Gold Coast Rapid Transit updates

[captainch]

it received mass coverage on all 4 channels in nsw,made me a little sad seeing the crowds,reminded me of driving 547 the last night in brisbane all those years ago!

[Bedford-29]

I`ll get down to the Gold coast for a ride on the trams.But its good see trams back in Queensland after 45 years since the last tram ran in Brisbane 13th April 1969 and 75 years since the last steam tram ran in Rockhampton.

[captainch]

hey bedford-29 I was talking about the electric ones,NOT steam.

[Bedford-29]

I thought I chuck the Rockhampton one in as it is part of Queensland tramway history knowing Rockys trams were steam powered Captain.As Rocky trams were operating in the era of electric tram.

[08 XDi]

It was a fantastic day, with a very festive atmosphere and very professional staff on hand all the way along.

The only issue seemed to be the single track terminuses getting congested owing to the massive volumes (and many passengers were of course doing return trips and did not want to disembark). No mechanical or other faults in evidence.

Surfside ended up operating some supplementary services to ferry people end to end.

[08 XDi]

The actual patronage figure for yesterday was between 80,000 to 90,000 (and that's being conservative). That's around half of QR's average weekday patronage for all of its services, and I believe it exceeds the opening day figures for pretty much anything road, bus or rail related in Queensland in recent memory.

[brissypete]

I went down for a ride on the trams today and it wasn't as busy as it would have been yesterday, travelling late morning and early afternoon there were a good number of free seats but still good patronage considering the frequency and been a Monday outside School Holidays. The busiest section was between Cavill Ave to Southport.

The traffic light priority seems to work very good overall. Very impressed at the number of go card readers at stations, much better than a lot of train stations.

[Tram Fan 24/7]

I came all the way from Sydney, just to ride the G: I liked it ! It was a very smooth ride & the trams performed well despite the crush load ! (now I know what a sardine feels like !)

I took lots of pictures, but couldn't get to all the vantage points that I wanted due to huge crowds & tight schedule. (I had to fly back that night!)

Can't wait to go back again !!

The G: rocks !!

TF 24/7

[lunchbox]

I note that "The G" is to adopt all-over advertising on its trams.
Maybe now is a good time to inform "G" management that putting advertising film on the windows is not such a good idea. Tourism is an important contributor to the Gold Coast economy. Tourists might think twice about taking a second trip on a tram with stuff on the windows which discourages them from taking photos.
As has been shown by the all-over ads on dedicated tourist buses throughout Australia, It is quite practicable to carry an all-over advertising message WITHOUT STICKING PLASTIC FILM ALL OVER THE WINDOWS!

[jibb]

All over advertising has not affected passengers using Adelaide's trams-be they commuters or tourists.Passenger numbers are very good on the City to Glenelg run and continue to grow-in short all over advertising whilst unsightly is now a fact of life on Public Transport so we have to get used to living with it.
it certainly hasn't had any impact on passenger numbers on our trams.

[08 XDi]

Contravision has no effect on patronage.

It makes it marginally more challenging to see outside in the evening, but it's hardly an issue with real-time onboard journey tracking and announcements on every tram.

[superbossgc]

Here the link of the rail connection survey from the mayor to see yes or no.

https://mayortomtate.wufoo.com/forms/ra ... on-survey/

[simonl]

The actual patronage figure for yesterday was between 80,000 to 90,000 (and that's being conservative). That's around half of QR's average weekday patronage for all of its services, and I believe it exceeds the opening day figures for pretty much anything road, bus or rail related in Queensland in recent memory.

That's more than on Toronto's busiest line (504), which is 60k/day apparently. I presume all this is because of the opening buzz. What's it on an average weekday now?

[08 XDi]

^ That was just the opening day. It was down to around 13,000 on 21 July, but it will apparently break 20K per day shortly. Very healthy growth with each week. Be surprised if it didn't reach 25K or better after a year.

It would be higher if the patronage growth experienced pretty much SEQ wide up until 2008 had been sustained, but they decided to kill the goose that laid the golden ticket with the current fare arrangements and so things have been pretty stagnant everywhere since then - hence the revised patronage assumptions from 45,000 per day during the first year down to 17,000 per day. At very least we are beating the lowest bound projection.

The system is said to have a crush capacity of 75,000 per day with the current fleet strength. By year's end it should hopefully be carrying around 1/3rd of its capacity per day on average, which would be 100 people per tram on average from first to last.

Before midnight, there are around 230 services per weekday around 180 per Saturday and Sunday. Add around 20 services between midnight and 5am on Saturday and Sunday morning. Plenty of room for more if needed.

The depot has enough capacity for around 30 vehicles I think, currently there are 14 all told. More will be needed for any extension to Helensvale, but how many depends on the route taken and how frequent they want to run it on a regular basis north of GCUH. 7-8 minute headways may be overkill north of here other than for special events.

[ekoja]

Went for a run on the trams the other day, just because I could.
It felt like I was on holiday.
It was, I have to say, a most enjoyable experience, we ran from Broadbeach to University Hospital, had lunch at the hospital Cafeteria, (I can fully recommend the Chicken Teriake).
Then back to Broadbeach all on the one ticket. You get 2 hours and can travel as much as you want in that time.
The outlook was new and interesting, the line runs right past the back of both Premier and Murray's yards.
The police were onboard on the trip to the hospital and on the return 2 Inspectors boarded and immediately nailed some Griffith Students for travelling on the wrong pass.
I cannot remember just what was wrong, but one guy had been warned once already about fare evasion and got pinged with a $227 fine. Good cheap entertainment it was.
Must away ...the rugby is on.

[simonl]

I reckon this line reinforces Jarrett Walker's negativity about tram systems. Faster than a bus on an equivalent alignmentand stopping pattern? No, but it does have higher capacity and greater comfort.

[1of55]

QLink tram unit 09 out of service and parked up to the buffers at Broadbeach South station, so that other units could maintain service frequency , while damage to the front is assessed.Sat 19 Oct.

[1of55]

QLink tram unit 09 out of service and parked up to the buffers at Broadbeach South station, so that other units could maintain service frequency , while damage to the front is assessed.Sat 18 Oct.

[nbus]

When did that take a hit as i have not seen anything about it.

[08 XDi]

Yesterday.

Not every bingle makes it into the news.

[BestFriendHasLeprosy]

Not every bingle makes it into the news.

No, but Lara sure did.

[nbus]

A Car has just hit a tram on the Gold Coast Highway @ fern AV.

[nbus]

A Car has just hit a tram on the Gold Coast Highway @ fern AV.

[superbossgc]

Heard from 9 news today The stage 2 light rail will going to helensvale via parkwoods on the side of smith motorway, announcement will be out soon.

[08 XDi]

^ No, it won't be.

http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/new ... 7306910677