Gold Coast Public Transport

[marki]

A while back, Translink made a book of all the bus routes including those on the Gold Coast. But thats out of date now and I could not understand why there were no bus maps of all the bus routes. So I drew one myself. Maybe Translink didnt make one as it would show all the holes in their service.

Actually there are a lot of routes, its the service frequency and connecting between them thats bad. Some of the route numbers are stupid too.. like routes 3,4,5,10 etc, are these as reminders of the past... then theres duplicates with the Sunshine Coast like the 601,602 etc... Not suprising the hinterland has a pretty poor service.

The map is drawn to a style similar to that of the Melbourne transport maps except Zone boundaries are indicated as seperate lines rather than as coloured bus routes. I dont like the 'London Tube' style maps for buses, these only work for railway/metros etc. They dont work for buses since where theres too many routes, stops and interchanges and the maps are abstract and dont show the roads or other features to scale. A comprehensive bus map drawn in that style would look like a dogs breakfast.

The map is drawn to be printer friendy and more-or-less board friendly (although raster is 1200px wide to keep clarity). It could also be made to pan and zoom like Google maps or have a flash version where the route highlights when the bus number is hovered over.

I've left out some infrequent routes like the TX1 and TX2 and trial bus 747 (any word about its future?) as well as non-Translink services.

[marki]

Version 2.1 notes

[Map Born]

Fantastic effort, you've made the most of the Easter weekend.

Were the NSW routes in use before Qld's Translink standardised route numbers into a three digit series?

How's this for confusing zones in NSW? Judging by this map, the 605 to Murwillumbah travels through a 'no-zone'.
http://www.surfside.com.au/sit_images/NSWZoneMap.pdf

Interesting how Translink don't bother to produce such a map, your suspicions are likely correct!

[marki]

Originally Posted by Map Born

Were the NSW routes in use before Qld's Translink standardised route numbers into a three digit series?

The NSW routes were in use before Translink, thats why the duplication with the Sunshine Coast, but thats no excuse for them not fixing it.

Originally Posted by Map Born

How's this for confusing zones in NSW? Judging by this map, the 605 to Murwillumbah travels through a 'no-zone'.
http://www.surfside.com.au/sit_images/NSWZoneMap.pdf

Yeah, maybe should breath-test those drawing zone maps. Theres also a 'Zone 49' that apparently has no bus service, while Fingal Head is in a kind of no-go-zone, then theres no zone 38,50,51 etc. Thats why i didnt include NSW Zones in the map.

The number of Zones on the Gold Coast is stupid and the Zones on the NSW are more stupid. Amongst the many initiatives used to get more people using PT is to make it simpler, which was a key aim of the Zone reductions in Sydney (MyZone) and Melbourne. This is not happening here. It should be kept simple, 3 zones with the Coomera River and the State border being the boundaries.

[Dimethyltryptamine]

Big train squeeze eases
Matthew Killoran | April 6th, 2010

COMMUTERS have been breathing easier with a slight improvement in overcrowding on Gold Coast trains.

The only catch is fewer services are running on time.

TransLink figures for the December quarter released last week revealed one less train a day is overcrowded, compared to that of the previous quarter.

Almost 60 per cent of the seven morning peak hour trains and 50 per cent of the eight afternoon peak hour trains were deemed overcrowded.

This was an improvement from the September quarter when more than 70 per cent of the morning services were overcrowded while the afternoon services remained at 50 per cent.

A train is overcrowded if passengers are standing for more than 20 minutes outside of Central Station.

On the Gold Coast, just one in seven morning trains and no afternoon trains were overcrowded south of Beenleigh.

Since the December figures were recorded, one train has been added to the morning and afternoon peak hour services.

A TransLink spokesman said they would closely monitor results for the next quarter with the two extra peak-period train services added in December to be included.

Statewide train patronage was down by 1.67 million to 13.66 million trips, though no figures were available for the Gold Coast.

Article

[SM247]

Originally Posted by marki

The number of Zones on the Gold Coast is stupid and the Zones on the NSW are more stupid. Amongst the many initiatives used to get more people using PT is to make it simpler, which was a key aim of the Zone reductions in Sydney (MyZone) and Melbourne. This is not happening here. It should be kept simple, 3 zones with the Coomera River and the State border being the boundaries.

Something that will not be fixed unless the entire zonal system in SEQ is fixed along with it.

I don't have any major objection to the current system per se, although I must agree that the NSw zonal system is very poorly designed. It mirrors the old pre-TransLink zones north of the border.

Route numbering is an inter-state issue. Only way around it was for TransLink to allocate the 600-series to the Gold Coast and not use the first 10 routes in the sequence. The NSW regional bus numbering system was there first and the 600s just happen to commence at the Tweed.

Co-operation is never going to happen - something I place squarely at the feet of the NSW State Government and its appallingly complicated public transport adminstration. The QLD State Government has made numerous overtures about taking over Surfside's NSW operations and integrating them into the TTA network and nothing has ever come up from down south about it.

To get back to the first thread - nice map. There is also my SEQ-wide Google Earth KMZ map which I am continuing to upgrade, but that can never be print-friendly because of the way it is set-up.

[marki]

For what its worth, a response from the Transport Minister to the, somewhat vague, e-petition earlier this year in regards to improved bus services in the Gold Coast:

http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/vie...es/1337-10.pdf

[marki]

Update on the local bus to Gold Coast airport, including some stats and a bit of spin for the State Govt thrown in.

Gold Coast Airport bus proving popular

http://www.translink.com.au/mediarelease.php?id=192

Tuesday 31 August 2010

The direct bus connection between Southport and the Gold Coast Airport, route 702, is proving popular with residents and visitors.

TransLink CEO Peter Strachan said patronage on the route had more than doubled since it was extended late last year.

“In the final week of July this year, 15,277 passenger trips were made on route 702, up from 7132 in the same week last year,” Mr Strachan said. Customers previously had to transfer to a mini-bus with limited frequency. “Now we have full size buses carrying an average of 30 people each run to the airport every half-hour, including connections to the first and last flights of the day. “This large increase in passengers shows that customers clearly enjoy the convenience of the one-seat journey to and from the airport. “The State Government, through TransLink, jointly funded a six-month trial to extend the bus route in partnership with the Gold Coast City Council and the support of Gold Coast Airport and Gold Coast Tourism.”

Mr Strachan also said positive feedback from customers showed further support for extending route 702 to the airport.He said a regular visitor from Melbourne recently sent an email saying they were “absolutely thrilled” with the extension of route 702. “It is a great improvement to the previous mini-bus transfer system from the highway to the airport,” the email said. “All of the buses we travel on, on the Gold Coast, are clean and the drivers are friendly and very competent - thanks for the great service, particularly your (route) 702,” the email said.

Gold Coast Mayor Ron Clarke said tourism was a major economic driver for the city and it was vital to support efficient transport services for visitors.
“Council has jointly funded this, and other bus service on the Gold Coast, to ensure we continue to provide a quality transport experience for our residents and visitors,” Cr Clarke said.

Gold Coast Airport Chief Operating Officer Paul Donovan said the extension of the service late last year and its subsequent success came as no surprise to airport staff. “Strong airport passenger numbers and increases in flight frequencies over the last couple of years resulted in the need to extend the service and we are thrilled to see so many of our passengers taking advantage of the service,” Mr Donovan said.


The State Government, through TransLink, is committed to providing a world-class public transport system on the Gold Coast. Some of the recent improvements have included:

• New early-bird train introduced in April, adding 2250 new seats a week into Brisbane
• Almost 14,000 new weekend seats to Gold Coast trains with all three-car carriages boosted to six carriages.
• A bus enhancement package for the southern Gold Coast, including more buses for Varsity Lakes train station including a new route running directly between Tweed Heads and Robina, allowing for a faster transfer between train, bus and plane.
• Bus route 747 from Southport to Robina
• NightLink bus services from Surfers Paradise late on Friday and Saturday nights.

For more information on public transport, visit the TransLink website www.translink.com.au or phone the Call Centre on 13 12 30.

[TOCC]

holy shit... so they provide a service and people actually use it!

[Fabian]

I was one of those who 702 to travel from Gold Coast Airport to Surfers Paradise. When I landed on the Gold Coast, the 702 at the airport was half full when it left.

The only problem is that some buses on the airport run do not have the luggage racks.

[Dimethyltryptamine]

Parklife Festival has been moved back to Brisbane (yes, this year's Parklife) because of the Light Rail project near Parklands. Good to see they're starting on the project so soon?

On the other hand, people are absolutely fuming. A lot of Gold Coasters only got tickets because it was local, and a lot of other people had flights and accomodation on the Gold Coast and will now have to commute to BNE. Suckers

[marki]

The Gold Coast Bus and Transport Map (post #2 above) has been updated.

Changes in Version 2.0:

1. New Gold Coast Airport bus routes (702 and 761) from late June
2. Changes and improvements to bus services from Varsity Lakes station
3. Route 747 (Southport to Robina Trial Service).. still running as far as i know
4. Route of the proposed Gold Coast Rapid Transit, Stage 1
5. Various minor fixes to formats, typos etc


.

[SM247]

Originally Posted by marki

The Gold Coast Bus and Transport Map (post #2 above) has been updated.

Changes in Version 2.0:

1. New Gold Coast Airport bus routes (702 and 761) from late June
2. Changes and improvements to bus services from Varsity Lakes station
3. Route 747 (Southport to Robina Trial Service).. still running as far as i know
4. Route of the proposed Gold Coast Rapid Transit, Stage 1
5. Various minor fixes to formats, typos etc


.

There are a few specific issues with it - I will send you a PM once I have had a look. Very nice work though.

[SM247]

Originally Posted by Fabian

I was one of those who 702 to travel from Gold Coast Airport to Surfers Paradise. When I landed on the Gold Coast, the 702 at the airport was half full when it left.

The only problem is that some buses on the airport run do not have the luggage racks.

If anything, it should be a standard design feature for all buses in the fleet. The luggage rack equipped buses used on that service still have virtually the same or a slightly higher seated passenger capacity than most other low-floor buses used in Australia.

[Fabian]

You think it would be standard policy. Alot of visitors to the Gold Coast rely on them for travel like yours truely.

The services linking the tourist centres with Robina and Nerang should have the racks as standard for those connecting with flights at Brisbane Airport especially International tourists. I have not seen them on the 745 for instance.

[SM247]

Originally Posted by Fabian

You think it would be standard policy. Alot of visitors to the Gold Coast rely on them for travel like yours truely.

The services linking the tourist centres with Robina and Nerang should have the racks as standard for those connecting with flights at Brisbane Airport especially International tourists. I have not seen them on the 745 for instance.

There are only 9 in the fleet, which would go some way to explaining why.

[Map Born]

Originally Posted by Dimethyltryptamine

Parklife Festival has been moved back to Brisbane (yes, this year's Parklife) because of the Light Rail project near Parklands. Good to see they're starting on the project so soon?

On the other hand, people are absolutely fuming. A lot of Gold Coasters only got tickets because it was local, and a lot of other people had flights and accomodation on the Gold Coast and will now have to commute to BNE. Suckers

Not enough tickets were selling, the usual Bris crowd weren't buying enough and the shortfall was not being made up locally.

Organisers stuffed their marketing, panicked, went back to Bris and blamed it on other projects.

Funny how 50 000 - 100 000 people attend the Gold Coast Show over 3 days and don't have the same problem, yet some blown in organisers do.

[BrizzyChris]

It was a ridiculous idea to move it there in the first place. Botanic Gardens is a great location. Note: I have never been to Parklife, nor intend to go.

[Map Born]

Marki - how's the thread of Gold Coast projects going? Any new projects?

[marki]

Nothing new at present, but progress on the Pacific Motorway (Nerang to Reedy Creek) upgrade and the Gold Coast Hwy at Labrador. Major work on the widening near Neilsens Rd in the last few days.

Theres also plenty of reconstruction of the Esplanade at Surfers too.

Theyre still fiddling with the Bermuda St / Reedy Creek Rd intersection, a waste of time since the traffic volume will soon approach the limit that a non-grade sperated intertsection can handle.

The Banora Point upgrade is well covered in much detail by lowey in the Pacific Hwy Upgrade thread.

My old camera no longer functions, i'll post some new pics when i get a new camera soon.