Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

[qut391]

S1946 on a Route 385.

[Cazza]

T2900 on a northbound 66 this morning. These rigids from random depots running 66s of a morning lately haven’t been coming up on bus tracking, so I’m presuming they are just extras rostered on. Standing at Roma St city bound platform just then for about 5 mins and saw a 330, 66 and 333 leave with pretty much full standing loads. The metro can’t come soon enough it seems.

[Cazza]

For buses that have only been in service for 3 days (if I’m not mistaken), 2 of them are already having issues with doors.

Snip

One of S1637’s middle doors was struggling to open this afternoon. This bus isn’t out of the newer batch either.

[qut391]

E1595 on Route 60 CityGlider this morning.

Remember once E2838 operated on a Route 377 a few months ago and was supposed to operate a Route 40 City Loop afterwards, however it was replaced by another B7RLE.

Wonder why this time a City Loop operated on CityGlider service across the whole morning peak.

[Cazza]

New aeiral imagery from Fri 5th of March still shows 8 bendies in Glider livery. The fleet numbers are difficult to make out, but from what I can tell, they are E1654-E1661. There are 4 other normal bendies there, being the ones Dave mentioned a couple of weeks back.

Also S1642, S1646, S1647 and S1648 parked at Eagle Farm - guess that they have been swapped with the new artics..

[qut391]

New aeiral imagery from Fri 5th of March still shows 8 bendies in Glider livery. The fleet numbers are difficult to make out, but from what I can tell, they are E1654-E1661. There are 4 other normal bendies there, being the ones Dave mentioned a couple of weeks back.

Also S1642, S1646, S1647 and S1648 parked at Eagle Farm - guess that they have been swapped with the new artics..

I saw S1647 on Driver Instruction Training at Margaret Street this morning.

[^^__^^]

T2920 parked up at S today

[BT Enthusiast]

Weird thing, second weekend in a row, only new b8rleas are on Route 66.

No other buses, just 1651-1669 en route, I'm guessing for driver testing.

[Cazza]

The 66 isn’t Brisbane’s busiest bus route for no reason... Yes, uni students may make up a good amount of that, but the connection between RBWH, Roma St and the South-East Busway should never be overlooked. South bank is always pumping on weekends and we need the capacity for it. Theres a reason why that bi artics will be running on the 66 close to 24/7 in a few years, it is a key “CBD” distributor and an even more direct route servicing some of Brisbane’s most popular destinations.

If anything, I say finally for BCC to have artics running 7 days a week on the 66. If they’re gonna be sitting idle in the depot on sundays, they may as well use them...

[daveeyh]

T2923 (rego XQ 97QE) parked at Volgren today.

[Merc1107]

If anything, I say finally for BCC to have artics running 7 days a week on the 66. If they’re gonna be sitting idle in the depot on sundays, they may as well use them...

Also there's the matter of using your newest buses while they're still under warranty!

[Skyblue1]

Hi all.
Seen about 3:30 today was a gas bus heading towards Toowong on Milton Road on a recovery truck. But it had no fleet numbers, no rego plates and had various panels missing including a window. No desti box either. I would presume it’s come from Mannheim’s but why would it be going to Toowong??

[daveeyh]

T2925 (XQ 85QE) parked at Volgren today.

[ABS]

Any idea why 1894 was withdrawn? Crash damage?

[BT Enthusiast]

Yes I believe so, also with 1980 which got set on fire by an arsonist

[daveeyh]

Any idea why 1894 was withdrawn? Crash damage?

I believe that the bus got stuck under the Pine Street rail bridge at Wynnum Central.

[ABS]

Crunch! 2.8m clearance will do it.

[Cazza]

S1636 on an inbound 125 this morning.

[BT Enthusiast]

When are the new B8 Artic deliveries going to to cap off?
1670 is in service today and I'm guessing it would be the last one?

[Cazza]

From what I'm aware of, they have stopped delivering the B8 artics. It's just that close half of this new batch aren't actually in passenger service, even though some have been sitting pretty much idle at Eagle Farm depot for over 9 months now. I contacted Translink a few days ago asking for a response as to when the artics will start on the CityGlider, so we'll have to wait and see about that one.

[Merc1107]

I contacted Translink a few days ago asking for a response as to when the artics will start on the CityGlider, so we'll have to wait and see about that one.

While the rationale has been explained previously (no additional money forthcoming from Translink to fund their operation*), the mind boggles at the thought of brand new, articulated buses, that are still in warranty languishing in the yard.

I would certainly encourage posters who encounter overloaded buses to report it via the appropriate channels. It could force their hand.


* If this rumour about lack of funding is true, why wasn't this dealt with before buses were purchased?

[Cazza]

With the no funding rumour, it must also be said that we’ve seen new artics built and put into service (mainly on Route 66 as you would be aware if you’re been looking at this thread) since these cityglider artics have been built. So, if no additional funding is available, how did these normal artics come into service first (even though we already had 50 or so artics running in revenue service, yet not a single one dedicated to the cityglider)? Further from that, if Translink was so concerned about funds management, then I don’t think they would be ok with the current inefficient, wastage of a network we have today. For example, the Maroon glider seemed to get funded in the blink of an eye, yet it only served 1 stop that wasn’t already serviced by a bus every 30 mins or better, 7 days (even at the bare minimum).

Also, I’ve heard another 2 rumours that I’d like to comment on.
1- the terminus’ at both west end and Teneriffe can’t accommodate bendy buses. Well, I’d like to first point out that bendy buses can actually go pretty close to anywhere a rigid bus can (obviously there are exceptions including crests/dips where they can bottom out, some turns will enevitably too tight anyway etc.). And even if this was the case, it’s been around 2 years since the Lord Mayor announced bendy buses will be running on the cityglider, but I’m yet to see a single traffic cone at either of these spots to indicate and sort of road works or upgrades to allow these buses to turnaround.
2- the covid situation could have delayed putting them into service from both a driver training and patronage point of view. Yes, granted, however there have been observations of driver training for quite a while now. And even if they didn’t have enough artic drivers at Eagle farm, couldn’t some have transferred from another depot? Also, the network is pretty close to being at what it was precovid (around 70-80% from what I last saw) and the cityglider really is getting hammered. I caught it the other day at around 8am from Fortitude Valley Station to Teneriffe and it was close to full an arrival, then completely full leaving that stop (with only 3 stops left on the route!). This is not an isolated incident. Standing at the Gasworks inbound stop for a bit after, I witnessed a near CONSTANT flow of people walking to the bus stop. About 15-20 people would get on the bus, it would leave, people would keep queuing up, 3-5 mins later the next one would show up (if it was running on time), it would pick up those 15-20 people, rinse and repeat. It was pretty satisfying to watch. Plus, the unreliability of the cityglider is ridiculous, especially after they’ve removed bus lanes along the route (god knows why). That leads to bunching, flow on delays to the next service, large service gaps etc etc etc.

At the end of the day, it isn’t Brisbane’s second busiest bus route for no reason. Both the West End and Teneriffe areas are booming areas with both office towers, residential towers and large people attractors in their own right. As you’ve said, it’s pretty disgraceful to see close to $15 million worth of metal just fading away in hot Brisbane sun, nearly 10 months after they were built.

[^^__^^]

It’s got to do with the stop infrastructure in between. A lot of the stops are not big enough to accommodate the bendies and need to be lengthened. This is meant to happen, though when who can say.

[Cazza]

That just makes things even more of an embarrassment. That've had these buses planned for over 2 years now! The only stops I can see that need lengthening is Montague @ Cordeuax N/B and Gasworks N/B (even that one just needs to be moved about 5m east). Apart from that, the others just need an extension of concrete and that would suffice.

However, it should be noted that artic buses currently run on routes where there isn't a full length of concrete or where buses have to difficultly pull in around cars. Have a look at some of the P119/120 stops (particularly those few through the Wellers Hill area) and how hard it can be to navigate a rigid through there, let alone a TAG or a bendy. Some stops down in Sydney (especially in the Inner West area where artics make up a good majority of the 438X, 440, 470 services etc.) where some of the stops are quite short and hard to access. I feel there could be more to the situation...

[Cazza]

Update: just found a Facebook post from Jonathan Sri, dated 23 October 2019 saying that:
- He had a Public and Active Transport Committee meeting on 22 October with then Deputy, now Lord Mayor Schrinner saying that he gave a "firm commitment" that the Blue CityGlider route will be replaced with bendy buses in the next 6 months, with a quote from Schrinner being "Definitely this financial year".
- It also goes onto say that "There are a few bus stops along the Blue CityGlider route that might have to be upgraded and extended..." which we have just discussed, with the surprising point being "...that (it) will be more of an issue on the north side of the river, as most of the West End and South Brisbane bus stops are already long enough", contrary to what I believed to be the case.

So even with this "firm commitment" to have them rolled out by June last year (yes, I am aware of COVID), there is still yet to be a single bus stop upgraded. Interesting.