 they did not proceed with it right then and there.