On 29th April there will be changes to buses running from Whitfords (some to Joondalup) and Clarkson. This will include routes 352, 450, 460, 461, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468, 469, 480, 483, 484 and 490.
There will be extra peak hour trips on the 460, 461 and 462, and extra weekday off-peak trips on the 460, 462, 463, and 464, for half hourly frequencies on each route. Since the 461 already runs on a half-hourly basis, this means gthat all feeder buses from Whitfords to Joondalup west of the Mitchell Freeway will run every 30 minutes, which will be very good for public transport users in the areas, especially since there are common sections of routes with combined (roughly)15-minutely service. Those living east of the freeway still only get their hourly 465s and 466s, but this is normal in other areas.
The 483 will extend along Camborne Parkway, Hollington Boulevard and Santorini Promenade to the 484 teminus (Santorini Prom after Benenden Av), and will run extra trips during the peak and weekday off-peak (for off-peak service every 30 min). This means the Santorini Prom terminal will get buses roughly every 15 min on weekdays.
In addition routes 352, 450, 465, 466, 467, 468, 469, 480 and 490 will get minor time changes.
These improvements will make public transport much more useful in the Whitfords and Clarkson areas.
Much, much more useful... is there anywhere else in Perth that's so far from the city yet still gets such a half-hourly feeder network?
ReplyDeleteCould well be a sign of things to come I reckon!
It's kind of a shame that Transperth aren't promoting it as much as they should... ("additional weekday trips." Honestly.)
Yeah, I'd say that all suburbs should get half-hourly feeders. When two meet, they should be interlined for a 15 min frequency.
ReplyDeleteI also think Transperth should better market its buses in general, because people may know trains run frequency, and there are frequent suburban bus corridors, but this isn't clear. I think Transperth should have a frequent service map showing corridors where there is public transport every 15 min during off-peak (service that people can depend on and use in place of a car)
Explanation of frequency mapping - http://www.humantransit.org/2010/08/basics-the-case-for-frequency-mapping.html
ReplyDeleteAn Australian example (Sydney)-
http://transportsydney.wordpress.com/2011/12/07/best-of-the-rest-transport-frequency-in-sydney/
Transperth actually used to do such a map - the now-dead Melbourne on Transit blog has a photo of the pre-Mandurah Line version at http://bp1.blogger.com/_Y90iQauC3V0/RvX3OL6G1AI/AAAAAAAAACU/_FjaQFk2D4g/s1600-h/Perth+a2.jpg . Unfortunately, Transperth just about left it for dead, and updated it to show the Mandurah line but didn't redo the bus routes. And to be honest, it was a bit random from the start anyway. Though it did appear in the back pages of the StreetSmart directory at one point.
ReplyDeleteThere have also been attempts at advertising the frequent bus routes properly, first with the System 21 (the 920/40 is the legacy of this) and then with the planned Transperth MET. Both were designed by governments on their last legs though. (Mind you, seeing as the CATs have been very successful, maybe a different animal name would work? DOG buses?)
Also I think they really need to do advertise service upgrades a bit more. I know they get published to the website, but who actually goes there that doesn't use public transport already? I've seen TP publish service improvement flyers - and notification of consultation sessions - but they only seem to distribute them at train stations and InfoCentres - again, why would a car driver even bother to go there? I've only every had one notice delivered to my mailbox (Clarkson station opening), and seen newspaper adverts for the Clarkson and Mandurah lines but that's about as active as I've seen them. And at any rate, what have they got to lose from putting out media statements and adverts in at least local newspapers? At the moment it seems they're expecting people to notice "how come there are more buses here than there were before?"
Keep up the good work with the blog.
Has Blogger swallowed your comment?
ReplyDeleteYes it has, not that it's unusual for me. I'll see if Internet Explorer can succeed where Firefox and Chrome failed.
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth, the state budget media releases are predicting 4 new and 37 upgraded routes, which will be a roughly 5% increase in services. All that's been announced so far for the new financial year is CAT upgrades and a terminus change for routes 525 and 526, however I am expecting some changes in August to coincide with train timetable and platform changes for the City Link project so it will be interesting to see if there are any upgrades at that time - I know there are improvements at Byford on the cards, waiting for completion of the road network down there.
For what it's worth, Transperth trains have now overtaken the Brisbane/Gold Coast/Sunshine Coast network, and overall public transport patronage is closing in fast...
5% increase in services should be good. I've been wondering what happened to those proposed changes to Stirling to Warwick feeders from a while back, I hope they're still in the pipeline.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that Perth's trains serve more passengers then SEQ's even though SEQ is much larger. I guess Perth PT is more train-based, whereas SEQ is more bus-based (30-min off-peak train frequency, but several busways).
Have you heard about the Max light rail plan? We should get light rail from QEII Medical Centre to the Causeway by 2018. Or is this just an election promise?
Check the 30th September timetables that have just come up :) And until it gets linked to properly, also www.transperth.wa.gov.au/timetablePDFs/Southern%20137%2020120930.pdf
ReplyDeleteThanks. I see there are many changes.
ReplyDelete