Great to see that PTV has bus route patronage numbers by day type. Perhaps the only authority in the country to release such detailed information?PaxInfo wrote:If these patterns were to be replicated in Perth, I would expect:
1. Rockingham/Mandurah to have nearly as much patronage on Sundays as Saturday being coastal areas with Sunday trading. Maybe Hillarys routes also?
2. Areas around Curtin (where there are many o/s students) having higher than average weekend patronage
3. Outer homebuyer type areas eg outer parts of Joondalup line and Ellenbrook to have low weekend : weekday patronage ratio (you almost need two incomes to buy a house and that may imply two cars with dispersed employment patterns so people will be driving on weekends too)
4. Lower income areas eg Mirrabooka, Belmont or Midland to have high all day patronage including good weekend usage
5. Direct circumferential routes that feed two or more train lines such as Fremantle - Mandurah - Armadale to do well on all days (and possibly also routes like Warwick - Mirrabooka or Morley in the north). Once you get these up to every 15 min Mon - Sun you have something approaching a versatile network in all directions.
6. The Circle Route to have high weekend patronage (like the populated parts of the orbitals do in Melbourne)
7. Short infrequent sometimes circular routes that only serve one station not to carry many (though their boardings per km might be OK)
8. The 900 series to have high usage all days of the week (being similar corridors to trams in Melbourne)
Most of the feeders along the Joondalup line generate very low patronage on weekends. Reflective of the very stark contrast in service levels. Routes 460, 461 and 462 for example in the weekday peak direction have approximately 14-15 buses per hour. On Saturdays, only route 461 runs providing two buses per hour. Sundays is even worse with only one bus per hour and last bus at 7:49pm. Some exceptions I'd say would be those with greater catchment areas (e.g. route 423, 450) or lower income areas (e.g. route 483).
The weekend:weekday ratio in Ellenbrook is certainly significant given the strong commuter flow in the peak periods, but the services are still well utilised on the weekends given the frequency and span of hours. I'd also say it's one of a handful of examples where patronage Saturday vs Sunday is very similar.
You'd be on the ball in the other lower income areas generally have higher than average patronage. Routes 371, 935 as examples. Aside from these areas, it's mostly the inner-city routes doing the bulk of the heavy lifting however.