24 November 2010

TAMS takes over the timetable

| johnboy
Join the conversation
10

In a stinging reflection on ACTION’s past performance the Canberra Times reports that a transport planning unit in the Department of Territory and Municipal Services has taken over the bus timetables.

It will be interesting to see if this leads to any improvements.

Join the conversation

10
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

Who cares who’s running the scheduling department, if the timetables and bus appearance times don’t match?

On the other hand, if this is a bunch of new staff taking over the timetable management, perhaps we’ll finally see the three year old Google Transit project bear some fruit? Other cities in Australia already have Google Transit operational.

I think there should be a clear distinction between Peak and Off Peak services.

Peak services should just run down main roads, and asw oftetn as possible.

Off peak services could run through the existing windy routes, and could wait long enough at stops for old people and toddlers to sit down before zooming off. off peak services could run at the same time every hour (or even every 2 hours).

For stops down northbourne, not every bus should need to stop at every stop.

Very common for a transport department to manage routes and timetables. Though normally this is done where said routes are contracted out. Who knows, this may well be a step towards a privatised ACTION. After all a tender was just recently put out for night rider buses.

I really hope TaMS will listen to the people* on some of the stupdities of the timetabling, like the connecting bus leaving 2 minutes before the one that gets you there.

I realise that ‘TaMS’ and ‘listen to the people’ should not be in the same snetnce, but one can always hope.

The proof will be in the implementation. The new ticketing system will generate amazing data which will be able to track passenger numbers, travel times, route variations, road congestion, some demographic analysis and transfer patters (of users with smart chips). Effective use of this data can create an amazing bus network. One hopes that those designing Network 11 and beyond have the skills and resources to be able to do this.

#sepi: There is one bus service (Red Rapid [Route 200]) which is limited stops down Northbourne Avenue running every 15 minutes 7am-7pm.

“TAMS takes over the timetables”. And what part of the ACT Government does ACTION belong to? That’s right – TAMS. This is merely a re-structure. I would be very surprised if the people who did the job in ACTION are not the same people who are now doing the job in the new “transport planning” division.

la mente torbida12:59 pm 24 Nov 10

Got no problems with this … as long as the new planners actually use the bus network

sepi said :

Here’s a few ideas:

Have some sort of regularity in the timetable – eg – bus 8 always leaving at 2.08, 3.08. 4.08 etc.
If you have to look up the bus every time you catch it, you stop bothering.

Bad idea – Most commuters catch the same buses at the same times regularly and once they know what time their bus leaves they don’t need to keep checking timetables.

Having buses leave exactly hourly or half hourly makes the service slower and more cumbersome to use. For example: The timing points used at 8:30am need to be spread further apart than the timing points used at 11:30am due to increased traffic and more passengers. If an 11:30 bus had to mirror the running of an 8:30 bus it would need to travel unnecessarily slow which results in poorer service delivery.

Perhaps they could have the Online timetables and what is actually posted at the Stops allign

Here’s a few ideas:

Have some sort of regularity in the timetable – eg – bus 8 always leaving at 2.08, 3.08. 4.08 etc.
If you have to look up the bus every time you catch it, you stop bothering.

Have buses stop at only every 3rd stop down Northbourne. Or at least Odds and Evens – Odd numb ered buses to stop at every second stop.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.