I've been lobbying for a damn long time to introduce bus stops in the Waniassa portion of Athllon Dr, it would boost patronage figures significantly, and might be the saving grace for the Woden to Tuggeranong portion of the Intertown. At the moment, that service suffers a severe lack of patrons, I've personally seen a 6pm service completely empty from the City. At the moment, it's just a waste of money to run a service transporting air. Something's gotta give there, eventually.
Otherwise, Hume, yes, and maybe, eventually, a few more stops on Flemington Rd, to service the new suburbs of Innner Gungahlin.
Split from Bus Stops Thread - R
The Saving Grace?
That is a very heavily populated part of the intertown Actually....when ACTION tried to have 15 minute frequencies during the week between Tuggeranong and Woden large crowds builded at Tuggeranong interchange and packs of people were all waiting at bus stops delaying services.
There's a reason it got changed back to 5...
6pm, well obviously, how many people go from tuggeranong to the city at that time? Most i've ever seen is like 10
Quote from: MaxiZac6pm, well obviously, how many people go from tuggeranong to the city at that time? Most i've ever seen is like 10
Read my post again;
Quote from: Irisbus RiderI've personally seen a 6pm service completely empty from the City.
The reason it may have gotten changed back to 5 minutes is because of the passengers that board the bus on Athllon Dr. In peak hour, the frequency is sufficient, but in times of off peak, 5 minutes is just too frequent from what I have seen.
Well you are wrong, because you are from Belconnen, does not mean that tuggeranong services are empty, they are well patronised....
The only time they aren't is at like 11am heading north, at the 5 minute frequency you might only get a few people on there.
Well during the school holidays the 18:16 162 from the City had 3/4 people on it. But the 318 behind it was 80% full most days of that particular week.
Quote from: MaxiZac on May 05, 2009, 10:16:46 PM
Well you are wrong, because you are from Belconnen, does not mean that tuggeranong services are empty, they are well patronised....
The only time they aren't is at like 11am heading north, at the 5 minute frequency you might only get a few people on there.
I'm wrong because I'm from Belconnen? Uh huh..........
Todd, back me up here, the north side pride is taking him over....
lets see how you like it...
Every intertown LEAVING the city toward belconnen from 6pm is empty...
Belconnen is different to Tuggeranong. While Tuggeranong have all but 2 routes commencing from Woden (18, 19), Belconnen have 9 routes commencing from Belconnen only (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 43, 44, 45), and therefore, buses need to travel to Belconnen to make connections.
The Intertown to Tuggeranong only provides alternate connections to routes that have already commenced in Woden, bar two.
While, I do acknowledge that Tuggeranong Town Centre is worthy of an Intertown connection (as Gungahlin should be), 5 minutes is much too frequent, and patronage figures reflect that; thats all I'm saying.
With you saying that Irisbus Rider, it is more then likely that Intertown Services will be cut right back with the introduction of this REDEX service.
Sorry John, you know where I stand on this and I am backing up MaxiZac! 5 minute frequency is perfectly fine, the services never really travel empty to Tuggeranong and yes we have alot of services leaving Woden aswell, but sometimes you miss it. Hence why you travel to Tuggeranong and make your connection there. Oldies like to head between the two town centres, and school students on breaks, holidays or wagging also use the service to connect to Woden or head down to Tuggeranong. Of course after 6pm it is a different story, as it is everywhere around the network between town centres and suburbs, as almost everyone is home and no one really travels then (However there is still enough patronage to justify a service, shift workers, club goers, late night shopping). Remember, it is public transport, it is designed to be efficient (Canberra still has a little to go on that front), it is designed to not save money. It is a public asset to serve the community, not to make a profit.
Cut back the service, move down here and then comment on it. Believe me, you would be looking from the same pov as Mathew and myself.
**** Ducks flying HANDBAG ****
lol
Note: Attachment has expired.
There is a difference between providing an adequate service for commuters, and just blatantly wasting rescources.
While I do agree that services do need to be attractive to grab potential customers, this is just over the top. I'm just bringing forward the idea of a 10 minute frequency between 10am and 2pm, and after 6pm (until the 15 min frequency kicks in). Leave peak hour as is, because there is always potential for the peak patronage to grow, whereas, during the day, it's just the same old customers, Beryl and Alf on their way to pick up groceries, and Ming Lee trying to make her midday class.
By freeing up these services, they can be put elsewhere in the network where it is desperately required, i.e. 40 minute frequency on selected 6* routes, imporvements for frequencies on the 2, the 5 and the 56.
These are some runs where I can see the need for an increased frequency, as stated above.
Remember, there was a reason the 116/117 operated off peak and terminated at Woden.
It will not work.
If you stop intertowns at woden, then they will just turn around and do another intertown back again, making woden have something like a 3 minute frequency whilst giving Tuggeranong 10.
You aren't going to free up many more buses by not servicing tuggeranong every 5 minutes as they will still run but stop at woden.
3 minute frequency? I can't see how that'd work.
My proposal is to bring back something very similar to the workings of the 116/117, where, eg, a 318 will arrive in Woden (:00), continue to Tuggeranong, but the next Intertown being a 315, would terminate at Woden (:05). Next Intertown, 319 to Tuggeranong (:10), etc.....
One Intertown from the Belconnen suburbs would eb required to travel through to Tuggeranong under this format, which I don't see as being an issue.
The Intertowns that would stop at Woden, would then run to Tuggeranong on a 6*, come back to Woden on a 6*, then do an Intertown back to Belconnen, opposed to running an Intertown to and from Woden. Takes a bit longer, but better for the residents of Tuggeranong.
Could it work where some Tuggeranong services could do their route from Tuggeranong to Woden & then via Intertown to Belconnen/Gungahlin. It could also work the other way with some Belconnen/Gungahlin services travelling to their respective interchange (Belconnen/Gungahlin) & then go to Tuggeranong via Intertown. This also helps the public as about 25% of residents continue onto other Town Centres.
Ok John,
Then we will bring back the southern ends of the 312, 315, 313, 314 and only run them to civic and see how you like it.
And the justification in that is?
It makes sense to run buses to Belconnen, but Tuggeranong is a completely different story, as per my abovce posts.
I fail to see your point. They are both major town centres, both feature 20 or so suburbs, both town centres feature government departments, colleges and shopping precincts.. why is Tuggeranong any different to Belconnen?
Because, Tuggeranong have no connecting bus routes that could have already been used from Woden, whereas Belconnen has 9 connecting routes.
While the Intertown is there to connect Town Centres (which a 109 min service would), it also primarily acts as a feeder bus. In Tuggeranong, there's nothing to feed to, as all of the 6* routes are fed from Tuggeranong.
So people in say, Isabella Plains would have to get off the intertown when it terminates at Woden, jump on the 11 or the 67 which will take 40 minutes to get them there once it winds through the suburbs, rather than going to tuggeranong and getting on the 11 or 67 and getting home six minutes later?
There may be fewer connections at Tuggeranong, but there are several suburbs that are a very short ride on the bus from the Tuggeranong end, compared to a very long ride from the Woden end.
That's true, but IMO, a 10 min frequency would be adequate for this small number of passengers.
I fail to see how this is such a big deal, it would only be for 4 hours in middle fo the day (10am to 2pm), and for an hour in the evening (6pm to 7pm), until the 15 min Intertown frequency commences.
I've got to side with BVR on this one (and not just because I'm also from Belconnen). I caught a 313 from Woden to Tugg today (off-peak) - and a 314 back from Tugg. There wouldn't have been more than 10 passengers travelling between Woden and Tugg. This is not an efficient use of scarce resources.
I'm all in favour of cutting back the frequency of intertown services - either by having every 2nd bus go to Tuggeranong or reducing it to 2 buses every 15 minutes or both.
After being on a few intertown services. What I would like to see is the Intertown becomes limited stop service. So my plan would see the stopping pattern as follows:
-Cohen Street Bus Station
-Lathlain Street Bus Station
-Cameron Avenue Bus Station
-UC (Top of the hill)
-Calvary Hospital
-Marcus Clarke Street
-Alinga Street
-City Interchange
-London Cct
-Albert Hall
-Woden Tradies
-Woden Interchange
-Southlands Shops
-Beasley Street South
-Learmonth/Athlon Drive
-Tuggeranong Interchange
& vice versa. Normal services would service the other stops. But this would greatly improve the flow of the Intertown & the buses would actually get a better chance to gain speed Also I notice quite a few times, an Intertown service will be stuck at a minor stop, while a suburban service will shot past half empty. When these services should be used to help improve the so called express service.
This would be on top of my other idea where the intertown services would just fill up at Interchanges & leave. So none of this waiting for stranglers
I have been told & seen why the Intertown frequency is how it is. That is because if ACTION are short of drivers or buses, & there is a chance that a school run will be cancelled, well an Intertown service can be pulled out of service & that driver can divert to do the school run & then catch up with his shift further down the track. This may even mean pulling another intertown service for a bit. But most of the time the public just wait for an Intertown bus & don't care if it is a 312 or a 319.
Quote from: TP 3000 on May 20, 2009, 10:43:20 PM
After being on a few intertown services. What I would like to see is the Intertown becomes limited stop service. So my plan would see the stopping pattern as follows:
I would add the stop just past the Barry Dr/Clunies Ross intersection to that list (last time i checked a lot of ANU students caught a bus), but aside from that, not bad.