PTA / Transperth Service Changes - 2023

[Traklink]

in fact that alone is perhaps why the 115 (former 940) was chosen to terminate there rather than continue to Fremantle and duplicate another HF service (the former 920).

Believe it or not, at one point the 940 was planned to terminate in the backstreets of Coolbellup

Source

System 21 overall was littered with this kind of dead-end route - compared to the High Frequency routes of today which consistently terminate at actual destinations, interchanges or both at the same time

[Bus Suggestions]

There appears to be a minor change for routes 389 and 468 from 24 September, their northbound timing point has moved from stop 12402 (Wanneroo Shop Ctr) one stop back to stop 12401 (Wanneroo Rd/Noonan Dr). No other obvious changes.

Timetables updated:

• 73
• 81

[Enviro 500]

in fact that alone is perhaps why the 115 (former 940) was chosen to terminate there rather than continue to Fremantle and duplicate another HF service (the former 920).

Believe it or not, at one point the 940 was planned to terminate in the backstreets of Coolbellup
940 Coolbellup.png

Source

System 21 overall was littered with this kind of dead-end route - compared to the High Frequency routes of today which consistently terminate at actual destinations, interchanges or both at the same time

I think 955 still follows System 21 style today. Maybe it might get downgraded when MEL starts running.

[Merc1107]

in fact that alone is perhaps why the 115 (former 940) was chosen to terminate there rather than continue to Fremantle and duplicate another HF service (the former 920).

Believe it or not, at one point the 940 was planned to terminate in the backstreets of Coolbellup
940 Coolbellup.png

Source

System 21 overall was littered with this kind of dead-end route - compared to the High Frequency routes of today which consistently terminate at actual destinations, interchanges or both at the same time

That was an interesting read, thanks for sharing it. Are there any other documents from that time available on the Wayback Machine you could share?

I wonder if that was largely an aspirational plan, or if it was really the intention of the Government at the time to completely fulfil the planned "System 21" routes? They certainly managed to get the 920 and 940 going, and even some small parts of the Fremantle-Rockingham Transitway, with the Hampton Road bus lanes in South Freo being the only remaining part of that thought bubble still in place. It's a pity Perth is still waiting for meaningful bus priority solutions for the most part.

While a lot of those routes have come to fruition in more recent times, it's interesting to see some of the services that never came to be, such as the high-frequency route to Landsdale, or the Munster route(s), along with the areas (predominantly the north-east) that waited close to another two decades before service improvement finally caught up to the standards planned in that document. It's nice to see there was a particular focus on making very direct services that would not be at a significant time penalty versus travelling by car; having been a regular on the erstwhile 940 in the past, I can certainly say the travel time was very competitive against a more typical multi-modal journey (not bad considering the lack of freeway busway), and the service as a whole was quite convenient.

To what extent did the Minilink concept come to fruition? It seems a few other cities have jumped on the on-demand/minibus model for outer-suburban areas more recently, yet the success of these services seems to vary wildly, and the cost of providing them is reportedly astronomical in per-passenger terms.

[Bus Suggestions]

I'll have a look through the saved URLs, but in the meantime, here's the index to every archived publication under the old Department of Planning and Infrastructure domain: https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://ww ... ications/*

EDIT: All publications under the "ten year plan" are rightfully under the index of https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://ww ... yearplan/*

[Traklink]

There's also https://web.archive.org/web/20050717164 ... nload.html with direct links to each section (thankfully all are archived!)

I wonder if that was largely an aspirational plan, or if it was really the intention of the Government at the time to completely fulfil the planned "System 21" routes? They certainly managed to get the 920 and 940 going, and even some small parts of the Fremantle-Rockingham Transitway, with the Hampton Road bus lanes in South Freo being the only remaining part of that thought bubble still in place. It's a pity Perth is still waiting for meaningful bus priority solutions for the most part.

While a lot of those routes have come to fruition in more recent times, it's interesting to see some of the services that never came to be, such as the high-frequency route to Landsdale, or the Munster route(s), along with the areas (predominantly the north-east) that waited close to another two decades before service improvement finally caught up to the standards planned in that document. It's nice to see there was a particular focus on making very direct services that would not be at a significant time penalty versus travelling by car; having been a regular on the erstwhile 940 in the past, I can certainly say the travel time was very competitive against a more typical multi-modal journey (not bad considering the lack of freeway busway), and the service as a whole was quite convenient.

It's hard to say really since the plan wasn't published until well into the Court government's second and final term but there was some serious progress in the first few years - aside from those mentioned there was the CircleRoute, Curtin and (new) Kwinana bus stations, and the first stage of upgrades to the Kwinana freeway busway. The Mirrabooka-Landsdale route was also a serious proposition in the 2000-01 budget, that IIRC got as far as having buses delivered to one of the PATH depots in 900-series livery, only for bus improvement funding to be basically sidelined in favour of building the Mandurah Line in full when Labor won in 2001. From that point the ten-year plan was merely cherry-picked from rather than implemented in full.

I remember around 2010-11 when PATH lost the northern suburbs tenders, there was talk about how service planning in their contract areas tended to be much more "conservative" than in Swan and then-SCT territory. While I don't know how much of this is down to the contractor versus TP, I'd find it hard to believe there isn't a connection when a) between 2005 and 2011, the overwhelming majority of MTT relics could be found in only one operator's timetables and b) major network reviews consistently follow a different operator (Swan) around within a couple of years of them taking over a new region. Certainly the funding drought would play a part here (I wouldn't be surprised if even the 2004 Clarkson station changes were cost-neutral) but that wouldn't explain why, as late as 2009, the three Guildford Road routes to operate on Sundays all ran within 5 minutes of each other followed by nothing for up to two hours.

To what extent did the Minilink concept come to fruition? It seems a few other cities have jumped on the on-demand/minibus model for outer-suburban areas more recently, yet the success of these services seems to vary wildly, and the cost of providing them is reportedly astronomical in per-passenger terms.

As far as I can tell it didn't, and the only on-demand bus route I can find in Perth predated the plan by around a year.

The "Minilink" term was still in use when the Mandurah Line feeders were being planned, but by then it evidently just meant regular buses running less frequently (e.g. the 550 and 553 in Rockingham).

[Enviro 500]

So basically 376 was planned to become 976 back then?

[Merc1107]

So basically 376 was planned to become 976 back then?

It would seem so. Not sure how the limited stop 870 ultimately fit into the picture - whether it was a watered down version of the proposed high-frequency route to Landsdale, or just another "City Link" service that was added much later on.

Screen Shot 2023-09-10 at 18.02.43.png (136.41 KiB) Viewed 1778 times

[PaxInfo]

It's hard to say really since the plan wasn't published until well into the Court government's second and final term but there was some serious progress in the first few years - aside from those mentioned there was the CircleRoute, Curtin and (new) Kwinana bus stations, and the first stage of upgrades to the Kwinana freeway busway. The Mirrabooka-Landsdale route was also a serious proposition in the 2000-01 budget, that IIRC got as far as having buses delivered to one of the PATH depots in 900-series livery, only for bus improvement funding to be basically sidelined in favour of building the Mandurah Line in full when Labor won in 2001. From that point the ten-year plan was merely cherry-picked from rather than implemented in full.

Of note is that somewhere along the line service standards improved to be better than the System 21 plan, especially on weekends. Eg System 21 had Sundays every 30 min for trains & 60 min for System 21 buses. Now, leaving aside the Circle Route, the main routes are every 15 min or better 7 day with wide operating hours. Interestingly System 21 had the Circle Route going via the Airport, which didn't end up happening even though the Circle Route was implemented quite soon afterwards.

System 21 had more of an outer skew - as if they wanted most people to be within 2 or 3 km of a main bus. Especially in north-east and south-west that lacked rail. Whereas the 900-series has more concentration on the inner 10-15 km with an emphasis on universities like Curtin and shopping centres like Mirrabooka. This also means a stronger terminus. That and their superior service levels has expanded the area of Perth that people could live without a car because of the 900-series consistently high service levels day and night (not much lower than trams in Melbourne).

So overall the 900-series concept played to PT's strength where it could more easily compete against cars. Those on them got service much more akin to Brisbane's BUZ, a good bus route in Sydney or a tram in Melbourne. They thin out greatly in outer areas to be almost non-existent (with some like 920 and 940 downgraded).

However balanced against that some middle order routes have been boosted, at least on weekdays, with it now being much easier to go west-east from the Joondalup line to areas like Balga and Mirrabooka than it used to be (when the NSTS opened Wanneroo Rd was pretty much a Berlin wall with I think only the infrequent Route 64 cutting across it from Warwick). Personally i think there's more scope for this with more routes from places like Whitford City and Hillarys continuing across the Joondalup line to areas further east. Much like now occurs in the south on routes between Fremantle, Mandurah line and even Armadale line.

[Enviro 500]

Didn't know Ballajura had a Park and Ride facility at all. What happened to it?

The one at Ozzy Park would have been made obsolete by the presence of Stirling station for sure.

[Merc1107]

Didn't know Ballajura had a Park and Ride facility at all. What happened to it?

Quite likely it was a planned site (i.e. if the 10 year plan as originally envisioned came to fruition), same with Osborne Park.

May be of interest that some of the older literature for the 881 (now 114) advertised a number of park'n'ride facilities en-route, such as at Hamilton Hill, and Hilton Park, although I suspect this was just places where there was parking available adjacent to one of the nominated stops, rather than a formalised park'n'ride location.

[Enviro 500]

It's hard to say really since the plan wasn't published until well into the Court government's second and final term but there was some serious progress in the first few years - aside from those mentioned there was the CircleRoute, Curtin and (new) Kwinana bus stations, and the first stage of upgrades to the Kwinana freeway busway. The Mirrabooka-Landsdale route was also a serious proposition in the 2000-01 budget, that IIRC got as far as having buses delivered to one of the PATH depots in 900-series livery, only for bus improvement funding to be basically sidelined in favour of building the Mandurah Line in full when Labor won in 2001. From that point the ten-year plan was merely cherry-picked from rather than implemented in full.

Of note is that somewhere along the line service standards improved to be better than the System 21 plan, especially on weekends. Eg System 21 had Sundays every 30 min for trains & 60 min for System 21 buses. Now, leaving aside the Circle Route, the main routes are every 15 min or better 7 day with wide operating hours. Interestingly System 21 had the Circle Route going via the Airport, which didn't end up happening even though the Circle Route was implemented quite soon afterwards.

System 21 had more of an outer skew - as if they wanted most people to be within 2 or 3 km of a main bus. Especially in north-east and south-west that lacked rail. Whereas the 900-series has more concentration on the inner 10-15 km with an emphasis on universities like Curtin and shopping centres like Mirrabooka. This also means a stronger terminus. That and their superior service levels has expanded the area of Perth that people could live without a car because of the 900-series consistently high service levels day and night (not much lower than trams in Melbourne).

So overall the 900-series concept played to PT's strength where it could more easily compete against cars. Those on them got service much more akin to Brisbane's BUZ, a good bus route in Sydney or a tram in Melbourne. They thin out greatly in outer areas to be almost non-existent (with some like 920 and 940 downgraded).

However balanced against that some middle order routes have been boosted, at least on weekdays, with it now being much easier to go west-east from the Joondalup line to areas like Balga and Mirrabooka than it used to be (when the NSTS opened Wanneroo Rd was pretty much a Berlin wall with I think only the infrequent Route 64 cutting across it from Warwick). Personally i think there's more scope for this with more routes from places like Whitford City and Hillarys continuing across the Joondalup line to areas further east. Much like now occurs in the south on routes between Fremantle, Mandurah line and even Armadale line.

As well as Armadale and Airport Lines in the form of 280. It replaced 294 which didn't operate on weekends.

[TP1462]

https://redirect.viglink.com/?u=https%3 ... odOvrd=RAC

The department of transport, PTA and metronet are currently undertaking market research for the proposed upgrade of the 900 series routes to “mid tier” it includes the introduction of a new livery and the introduction of new “superstops” there are 4 proposed liveries, the superstops would include features such as charging ports, solar panels and all level boarding






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Traklink]

Personally i think there's more scope for this with more routes from places like Whitford City and Hillarys continuing across the Joondalup line to areas further east. Much like now occurs in the south on routes between Fremantle, Mandurah line and even Armadale line.

There used to be a route doing exactly that - although the frequency was terrible even by the standards of the time

[shinjiman]

Just saw that from the Transperth PDF timetables, the CircleRoute resumes to its original route from 8 October 2023.

There maybe some other time and route changes with this date as term 4 of school days starts.

15569
Bayswater Station Reopens

Sun 08 Oct

From Sunday 8 October, Bayswater Station will reopen, resulting in the following service changes:

Airport and Midland Lines

• Trains on the Airport and Midland lines will resume servicing Bayswater Station.

Route 44

• Will be withdrawn and replaced by the above train services.

Routes 48, 998 and 999

• Will return to normal timetables, servicing stops on Coode St and King William St
• Route 48 trips departing from or terminating at Raleigh Rd will not service Bayswater Station or stops on Coode St due to ongoing works.

Please note that while Bayswater Station will be open, there will continue to be ongoing works. Station access is from either side of Coode St.

Timetables updated:

• CircleRoute Timetable 200

[Bus Suggestions]

Timetables updated:

• Bus Timetable 120

Updated PDF is now live on website. Vast majority of trips seem to have had departures re-timed (i.e. full service from Fremantle now leaves at 8:40 rather than 8:32), making for a (mostly) easier to remember timetable. A lot of trips have been added, with hourly full-length trips supplemented by three short trips each hour bringing the inter-peak weekday frequency through Freo up to every 15 minutes. Same has been done through Saturday (9:55am - 6:13pm) and Sunday (9:55am - 3:42pm, then every 20 minutes). Looks like a vast improvement in services and a likely welcome change for residents in the area with a more useful bus service.

Just saw that from the Transperth PDF timetables, the CircleRoute resumes to its original route from 8 October 2023.

Could this potentially be a hint as to Bayswater's opening date? PTA's weekly safety notices (as well as the various media releases) seemed to hint at it opening mid-late this month, so an early October push sounds reasonable.

[Merc1107]

I haven't poured over the timetables completely, but it looks like the weekday interpeak services will have about a 10min window for connection both to and from the train. Maybe a smidge longer than desirable, but considering the usual scenario at Fremantle (aside from the 548 and 549) is that the bus arrives just as a train pulls out, it's a modest improvement. The CAT, of course, never truly met the train.

A journey time allowance of around 12-13mins outbound, 14mins inbound, making for a 26min round trip (excluding any layover time) is a huge improvement on the former CAT timetable, which saw a bus leaving Fremantle every 20mins. Effectively confirms what many of us have suspected for a long time, that the CAT service was not running to a sustainable timetable.

[Traklink]

There are also some notable improvements to the rest of the 532 - earlier morning trips to Cockburn Sunday-Friday, additional morning peak (full-length) trips towards Fremantle, and the morning peak shortworkings from Beeliar Dr to Cockburn Central now start from either Hamilton Hill or Fremantle

Just saw that from the Transperth PDF timetables, the CircleRoute resumes to its original route from 8 October 2023.

There maybe some other time and route changes with this date as term 4 of school days starts.

Timetables updated:

• CircleRoute Timetable 200

Journey Planner also shows Bayswater station from 8th October onwards.

[Traklink]

Looking a bit further, one downgrade that I can see on the 532 compared to the Fremantle CAT is on Friday evenings. Currently it's every 20 minutes until the last trip leaves at 7:45pm (which is later than other nights) but after 6:30 the 532 reduces to every hour ex-Fremantle every day of the week

[Merc1107]

The CATs were unfortunately very quiet on those later trips, however I'm hopeful the 532 (which will offer a chance to transfer to other buses on Hampton Rd where it terminates) will be busy enough they're able to consider future improvements, maybe even slightly better evening frequency on the full length service.

[Bus Suggestions]

Updated timetables are out for the Armadale/Thornlie Line shutdown routes (accessed by searching through the Transperth website rather than via links posted anywhere), with PDFs linked below. Bold text indicates new routes introduced as part of the shutdown.

• New and Enhanced Bus Routes Map as posted last month for reference.
• Bus Timetable 3: Routes 219, 220, 221, 230
• Bus Timetable 6: Routes 204, 205, 206, 207, 517, 518
• Bus Timetable 10: Route 529
• Bus Timetable 18: Routes 206, 207, 208
• Bus Timetable 88: Route 51
• Bus Timetable 90: Routes 36, 37, 38, 39
• Bus Timetable 208: Route 930
• Bus Timetable 216: Route 907
• Bus Timetable 217: Route 908
• Armadale/Thornlie Line: Victoria Park shuttles.

There may be some other changes which I may have missed in the maps themselves, one of which was route 37 being re-routed to terminate in East Victoria Park, looping via Albany Hwy and Oats St as a consequence (presumably) of Oats St bus interchange being either full or blocked for construction.

[wachris]

Updated Australind coach replacement timetable available by searching transwa website.

https://www.transwa.wa.gov.au/Portals/0 ... IPRg%3d%3d

[Bus Suggestions]

Replacement timetable information as linked above has since been added to the shutdown information page on the Transperth website, along with confirmation of free travel entitlements for "regular" Armadale Line users:

Free Travel

A free travel scheme was announced on 17 September. We’ll provide six months of free travel to eligible Armadale/Thornlie Line passengers from 20 November 2023 to 31 May 2024 in recognition of the inconvenience caused by the shutdown.

The following criteria applies:

• Are a current SmartRider user
• Have used an Armadale/Thornlie Line station between Armadale and Carlisle at least once a week for 13 weeks (does not have to be consecutive) in the last six months.

Those eligible will automatically have a free travel token applied to their SmartRider from 20 November 2023 to 31 May 2024 so will not need to apply or register for the free travel entitlement.

However, we do encourage you to register your SmartRider via the Transperth website or app in case it is lost or stolen.

More information including a search function to check the eligibility of your SmartRider will be available shortly.

Year 7 students starting high school in 2024 who have not already met the eligibility criteria and who will be impacted by the shutdown will be eligible for free travel from the start of the school year until 31 May 2024.

[Traklink]

Okay so here's a summary of the new routes to be introduced:

36 - Cannington to Airport Central All Stops
Provides an improved service to Kewdale industrial area and improves access to Perth Airport from the south east

• Weekday peak - every 24 minutes in both directions
• Weekday off peak - every 60 minutes
• No weeknight, Saturday or Sunday service

51 - Cannington to Perth All Stops
Provides a direct link to Perth along Orrong Road, for those living east of the Armadale Line

• Weekday peak - every 10 minutes in the peak direction, every 20 minutes in the opposite direction
• Weekday off peak - every 15 minutes
• Weekday evening - every 30 minutes until 10pm
• Saturday & Sunday daytime - every 30 minutes
• No Saturday or Sunday night service

221 - Armadale to Perth Limited Stops
One of two routes directly replacing the Armadale Line; this is the more direct route along Albany Highway.
Runs express from Armadale to Kelmscott (Stargate Shopping Centre), then stops near all train stations to Kenwick, then Carousel Shopping Centre, Oats Street, Vic Park Bus Transfer Station, and selected stops along Wellington Street to Perth Busport

• Weekday morning peak - every 5 minutes to Perth, every 10 minutes to Armadale
• Weekday afternoon peak - every 6 minutes to Armadale, every 15 minutes to Perth
• Weekday off peak - every 10 minutes
• Saturday & Sunday daytime - every 15 minutes
• No night services throughout the week

230 - Thornlie to Perth Limited Stops
Supplements route 930. Unclear if it stops at Carousel and Oats Street - the route map shows it stopping at neither, the timetable shows a stop at Carousel, and the Transperth website seems to indicate a stop at Oats Street. Stops at Vic Park Bus Transfer Station, and selected stops along Wellington Street to Perth Busport

• Weekday peak - every 15 minutes in the peak direction only
• No service at any other time

529 - Armadale to Cockburn Central All Stops
Reintroduces a route that was unsuccessfully trialled for six months in 2010-11, this time at vastly superior frequencies

• Weekday peak - every 10 minutes in the peak direction, every 15 minutes in the opposite direction
• Weekday off peak - every 15 minutes
• Weekday evening - every 30 minutes until 9:30pm
• Saturday & Sunday daytime - every 30 minutes
• Saturday night - every 30 minutes until 9:15pm
• No Sunday night service

907 - Armadale to Perth Limited Stops
This is the less direct but more comprehensive train replacement route for the Armadale Line, stopping at all train stations from Armadale to Cannington then Oats Street, Victoria Park Bus Transfer Station, cnr Wellington St/Bennett St and Perth Station. Serves bus interchanges at stations that have them, unlike route 221 which stops at nearby locations along Albany Highway. Evening and weekend services extend to Perth Busport

• Weekday morning peak - every 7 minutes from Armadale to Gosnells and every 3-4 minutes from Gosnells to Perth; every 10 minutes to Armadale
• Weekday afternoon peak - every 4 minutes to Armadale and every 10 minutes to Perth
• Weekday off peak - every 10 minutes
• Saturday & Sunday daytime - every 10 minutes
• Monday-Sunday evenings - every 15 minutes; services towards Perth reduce to every 30 minutes around 9pm
• Friday & Saturday after-midnight - every 30 minutes until the last trip departs Perth Busport at 2:26am Sat/Sun morning

908 - Cannington to Victoria Park All Stops
This is the train replacement route for the inner Armadale/Thornlie Line, stopping at or near all train stations (excluding Welshpool) between Cannington and Victoria Park where it connects with train services to Perth. Runs along Shepperton Road instead of stopping near Oats Street and Carlisle stations, with upgraded route 39 and new route 51 available to passengers east of the railway line.

• Monday to Sunday daytime - every 15 minutes
• Monday to Sunday evening - every 30 minutes
• Friday & Saturday after-midnight - approximately every 60 minutes, as determined by the train timetable

Changes to existing routes will follow in a future post, once I've had a chance to examine the timetables more closely

[Traklink]

My guess is that we'll get some more significant changes on 8 October to coincide with Term 4, as has been standard practice for TP for about a decade now, and that the 532 was brought forward to meet City of Fremantle's deadline to stop funding the CAT.

Also of note here is Transdev potentially taking over the eastern Cockburn/Aubin Grove feeders, and indeed that the Freo-Cockburn services haven't been touched for well over two years at this point.

Turns out it's 20 November 2023 alongside the Armadale Line shutdown.

There are a lot of timetables available to download now through the usual Timetables pages, not just the 10 published last weekend.

Initial observations: it seems route 272 will help keep this thread active for future generations - it's just the Kalamunda Community Centre extension of the 283 that was added last year, but split off into its own very short route with certain trips deleted.