21 October 2011

The 2012 bus network

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ACTION’s proposed weekday bus network for 2012 has been released by Transport for Canberra, with residents in Canberra’s newest suburbs in Gungahlin set to benefit as services are directed through Bonner, Casey, Crace and Forde whilst other established suburbs will receive more services.

Elsewhere, Kippax will benefit from Blue Rapid services and there will be changes to routes 2, 3, 4, 7, 10 and 80.

The proposed changes are expected to be implemented in May 2012.

The proposed new and changed services are as follows:

Gungahlin

  • Route 51 to be extended to operate along Overall Ave, Casey.
  • New route 55 to operate from Gungahlin Town Centre to Forde, Bonner and return. David Walsh Ave and Zakharov Ave in Forde will be serviced.
  • Route 58 will be re-routed through Franklin to travel via Hoskins St, Oodgeroo Ave and Nullarbor Av instead of Cash St and Christina Stead St.
  • Route 58 will also be diverted to service Crace, travelling via Nurdurr Dr, Jellicoe St, Langtree Cres, Galore St and Abena Ave.
  • Route 59 will no longer travel through Forde.
  • Red Rapid route 200 will depart from Gungahlin every 10 minutes during morning peak.

Links to maps showing these proposed changes:

Casey, Forde and Bonner

Crace

Franklin

Belconnen

  • Blue Rapid routes 318 and 319 will be extended to Kippax Centre including stops along Southern Cross Drive. This will provide a direct link from West Belconnen to Belconnen Town Centre, City, Woden and Tuggeranong every 15 minutes between 7am and 7pm weekdays.

Link to map of proposed change

City West / Acton

  • New route 1 will replace route 2 between City and Dickson. Route 1 will depart from City West, prior to servicing City Bus Station.
  • Route 2 will run between Woden and City then continue to City West and terminate at the National Musuem of Australia between 7am and 7pm.
  • Route 3 will no longer service the National Museum, providing a quicker journey between ANU and the City.
  • Route 7 will also depart from City West.

Links to maps showing these proposed changes:

City West (routes 1 and 7)
Acton (routes 2 and 3)

Fyshwick / Barton

  • Route 80 will be streamlined – will no longer service Brisbane Ave, Causeway, Wiluna St, Whyalla St, Isa St or Barrier St.
  • Red Rapid route 200 will travel directly along Wentworth Ave and Canberra Ave – will no longer service Canberra Railway Station or Fyshwick Markets.

Link to map of proposed changes

South Canberra / Canberra Hospital / Woden

  • Route 4 to be extended to Woden Bus Station, travelling via Canberra Hospital.

Link to map of proposed change

Majura Park

  • Additional Route 10 services will operate to Majura Park during peak hours.

Feedback

Formal feedback on these proposed changes can be sent to Transport for Canberra by email to communityengagement@act.gov.au or by mail to Public Transport Systems, Territory and Municipal Services, GPO Box 158, Canberra ACT 2601. Feedback must be sent by Friday 25 November 2011.

UPDATE: The Greens have announced their pleasure:

“Numerous routes will now have a better frequency, including routes through Gungahlin and to ANU and City West,” said Ms Bresnan.

“These improvements help to fulfil the commitment secured by the ACT Greens through our 2008 Parliamentary Agreement with the ALP, to ensure a minimum guaranteed bus frequency of 30 minutes.

“Another key improvement is an extension of the Blue Rapid or Intertown service to Kippax. The Greens called for the extension of the Blue Rapid service to Kippax in a Budget proposal to the Government last year, so I am extremely pleased to see this outcome.

“This change will help make Kippax a major transport hub for the fast growing West Belconnen area.

“We must make public transport more accessible in the outer suburbs, and extend frequent, rapid public transport routes to more of Canberra.

“However, as Member for Brindabella I am again disappointed to see that the need for improved transit services to Tuggeranong has been overlooked. We need to see high frequency services particularly to South Tuggeranong, through places like Lanyon, Calwell and Erindale,” Ms Bresnan said.

FURTHER UPDATE: Late in the day the Minister, Simon Corbell, has had something to say:

Community feedback is being sought on proposed changes to ACTION bus network, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services (TAMS), Simon Corbell, said today.

“A number of improvements have been identified to the ACTION bus network for 2012 and we are now asking the travelling public to provide feedback,” Mr Corbell said.

“Network improvements are proposed for services operating in Kippax; Gungahlin; Central Canberra; Fyshwick and Majura Park. A high frequency link between Woden and the Canberra Hospital has also been proposed.

“Identified improvements include:
— extension of the Blue Rapid to Kippax providing a direct link between Kippax, Belconnen, the City, Woden and Tuggeranong;
— provision of services in new suburbs in Gungahlin such as Forde, Bonner and Casey;
— redesign of routes in Central Canberra to enhance services to the City, Australian National University and National Museum of Australia;
— increased frequency of services to Majura Park; and
— enhanced services to and through Fyshwick.

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Grail said :

Will it be 1, 2 or 3 years before they update Google Transit with the new/changed routes?

ACTION and TransitTimes have surprised me by confirming that they will in fact have their new online routes ready to roll from 28 May when the 2012 network goes live.

Good to hear!

What ACTION Management Really Need Is A Good Route!!

grunge_hippy said :

catching a bus in canberra is a crock. I never need to catch a bus normally, but i need to get to gungahlin from tuggeranong somehow next week. going on their website, I would need to catch 3 buses, and its gonna take me 1.5 hrs. its no wonder they are struggling to get customers.

at least in the old days you could catch the 333 and at least get to a town centre quickly.

To get from Hyperdome to Gungahlin is 2 busses at 1 hr 15 min. Any 300 series bus (Blue Rapid) gets you to Civic, and a 200 Red Rapid gets you to Gungahlin. Sure 1hr 15 min is a while, but you can’t whinge about the ol’ 333 when the Blue and Red Rapids are the modern day equivalent. Oh, and start using Google Transit in Maps, it’s much, much better than ACTION’s own website.

Wanda said :

Is this report on so called improvemnts to bus service in 2012 actually serious ? Who wrote it, wonder what grounds can possibly be used to justify the continued marked imbalance of bus services provided to the north of the lake by the taxpayer. In 2006 Weston Creek lost over 60% of of bus services, as well as a few schools, college and CIT. There has been no improvement since, not even one single bus run & for us there is only one destination, as all Weston Creek commuters have no choice but to go to Woden , then wait , change , wait etc it is beyond frustrating,The timetabling is an example of lunacy I am amazed, nearly speechless but wholly sickened at the extraordinary imbalance and to me this is effective misuse of taxpayers money, or maybe our rates etc will be radically reduced to reflect the lack of services south of the lake. And by the way ANU has few buses trundle by down Barry Drive already, isnt every10 mins through out day enough? Surely Action made another mistake, & meant to address the lack of bus services to Reid CIT, which is near nonexistant, only two changes for most southern students.I thought the skills shortage was real and that ACT Gopvernment understood and valued education, although sadly it seems, Action seems to show that students are valued only if they go to ANU and live North of Lake?

Every bus that travels along Constitution AVe stops at CIT Reid, not sure how many serivces you need?

Even their new routes have been designed to take unnecessary detours to go a long way to gain coverage instead of going to a central location where most people can walk 300m to a stop.

Problem with that statement is people aren’t willing to wlak 300 metres. I kid you not, I’ve gotten on a bus at City Inter and had to stop at either the stop near the Wig and Pen or the stop at the Comm. Back on London Circ to let people off who could have walked there in the time the bus was at the Interchange, good sentiment but people are lazy and won’t walk.

Keijidosha said :

Extending the 318/319 routes to Kippax is a very good idea.

Funnily enough it’s just more of ‘back to the future’ – a 316 and 317 Tuggeranong-Kippax was introduced in 1998, along with a 216/217 (Kippax-Russell/Barton) and 116/117 (Kippax-Woden). A few years later all but the 116/117 were scrapped, and they too bit the dust a few years ago.

grunge_hippy11:01 pm 22 Oct 11

catching a bus in canberra is a crock. I never need to catch a bus normally, but i need to get to gungahlin from tuggeranong somehow next week. going on their website, I would need to catch 3 buses, and its gonna take me 1.5 hrs. its no wonder they are struggling to get customers.

at least in the old days you could catch the 333 and at least get to a town centre quickly.

pete09 said :

thehutch said :

pete09 said :

thehutch said :

Gungahlin Al said :

I suspect you are right!!! Many (if not all) people would prefer the shortest travel times… however Al’s system does NOT achieve that!

For example, under Al’s system route 51 which goes through Ngunnawal would always terminate at Gungahlin Town Centre, Passengers would alight, line up and hope onto a 200 Red Rapid. Assuming a Red Rapid is waiting for you, it will be a 2-3 minute transition during peak. If there is not one, it’ll be 10mins.

Under the current system, route 51 also goes through Ngunnawal to the Gungahlin town centre. However during peak hour it then continues along the same route the Red Rapid takes from Gungahlin into the city.

During peak hour the Red Rapid and the 51 take the same amount of time between the Gungahlin town centre and the City.

So I would love you to explain how terminating the 51 at Gungahlin and transferring those customers saves time?

As the 51 follows the rapid route into the city, it obviously wouldn’t. I was referring to the routes that wind through 5 or 6 suburbs before reaching an interchange, say the 44 or the 24.

Once again I find myself in agreement with you… however old mate Al’s suggestion did not fix the issues with the 44, 24 or other loopy services. The route he supports (the 55) is another loopy service and he would also like all the other loopy gungahlin services (51, 52, 59) to terminate at Gungahlin.

I suspect this may be driven at getting more peeps into the town centre.

The bus system in the suburbs tries to fulfil the role of getting close to everyone’s house, rather than taking the most direct route. This a great at fulfilling its social service obligtation but bad at getting workers on board. However, to make routes more direct, more routes will be are needed (and more buses, drivers etc).

Is this affordable? Probably not. I suspect we should get used to loopy services through the suburbs. Like Al stated good express services between the town centres should be the backbone of the network with additional express services linking the key group centres (kippax, erinidale, weston, manuka/kingston) and employment areas Russell, Barton and the Airport. But probably what would be better is better ‘park & ride’ facilities in the town/group centres. The one they are building at Mawson is a good idea. This should be backed up with one at Gunghalin.

However back to my original point, if I am already on the loop service which goes to Gungahlin, there is no benefit to force me to get off at Gungahlin and swap buses. Gungahlin Al’s proposal aint any good.

thehutch said :

pete09 said :

thehutch said :

Gungahlin Al said :

Interesting to see a new route for Gungahlin/Forde/Bonner only. Is this one of the first times they’ve had an exclusively local suburb route? I strongly believe and have been lobbying that most routes should be like this, with separate express routes between the satellite city centres and Civic, therby making the interchanges actually that – get off the local collector route and onto the express route. Thereby avoiding the conga line of buses down already clogged roads like Northbourne because every route goes into Civic at some stage.

Also pleased to see Simon Corbell carried through on his promise to fix the wiggle through Franklin that was only there while other roads hadn’t yet been built – seems Action forgot to change it when Franklin was finished a few years back.

Also pleased about more Flemington Road routes – those of us in the southern end of Gungahlin might actually get a seat once in a while. Residents of Crace and Casey will appreciate the route changes into their suburbs too.

And more peak services to Majura are badly needed so will help.

Whilst you do some great things for Gungahlin, you are off the mark with this one. People who choose to use public transport (ie have cars but would prefer not to use them to get to work) do not want to swap buses.

Whilst not every bus can be a thru-bus to the city (some loop services will be needed), the need to connect should be reduced as much as possible.

I suspect many people would prefer the shortest possible travel times, which the system that Al proposes achieves.

I suspect you are right!!! Many (if not all) people would prefer the shortest travel times… however Al’s system does NOT achieve that!

For example, under Al’s system route 51 which goes through Ngunnawal would always terminate at Gungahlin Town Centre, Passengers would alight, line up and hope onto a 200 Red Rapid. Assuming a Red Rapid is waiting for you, it will be a 2-3 minute transition during peak. If there is not one, it’ll be 10mins.

Under the current system, route 51 also goes through Ngunnawal to the Gungahlin town centre. However during peak hour it then continues along the same route the Red Rapid takes from Gungahlin into the city.

During peak hour the Red Rapid and the 51 take the same amount of time between the Gungahlin town centre and the City.

So I would love you to explain how terminating the 51 at Gungahlin and transferring those customers saves time?

As the 51 follows the rapid route into the city, it obviously wouldn’t. I was referring to the routes that wind through 5 or 6 suburbs before reaching an interchange, say the 44 or the 24.

I am very happy these changes have been made. It would also be good if ACTION could ook at improving services to and from Conder/Banks – those buses are PACKED as there just aren’t enough services, particularly on weekends. Tuggeranong seems to get forgotten A LOT when improvements to systems are made. I suggest ACTION talks to their own bus drivers for feedback about this issue.

Tuggeranong never even started with enough bus routes (compared eg to Woden, Belco, Nth/Sth Canberra) as large chunks of it was being developed/established during the transition to self govt (and we all know what a debacle that was). I don’t mind that Tuggers gets forgotten in some things (it means we often escape ghastly things and can go on quietly being a lovely place to live while everyone thinks it’s not – which is good!) but sufficient buses is an important issue.

Is this report on so called improvemnts to bus service in 2012 actually serious ? Who wrote it, wonder what grounds can possibly be used to justify the continued marked imbalance of bus services provided to the north of the lake by the taxpayer. In 2006 Weston Creek lost over 60% of of bus services, as well as a few schools, college and CIT. There has been no improvement since, not even one single bus run & for us there is only one destination, as all Weston Creek commuters have no choice but to go to Woden , then wait , change , wait etc it is beyond frustrating,The timetabling is an example of lunacy I am amazed, nearly speechless but wholly sickened at the extraordinary imbalance and to me this is effective misuse of taxpayers money, or maybe our rates etc will be radically reduced to reflect the lack of services south of the lake. And by the way ANU has few buses trundle by down Barry Drive already, isnt every10 mins through out day enough? Surely Action made another mistake, & meant to address the lack of bus services to Reid CIT, which is near nonexistant, only two changes for most southern students.I thought the skills shortage was real and that ACT Gopvernment understood and valued education, although sadly it seems, Action seems to show that students are valued only if they go to ANU and live North of Lake?

pete09 said :

thehutch said :

Gungahlin Al said :

Interesting to see a new route for Gungahlin/Forde/Bonner only. Is this one of the first times they’ve had an exclusively local suburb route? I strongly believe and have been lobbying that most routes should be like this, with separate express routes between the satellite city centres and Civic, therby making the interchanges actually that – get off the local collector route and onto the express route. Thereby avoiding the conga line of buses down already clogged roads like Northbourne because every route goes into Civic at some stage.

Also pleased to see Simon Corbell carried through on his promise to fix the wiggle through Franklin that was only there while other roads hadn’t yet been built – seems Action forgot to change it when Franklin was finished a few years back.

Also pleased about more Flemington Road routes – those of us in the southern end of Gungahlin might actually get a seat once in a while. Residents of Crace and Casey will appreciate the route changes into their suburbs too.

And more peak services to Majura are badly needed so will help.

Whilst you do some great things for Gungahlin, you are off the mark with this one. People who choose to use public transport (ie have cars but would prefer not to use them to get to work) do not want to swap buses.

Whilst not every bus can be a thru-bus to the city (some loop services will be needed), the need to connect should be reduced as much as possible.

I suspect many people would prefer the shortest possible travel times, which the system that Al proposes achieves.

I suspect you are right!!! Many (if not all) people would prefer the shortest travel times… however Al’s system does NOT achieve that!

For example, under Al’s system route 51 which goes through Ngunnawal would always terminate at Gungahlin Town Centre, Passengers would alight, line up and hope onto a 200 Red Rapid. Assuming a Red Rapid is waiting for you, it will be a 2-3 minute transition during peak. If there is not one, it’ll be 10mins.

Under the current system, route 51 also goes through Ngunnawal to the Gungahlin town centre. However during peak hour it then continues along the same route the Red Rapid takes from Gungahlin into the city.

During peak hour the Red Rapid and the 51 take the same amount of time between the Gungahlin town centre and the City.

So I would love you to explain how terminating the 51 at Gungahlin and transferring those customers saves time?

So glad they are extending some blue rapid services to Kippax. There are 5 different buses I can catch from Belconnen to where I live around the Kippax area – yet they ALL depart with 10 minutes to the hour and 10 minutes after the hour from Belconnen. I hope they look at the timings of buses too.

As much as I’m grateful to be able to catch an ‘expresso’ bus to work and avoid the Belconnen interchange, having all the routes extend past the interchange to the CIT side of the city or through to Barton would be beneficial. Or maybe 1 or 2 extra services.. I’m convinced it can’t be safe having 30+ people standing in the aisles. (on a ‘bendy’ bus)

Keijidosha said :

The only thing that will improve bus travel times for Gungahlin residents is a dedicated bus lane on Northbourne Avenue. Splitting services into local routes with intertown express buses would increase travel times due to interchange layovers.

If they properly planned the networks and timetables, they could achieve connecting bus services with less than a few minutes layover. But I’m expecting to be able to ride flying pigs before that happens.

Having said that, Northbourne does need a bus lane but not at the expense of an exising lane. It also needs some of the bus stops removed so buses don’t need to stop every 100 metres and for better synchronized traffic lights. The latter may also come with flying pigs.

The only thing that will improve bus travel times for Gungahlin residents is a dedicated bus lane on Northbourne Avenue. Splitting services into local routes with intertown express buses would increase travel times due to interchange layovers.

thehutch said :

Gungahlin Al said :

Interesting to see a new route for Gungahlin/Forde/Bonner only. Is this one of the first times they’ve had an exclusively local suburb route? I strongly believe and have been lobbying that most routes should be like this, with separate express routes between the satellite city centres and Civic, therby making the interchanges actually that – get off the local collector route and onto the express route. Thereby avoiding the conga line of buses down already clogged roads like Northbourne because every route goes into Civic at some stage.

Also pleased to see Simon Corbell carried through on his promise to fix the wiggle through Franklin that was only there while other roads hadn’t yet been built – seems Action forgot to change it when Franklin was finished a few years back.

Also pleased about more Flemington Road routes – those of us in the southern end of Gungahlin might actually get a seat once in a while. Residents of Crace and Casey will appreciate the route changes into their suburbs too.

And more peak services to Majura are badly needed so will help.

Whilst you do some great things for Gungahlin, you are off the mark with this one. People who choose to use public transport (ie have cars but would prefer not to use them to get to work) do not want to swap buses.

Whilst not every bus can be a thru-bus to the city (some loop services will be needed), the need to connect should be reduced as much as possible.

I suspect many people would prefer the shortest possible travel times, which the system that Al proposes achieves.

Gungahlin Al said :

Interesting to see a new route for Gungahlin/Forde/Bonner only. Is this one of the first times they’ve had an exclusively local suburb route? I strongly believe and have been lobbying that most routes should be like this, with separate express routes between the satellite city centres and Civic, therby making the interchanges actually that – get off the local collector route and onto the express route. Thereby avoiding the conga line of buses down already clogged roads like Northbourne because every route goes into Civic at some stage.

Also pleased to see Simon Corbell carried through on his promise to fix the wiggle through Franklin that was only there while other roads hadn’t yet been built – seems Action forgot to change it when Franklin was finished a few years back.

Also pleased about more Flemington Road routes – those of us in the southern end of Gungahlin might actually get a seat once in a while. Residents of Crace and Casey will appreciate the route changes into their suburbs too.

And more peak services to Majura are badly needed so will help.

Whilst you do some great things for Gungahlin, you are off the mark with this one. People who choose to use public transport (ie have cars but would prefer not to use them to get to work) do not want to swap buses.

Whilst not every bus can be a thru-bus to the city (some loop services will be needed), the need to connect should be reduced as much as possible.

Will it be 1, 2 or 3 years before they update Google Transit with the new/changed routes?

@JessP there already is a bus to the airport from the city its the airport express and it costs about $10 one way Which compared to other services in the country is ok.

Gungahlin Al said :

Interesting to see a new route for Gungahlin/Forde/Bonner only. Is this one of the first times they’ve had an exclusively local suburb route? I strongly believe and have been lobbying that most routes should be like this, with separate express routes between the satellite city centres and Civic, therby making the interchanges actually that – get off the local collector route and onto the express route. Thereby avoiding the conga line of buses down already clogged roads like Northbourne because every route goes into Civic at some stage.

I believe the switch from interchange (333) routes to the ‘Rapid’ series was made based on feedback suggesting commuters didn’t like having to change buses. Either option requires the same number of buses on trunk routes to maintain acceptable intervals – especially now the articulated buses are being phased out.

Personally I prefer the current system as it all but eliminates the possibility of missing a local/suburban connection and being stranded at an interchange waiting for the next bus.

I wonder what state the guys came from this time to change the timetable, last time it was Adelaide and they removed all the Gunghalin buses (well almost).

They seem to like changing the route 2 a lot, I don’t know why. Last time it added 15 minutes travel time from the interchange. So this doesn’t appear to be too bad.

Another network with a few small improvements but still fundamentally flawed and in general, just crap.

Until ACTION pulls their head out of their asses and stops trying to serve every square inch of the city will we get a decent network. Even their new routes have been designed to take unnecessary detours to go a long way to gain coverage instead of going to a central location where most people can walk 300m to a stop. You only have to look at the Belconnen map for the 318/319 to see how rediculous the coverage and close overlap is. This network would be a lot more efficient if they removed the unnecessary stops and coverage.

Rip it up and start again.

Gungahlin Al11:19 am 21 Oct 11

Interesting to see a new route for Gungahlin/Forde/Bonner only. Is this one of the first times they’ve had an exclusively local suburb route? I strongly believe and have been lobbying that most routes should be like this, with separate express routes between the satellite city centres and Civic, therby making the interchanges actually that – get off the local collector route and onto the express route. Thereby avoiding the conga line of buses down already clogged roads like Northbourne because every route goes into Civic at some stage.

Also pleased to see Simon Corbell carried through on his promise to fix the wiggle through Franklin that was only there while other roads hadn’t yet been built – seems Action forgot to change it when Franklin was finished a few years back.

Also pleased about more Flemington Road routes – those of us in the southern end of Gungahlin might actually get a seat once in a while. Residents of Crace and Casey will appreciate the route changes into their suburbs too.

And more peak services to Majura are badly needed so will help.

How about a bus to the Airport – not just Brindebella Park? A regular bus?? From the city??

Extending the 318/319 routes to Kippax is a very good idea. The current routes that service this area are fairly indirect.

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