Network '09

[Barry Drive]

ACTION's next major network change will be occurring in February 2009. I don't know much about the changes, but can reveal that DFO will receive a service as a result of these changes.

[Lockie]

I hope ACTION finds a spare number, allowing them to split the 4 west and east...

[Snorzac]

Go back to the 5#. It much easier to do

[Trolleybusracer]

then what will become of the Woden - gunghalin? which is number 5 now?

[Snorzac]

I mean 50 series numbers. # means a number therefore 5# means 50 something 

[Buzz Killington]

hmmm... interesting..

[Snorzac]

Why don't ACTION replace the 73/74 with a flexibus sort of thing aimed at pensioners, like deanes local link.

[lukeo25]

what about hume, tharwa, hall and macarthur they should get a service or at least a xpresso

[belcodriver]

ACTION's next major network change will be occurring in February 2009. I don't know much about the changes, but can reveal that DFO will receive a service as a result of these changes.

I thought it was only going to be minor changes to the existing network. With bigger changes to come when Belco interchange is closed. Anyway we're having a shift spill in November.

[Irisbus Rider]

Well, apparently the weekend network should come online in this New network, but yeah, it should be ready for the new school term.

I think the shift spill is the new network shifts?

Anyway, as lukeo mentioned, a service to Hume would be nice, possibly (as Todd, Chris and I have mentioned) an extension of the 88, but Macarthur hasn't gotten a service to my knowledge, Hall did, and Keirs service Tharwa.

As for the 73/74, I think it works well, loadings are fairly decent, and ACTION won't ever consider Flexibus/LocalLink ever again, after it was such a disaster last time.

[lukeo25]

thats good hall got a service and i thought of another place what does not get serviced by ACTION this might seem way stupid but the place is the cotter i think action should do a summer shuttle from woden then return via corin and the tracking station and tindidbilla and to tuggeranong via point hut or tharwa and also lets hope the new logo goes on the prepaid tickets. also what about a new ticketing system any word on that yet?

[Buzz Killington]

There was a summertime shuttle to the Cotter back in the day (see the Networks section in History)

Keirs service Tharwa.

I wouldn't refer to anything Keirs do as "service"

[Sir Pompously]

thats good hall got a service and i thought of another place what does not get serviced by ACTION this might seem way stupid but the place is the cotter i think action should do a summer shuttle from woden then return via corin and the tracking station and tindidbilla and to tuggeranong via point hut or tharwa and also lets hope the new logo goes on the prepaid tickets. also what about a new ticketing system any word on that yet?

I have actually mentioned the Cotter (from Woden to Tuggeranong) along with Kambah Pool and Pine Island (From Tuggeranong on a loop) services during the summer time school holidays and on weekends during spring and summer as an alternative to driving, and ACTION did say they will pass it on to Network Planning or whatever department is similar. I also mentioned that they should try it out atleast once during these periods to get a guage on how popular the services would be, but who knows what they will put in.

[Snorzac]

As for the 73/74, I think it works well, loadings are fairly decent, and ACTION won't ever consider Flexibus/LocalLink ever again, after it was such a disaster last time.

Works well, loadings decent?
The only day they actually get more than 1 person if that on any service is senior shopping day, Tuesday otherwise the bus is basically empty

[Irisbus Rider]

well, from what i have observed, it usually picks up 1 from the interchange, and it usually carries a few within the route.

[belcodriver]

As for the 73/74, I think it works well, loadings are fairly decent, and ACTION won't ever consider Flexibus/LocalLink ever again, after it was such a disaster last time.

Lies, Flexibus was awesome (for drivers, who often did next to no work, 933 and 955 spring to mind here).

[Irisbus Rider]

lol, well, it's a good idea, and works for light loads, but when you've got 30 people to drop off in an hour, it gets a bit harder. having said that, i wouldn't mind a revival of the service, just with better planning, and management.

[Busnerd]

The general public don't like the idea.

They prefer to have a timetabled service they no will show up. Instead of having to make bookings over the phone, its really a step back. Especially when those community routes are only there for the elderly and only ever carry a small handfull of passengers.

[Snorzac]

Here's a better idea for 73/74 use a dart or one of the special needs buses so that you are not wasting valuable standard buses that run empty half the route

[belcodriver]

Here's a better idea for 73/74 use a dart or one of the special needs buses so that you are not wasting valuable standard buses that run empty half the route

Well, the 73/4s are on shifts that might require a std for other routes, plus there's no shortage of buses in the middle of the day when they run.

[belcodriver]

lol, well, it's a good idea, and works for light loads, but when you've got 30 people to drop off in an hour, it gets a bit harder. having said that, i wouldn't mind a revival of the service, just with better planning, and management.

None of the ones I ever did regularly got 30 people. I've done Nightriders with 50 people - mostly drunk - and still got them home in an hour over a bigger area than the flexis had.

[Irisbus Rider]

Ah, ok, yeah, you're right there i guess.
with flexibus, did the bus service the nearest bus stop, or did it go into the inner streets?

[Snorzac]

nearest stop I think

[Buzz Killington]

No, they did go on inner streets. I often saw them in the back roads of kambah.

[belcodriver]

Ah, ok, yeah, you're right there i guess.
with flexibus, did the bus service the nearest bus stop, or did it go into the inner streets?

Officially to the nearest stop but in practice up to the driver. If you had 30 people it would be nearest stop, if it was only a few right to their door. At least that's what the nice drivers like me did.

[Irisbus Rider]

Ah, ok, yeah, you're right there i guess.
with flexibus, did the bus service the nearest bus stop, or did it go into the inner streets?

Officially to the nearest stop but in practice up to the driver. If you had 30 people it would be nearest stop, if it was only a few right to their door. At least that's what the nice drivers like me did.

Thats the spirit. And understandable for the nearest stop with the loads.

I could imagine it'd be difficult getting through the back streets of wherever in a 12m bus.

[Trolleybusracer]

Why cant Canberra Leave the Bus Service as it is, Stop Molesting it ever 1 - 2 years

[Irisbus Rider]

Because after all this time, we still can't bloody get it right! Lol.
On a serious note though, it must be a pain for commuters, and drivers alike. IMO, it keeps things interesting ha ha.

[Sir Pompously]

Well, we get it right, or tp a stage where we are happy with it. Then every few years we tweak it. However, then you get about once every 5-6 years they do a major major revamp, stuff it up, then it goes back to the 5-6 years of minor tweaking after they get it right again. Having the networks out every 1-2 years brings about some good changes normally and helps when tweaking or adding services. It is better than having an out of date timetable that is not in tune with current loadings.

[xman0444]

i reckon they need to get rid of the weekend timetable and just use 1
it annoys me with 2 different ones 

[Sir Pompously]

They are, just slowly. Should be in place first day of school term next year.

[Rad D]

 good. it is to hard to remember the to different time tables

[xman0444]

i absolutely agree
i don't even know the weekend bus 2 get home

[Irisbus Rider]

I too would like up see better services on the weekend, but simply putting the weekday services on the weekend is not the answer. A solution to that would be to simply increase the frequency of the weekend timetable, and I think you'll find it'll work much better as well as saving a few pretty pennies.

[xman0444]

I too would like up see better services on the weekend, but simply putting the weekday services on the weekend is not the answer. A solution to that would be to simply increase the frequency of the weekend timetable, and I think you'll find it'll work much better as well as saving a few pretty pennies.

i guess you are right
i guess i have to wait and see what they do

[Sir Pompously]

The probhlem with the weekend timetable is it is two sets of numbers, and two sets of routes. It confuses people to have this so remove it. It is all well and good to say 'putting weekday services on the weekend is not the answer', however having two seperate networks is not the answer either. They need to do a whole network restructure, including a route restructure of where they go and what suburbs they connect. Complement this with Xpresso's during the peak hours, and they will probably find the whole network will run more efficiently. There is nothing really wrong with the weekend network as a whole (Its more the problem with two seperate routes for Weekday and Weekend), certainly some things need to be tweaked (Don't send the friggen 966 via Chisholm, it boganises my route....... oh and makes it harder to get to Woden:P) and re looked at but I am sure if they put their corporate heads together they could win! They tried the split network in 1996 and by george it failed. Network 98 went back to what was known and good for ACTION, what was popular with people and what people knew. They just changed the route numbers, i.e mine was 123 which changed to 63 (and mind you has now gone back to its original routing via Sainsbury Street due to network 06 thankfully).

[Sir Pompously]

An accidental removal saw this post removed, instead of hitting quote function I hit remove!!

Todd, you make it look like people are stupid. Surely they are able to remember 2 numbers, Surely. And if they can't, they don't belong on a bus.

But yeah, Peak and an full time Off-Peak network would work.
Hell, ACTION needs to be completely redone from scratch, but is it gonna happen? Naaaaah.

And John, yes people are stupid and no they cannot remember two different route numbers along with two totally seperate routes on most runs! It is confusing and needs to be removed and replaced with a full time route.

[Irisbus Rider]

See, that is ideal, but when we have runs like the 43 and 45, 16 and 17, 25 and 28, carrying air most of the time, how are they supposed to support weekend loadings if they struggle to keep weekday loadings. I'm saying that we need a restructuring of the weekend and weekday services to gove us a spot somewhere in the middle of the two, a run thats not the length of the weekend services, but can support decent loadings.

Maybe decent loadings need to come with trust from the passengers, and not, yet another network manipulation (molestation), who knows, but we simply cannot run the weekday network on the weekend the way it is.

[Barry Drive]

You need to remember that Network 98 (upon which most of ACTION's routes are based) was designed predominately to operate as a 7-day network. What this meant was that many/most/all routes were designed to maximise patronage rather than to operate directly. Unfortunately this results in less direct services to the outer suburbs (eg Dunlop, Holt, Macgregor) while providing more frequent services to the closer-in suburbs (eg Page, Florey).

So what happens is that discretionary passengers (those who do have other transport options) in the outer suburbs stop catching buses because it is less convenient. In turn network planners reduce the frequency to the outer suburbs and things just get worse.

Solution: I don't know. It's all very well to guarantee that all suburbs get A bus service when what's really needed is more direct services, not just more frequent ones.

I'm all in favour of completely overhaulling the current ACTION network - so much so that I even think that the current sacred cow "The Intertown" service needs a re-think. I agree with John that what is needed are separate peak and off-peak services - but to do that properly will require two entirely different sets of route numbers.

Anyway back to the Feb 09 changes. As well as splitting routes 4 and 8 there will be a new Xpresso service 704 servicing Hawker and Cook and route 71 doing a loop of Kaleen and Giralang to Belconnen.

[Snorzac]

Page needs an xpresso!!

[Buzz Killington]

there's a lot of places that need one..

[Snorzac]

Your right, florey, melba (I think), kippax, holt among the major ones in the Belconnen area

[Irisbus Rider]

Spot on about the Intertown Martin.

Anyway back to the Feb 09 changes. As well as splitting routes 4 and 8 there will be a new Xpresso service 704 servicing Hawker and Cook and route 71 doing a loop of Kaleen and Giralang to Belconnen.

Cook?! What? They already have the 10! Hawker, yes, but Cook?! Ugh.
The old 47? Ha ha, this is unbelievable, It's almost as though ACTION are pressing a big "Undo" button, we're reviving all of these routes.
But why a 71, the 30 and 31 already go to Belconnen?!

[Irisbus Rider]

Forgive my extremely poor graphics skills, but this is what I envisage the Xpresso map for Belconnen to be in the very near future;

Really very sorry about the poor quality of work, but what do you all think of the general premis of the Xpressos?

[Snorzac]

I like your 708 idea, right down my street!

[Lockie]

As well as splitting routes 4 and 8 ...

Yes !! This is the only change I personally wanted.

[Barry Drive]

John, love the map! It would be good to see an increase in direct peak services from other Belconnen suburbs. And as a bonus, re-open Macgregor terminus.

Cook?! What? They already have the 10! Hawker, yes, but Cook?! Ugh.
The old 47? Ha ha, this is unbelievable, It's almost as though ACTION are pressing a big "Undo" button, we're reviving all of these routes.
But why a 71, the 30 and 31 already go to Belconnen?!

Not sure of the exact route, but the 704 would ease some of the loading problems of the 10 during peak. Other than that, it might be similar to "709" on the map.

For 71 I don't have much detail, but it would be a limited service community route (which is why it is a 70 series) - it will serve ALL of Kaleen and Giralang (like the 47 did) whereas now with the 30 and 31 you can't get from Gwydir Square to Kaleen Village without going to Belconnen (assuming someone wanted to).

[Irisbus Rider]

Thanks for the comments.

Ah, that 704 makes a bit of sense now, as the 10 really struggles in peak hour. Although, ACTION really should have seen that mammoth overcrowding coming, both the 40 and 41 had 20 min frequencies in peak hour, then they made the 10, which had a 15 min frequency! Ha, good luck trying to get that to work! But yeah, that 704 looks to be a bit of a success thinking about it.

And that 71 seems interesting, yeah, there must have been a few people on the 31 complaining that they can't go to Kaleen to shop. Off peak, yeah, seems like a good idea.

[ec6060]

I mean 50 series numbers. # means a number therefore 5# means 50 something 

good idea, i would love to see the 50 series back. here are suggestions to replace routes 4 and 5 with;

4 east- 55

4 west- 56

5- 50

[Snorzac]

I think they have split it into 3.

These replace the Gungalhin parts:
56
58

and the 4 stays as the route to Geoscience Australia