Network changes - 29 Aug 2016

Started by Barry Drive, July 18, 2016, 10:06:22 AM

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Barry Drive

As revealed in The Canberra Times today, the long-awaited next network update will occur on 29 August 2016.

The weekday route changes include:

  • Route 83 & 783 to service Coombs (Fred Daly Ave)
  • New "Weston Link" route from City via John Gorton Dr, Cooleman Court to Woden (Route 182)
  • Return of Route 316 (peak only)
  • Route 300 (full length version) to commence at Kippax, not Belconnen
  • Addition of Route 254 (peak)
  • School route changes
  • and modified Tourist Loop route - adding War Memorial, Parliament House and Museum but removing Telstra Tower

Update: details are now available from the TC website

Other changes include:

  • Route 200 after 7pm will operate every 15 mins from City to Gungahlin (but half-hourly in reverse)
  • Route 55 will operate half-hourly during the day
  • Route 88 will no longer service Chisholm
  • Routes 4 & 5 continue to depart from City West into the evenings

Please also note, weekend changes are expected but no details are available yet.

Sylvan Loves Buses

#1
Just heard about it on the radio too. (by chance)
Shouldn't expect bus books till at least a week (or 2 days) beforehand again right?

was only just looking at my old 316 Network 98 timetable, what a coincidence :o

Barry Drive

Quote from: Sylvan Loves Buses on July 18, 2016, 10:41:13 AM
Shouldn't expect bus books till at least a week (or 2 days) beforehand again right?
Timetables are available online now.

As for printed books, it's normally two weeks before the change. So around 15 August. Any earlier and you'll just confuse people.

(This also means that the re-issued bus books will not remain in circulation much longer = collector's edition!)

Bus 400

Going by the Network map, a few punters at the Tradies stop may be taking the long trip to the City via Molonglo Valley.

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Barry Drive


vnguyen

#5
Looks like route 81 will no longer serves Telstra Tower/Black Mountain. According to the new network map.

Busnerd

Quote from: vnguyen on July 18, 2016, 02:23:49 PM
Looks like route 81 will no longer serves Telstra Tower/Black Mountain. According to the new network map.

As mentioned four hours before your post by Barry Drive:
Quoteand modified Tourist Loop route - adding War Memorial, Parliament House and Museum but removing Telstra Tower

lukeo25

Annoyed to see the gap between the 4.05 & 5.34 88 back to Woden from Hume on the 88, that's going to severely affect my time I finish work. But at least there is still going to be a bus through Hume

Barry Drive

Should also mention 54 will no longer operate along The Valley Ave to enable the 254 to work.

Sylvan Loves Buses

Quote from: Barry Drive on July 18, 2016, 12:05:14 PM
(This also means that the re-issued bus books will not remain in circulation much longer = collector's edition!)

good thing I got mine when I did then ^-^

Quote from: vnguyen on July 18, 2016, 02:23:49 PM
Looks like route 81 will no longer serves Telstra Tower/Black Mountain. According to the new network map.

That's sad, but it's all to do with patronage I guess...

vnguyen

I know that no weekend announcements have been made. But will the also extend route 983 into Coombs?

King of Buses

Quote from: vnguyen on July 24, 2016, 12:48:03 PM
I know that no weekend announcements have been made. But will the also extend route 983 into Coombs?

One would presume so. At the same time they'd probably modify the 981 to operate via the new 81.

One thing that has surprised me with this new network is that they didn't divert the 51/251/951 down Kingsland Pde to Casey Market Town - which has once again annoyed those who live in and travel to that area...

The Love Guru

Quote from: King of Buses on July 24, 2016, 01:31:01 PM
One would presume so. At the same time they'd probably modify the 981 to operate via the new 81.

One thing that has surprised me with this new network is that they didn't divert the 51/251/951 down Kingsland Pde to Casey Market Town - which has once again annoyed those who live in and travel to that area...

Can't do it whilst maintaining coverage of Casey and not having to double back on itself.

King of Buses

Quote from: The Love Guru on July 24, 2016, 06:18:38 PM
Can't do it whilst maintaining coverage of Casey and not having to double back on itself.
Adding a loop of Kingsland Pde from Overall Ave/Plimsoll Dr would be the only way to do it - and that's hardly any different to the 182 looping Liardet St and Brierly St in Weston (let alone John Gorton Dr and Opperman Ave).

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Barry Drive

Or Fred Daly Av. Or MacFarlane Burnet Av.

King of Buses

Quote from: Barry Drive on July 24, 2016, 07:53:22 PM
Or Fred Daly Av. Or MacFarlane Burnet Av.

Doesn't this only show that the 'not having to double back on itself' excuse is invalid given they already do it elsewhere?

While the 51 is already a long route, this would only add 2 mins max to the travel time and would shut a lot of Casey residents up.

Buzz Killington

Couple of ways to do it:
Plimsoll (R) Overall (L) Neil Currie (L) Dalkin (R) Kingsland to Clarrie Hermes
Plimsoll (C) Kingsland (R) 2nd Dalkin (L) Kingsland (L) Overall
Plimsoll (C) Kingsland to roundabout then u turn Kingsland (L) Overall

Etc

Barry Drive

The last option is the only viable one without a major reworking of Casey routes. (Although long term, there has to be a third route added for Casey, Moncrieff & Jacka - even if it doesn't continue to Belconnen. Short term, maybe just extend 57 to terminate at Casey.)

Neil Currie St is definitely not suitable for buses.

The Love Guru

I wasn't saying they shouldn't do it, just saying the only way is to do a U-turn. This problem has been discussed at length over many breakfast meetings!
I even took a bus along Neil Curry one day on my route 51 (on my way to John Paul C) and it is way too tight for buses to do safely on a regular basis.

57 extension could work well by going the full length of Mirrabei then L into Horsepark. Would service Moncrieff too, not a bad suggestion Barry Drive. Seeing as though it is so simple and would be rather effective there is no chance of it happening.

ajw373

Problem with Casey just goes to show how poorly a lot of new suburbs are planned. Public transport is just not really part of their thinking. Though with Casey even road transport wasn't too high up either. Bit silly having a group centre like that on a through road with the shops one side and the car park the other. The roads outside are already busy, so won't be long until someone (and I put my money on a jaywalking Domino's driver) will get hit by a car or truck.

The shops there should have been on the block bounded by Overall Crescent, Horse Park drive and Kingsland Parade, with access off Kingsland Parade and Overall Crescent.

Would solve the PT issue, with buses going the logical way, as they do now, and remove the need to cross what is and will continue to be a busy road to access the shops.

As for Casey going into the future, not quite sure why it needs a direct link to Belco. Reckon should maybe use Gold Creek or somewhere near Giralang as a mini interchange. Start North Gungahlin buses there (essentially todays 51 and 52 and go from there. The mini interchange provides the connection to the 250 for connections to UC and Bruce which are only main reason I can see for a need to link to Belco.

triumph

Re Route 81. If Transport route 81 map is correct, then not only is Black Mountain discontinued, but the bus will no longer serve the Himalayan Cedar Lookout stop at the end of Himalayan Cedar Rd. at the Arboretum.

On the other hand the route right round Forest Drive at the Arboretum is retained. It would be good if all drivers are aware of this, so that buses (as I have experienced and observed) don't mistakenly turn back from the Visitor Centre stop. It is a very long wait/walk at the next stop if the bus doesn't turn up.

Barry Drive

Quote from: vnguyen on July 24, 2016, 12:48:03 PM
I know that no weekend announcements have been made. But will the also extend route 983 into Coombs?
While nothing is available yet online, the new GTFS has been released - weekend changes will commence 27 August.

981 & 983 will match the weekday equivalents. While there have been some timetable adjustments, I didn't notice any other route changes - but some platform changes will occur.

Sylvan Loves Buses

Has anyone noticed anything that may indicate that they've finally fixed that annoying thing about the departure/checkpoint times of the bus routes? - where most routes that travel to the same destination all leave in the same timeframe of 5-20 minutes (during the day and the evening). (Like the 60,61,62,63,65 all leaving woden and tuggeranong all around the same time together)

Busfanatic101

Quote from: Sylvan Loves Buses on August 05, 2016, 07:05:23 PM
Has anyone noticed anything that may indicate that they've finally fixed that annoying thing about the departure/checkpoint times of the bus routes? - where most routes that travel to the same destination all leave in the same timeframe of 5-20 minutes (during the day and the evening). (Like the 60,61,62,63,65 all leaving woden and tuggeranong all around the same time together)
You wouldn't believe the number of times I have told them that staggering the overlapping routes (63/71, 65/67, 66/67) will double frequency for so many people without the need for additional resources. They just don't seem to understand. One wonders sometimes whether all those surveys are just for show. It can't be that hard




743

If it's all so easy then, why don't you schedule the entire network from scratch?

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Sylvan Loves Buses

Quote from: 743 on August 05, 2016, 08:19:10 PM
If it's all so easy then, why don't you schedule the entire network from scratch?

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Love to, but it would probably take me longer than 29th Aug to complete it :-X

Quote from: Busfanatic101They just don't seem to understand. One wonders sometimes whether all those surveys are just for show.

Yeah, ikr...

vnguyen

According to TransitTimes route 81 still shows that Telstra Tower in the list of stops and on the map. Maybe the new timetables forgot to put it in.

King of Buses

Quote from: vnguyen on August 07, 2016, 01:36:15 PM
According to TransitTimes route 81 still shows that Telstra Tower in the list of stops and on the map. Maybe the new timetables forgot to put it in.

It shows both the current and new route at present (hence why it is still shown as serving Edinburgh Ave, Himalayan Cedar Rd, Black Mountain, etc).

Bus 400

The Weekend Network was made public today, you can even download the Weekend Bus Book by clicking on the weekend network map.

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Barry Drive

Release of the printed bus books has been delayed until next week, according to the TC website.

743



Bus books now available at the City Information Centre.

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Busfanatic101

Plenty of tuggeranong and weekend ones still available and a single belco book but the others are gone. The email alert I just got says next Tuesday...

Sylvan Loves Buses

Ah finally, colourful timetab.. err books ;D

Sylvan Loves Buses

Well I just picked up the books today, didn't get all the ones for my collection that I 'require' >:D, but I got at least 1 of each.
Got home just now, and had a good look through them (like I do with all new networks, have a little study, see what's changed), and if anything, the outside colouring, and designs are much better, and it is really good to have region books instead of one massive unnecessary book.

Quite a few more details have been put into the detail of some of the routes I've noticed as well, which is quite an improvement, and one thing I did notice as I was going through them was the colour used on the routes themselves for each route page. They've gone back with the dark/light blue lines, haven't seen that since the Network '98 timetables. Nice to have a change from all that orange and green.
The formatting of the placement of the numbers is a bit odd, but other than that, I like them this time!

1 thing though I did think was unnecessary, the use of the 200 (Red Rapid) on all the region books, it's not like the Tuggeranong/Belconnen books really need the 200 (in my opinion).
Also another strange thing is the start of the network. From my memory, I'm pretty sure they've always started the new network on a weekday, and then had the following weekend (if there was a changed weekend network) after, so it will be strange (to me) for the new network to be starting on the weekend before the weekday.

Busfanatic101

They have also brought back the Gold Line/Green Line branding

King of Buses

Not exactly relevant to this network change, but rather to the next one (mid-2017??? What!?!? Good Luck).

Quote
The Blue Rapid bus will be extended to #Lanyon from mid next year, offering a new service for #LanyonValley residents to #Tuggeranong, #Woden, #Civic and #Belconnen every 15 minutes or better.
Next week the Blue Rapid will extend to #Kippax along Southern Cross Drive to take advantage of upgraded bus stops and give #WestBelconnen residents a quicker journey.
And we're pleased to announce that in 2017 we will extend the Blue Rapid to Lanyon as well. We know residents in Lanyon are looking forward to this new service, which will make it even easier to choose public transport.
Source: Chief Minister Andrew Barr's FB page.


Not sure how they'll work this. A 15 minute frequency from Blue Rapid corridor to Lanyon - but as of Monday that'll be a 10 min frequency on the Blue Rapid corridor, so does that imply decreasing of ALL Blue Rapid frequencies (again) to add this extension?  >:(

Could possibly mean bringing back the full time 319 and adding a 300 extension between that, but I don't see how that fits in with the other Blue Rapid routes...or the 18/318...  :(

743

The announcement says "15 minutes or better". That doesn't discount a 10 minute frequency. They're probably just covering their bases for the evenings - when it will probably be 15 minutes, like it is now.

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Busfanatic101

What would this network be best titled? Network 16 or Network 14.2?

King of Buses

Quote from: Busfanatic101 on August 24, 2016, 06:21:46 PM
What would this network be best titled? Network 16 or Network 14.2?

Network 16.


Quote from: 743 on August 24, 2016, 06:11:29 PM
The announcement says "15 minutes or better". That doesn't discount a 10 minute frequency. They're probably just covering their bases for the evenings - when it will probably be 15 minutes, like it is now.

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True.
The thing that gets me though is that they'd have to extend the 313 and/or 343 to Lanyon too if they keep the 10 minute frequency still...unless the 313 and/or 343 is replaced by 300s...  ???

Bus 503

Quote from: Sylvan Loves Buses on August 22, 2016, 10:15:08 PM
it is really good to have region books instead of one massive unnecessary book.

Disagree with you there - one book with all the timetables in it is better than having to carry around multiple ones just because you are travelling to a different 'region'. I might end up in the Tuggeranong region for some reason in the new network and because I don't have my Tuggeranong region bus book I won't have a clue of the routes I might need to go home. I'm not sure where you get the 'massive' from - the old bus books were small and thin making them very convenient.

743

#40
Quote from: Bus 503 on August 24, 2016, 09:35:21 PM
Disagree with you there - one book with all the timetables in it is better than having to carry around multiple ones just because you are travelling to a different 'region'. I might end up in the Tuggeranong region for some reason in the new network and because I don't have my Tuggeranong region bus book I won't have a clue of the routes I might need to go home. I'm not sure where you get the 'massive' from - the old bus books were small and thin making them very convenient.
You obviously have internet access if you're posting on the forum, which means you could easily plan your trip in advance online instead of randomly going to Tuggeranong and then complaining that you have no idea of what to do.

Also don't forget that each book contains a full network map (albeit in diagram form) and a full suburb index which gives you at least an idea of connectivity, which can be followed up by looking at signage at major stations and stops. Each book also includes the full Red and Blue Rapids so you can easily connect between major points if you're lost.

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Busfanatic101

#41
I too feel as though the old books with all the timetables were better. I see where it could come in handy having smaller separate ones, and in fact, I guess most people don't regularly travel to the other side of Canberra, but...
The thing is, if you needed multiple timetables, it is going to end up heavier all up because of duplicate routes that are in multiple books.
I guess it is still better than the old single route pamphlets



It would have been great if they had a all-in-one version available as well as the regional ones

triumph

Bus fanatic 101 has made a good point re timetable mass. The former all-in-one weekday book has a mass of 289g, the 5 new weekday books together have a mass of 684g. At 2 1/3 times heavier, it is a significant extra weight to lug around.

Busnerd

Quote from: triumph on September 20, 2016, 12:11:56 AM
Bus fanatic 101 has made a good point re timetable mass. The former all-in-one weekday book has a mass of 289g, the 5 new weekday books together have a mass of 684g. At 2 1/3 times heavier, it is a significant extra weight to lug around.

You are thinking about it from a bus enthusiasts point of view. Most people that still carry timetables will only carry ones for the routes they catch, in this case they would probably only carry the one for their area.

triumph

Fair point re enthusiasm thinking and that aspect, after reading the earlier comment, led me to weigh the TTs.
But in the course of our activities, quite unrelated to anything to do with bus enthusiasm, and to limit car use and parking costs, I regularly travel in areas covered by up to 4 of the 5 timetables and my wife in 2. In my case, the weight of TTs needed to be carried now considerably exceeds the previous TT. (We do not have a 'smart' phones, so internet is not a mobile option.)
The point here is that it is just not bus enthusiasts who are impacted, but would also agree that only a few bus customers would need to carry multiple TTs. Hence, on balance and despite the personal inconvenience, the splitting of the TT into regional ones seems to be a sound idea.

Busnerd

That's presumably the thinking of the operator/government. In most cases people would only need one set of the Timetables. Sure there are plenty of people who travel in multiple areas and may need to carry more, but for a lot of people, especially elderly may be annoyed at carrying a whole book for just one route. Most young people don't carry timetables anymore and use their phones or the internet to look up times.

Barry Drive

Slightly later than usual, but the full route directions for the Network 16 changes have been posted to the ACT Bus website.

As is the always the case, reports of any and all errors are appreciated - either here or directly to me via private message. I still found the odd error carried over from the last network change. Please note that the permanent Woden Stn platform numbers have been used as well as the "normal" routes through Constitution Avenue and Canberra Hospital - so please don't consider those to be in error.

King of Buses

http://www.transport.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/1019765/network16_3.pdf

Some timing changes to most route 3 services effective January 9 2017.

(I was going to put this in the "Insignificant Timetables Changes" thread, but 6 minutes isn't really that insignificant if waiting for a bus...).

Bus 400

While on Saturday 7 January 2017, Constitution Avenue services & London Circit stops reverting to the way it was (what feels like) years ago.

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