Station Link Observations

[boronia]

They don't rush into these things. There are still signs in Eddy Ave advising of diversions on 6th May. Maybe they are getting in early for next year?

[swtt]

I wonder what date they will remove "from September 30" on branding and announcements or whether it will last the whole shutdown!

When the new map incorporates the operational (and not "under construction") metro line.

[Richard290]

There are still signs in Eddy Ave advising of diversions on 6th May.

Even on former STA/now Transit Systems buses running the M41, the buses still show the boards with the Region 7 changes from 6 May 2018 for increased services on routes M52, M54, 506, 507, 518, 521, 545, 546 & 549 even four months since the changes were implemented, despite the change in operator. I guess the average commuter can't tell the difference or give a second thought that their service is now run by Transit Systems, and now that those long-implemented changes now refer to a region that is run by their predecessor.
Some food for thought.

[Qantas94Heavy]

Tried out SL1 yesterday from Epping to Chatswood, on board a Volgren Optimus B7RLE with the single rear door.

Timings (part/total):

Code: Select all

Boarding:                01:00 / 01:00
Epping - Mac Uni:        10:44 / 11:44
Dwell:                   02:26 / 14:10
Mac Uni - Mac Pk:        14:19 / 28:29
Dwell:                   01:44 / 30:13
Mac Pk - Nth Ryde:       07:50 / 38:03
Dwell:                   00:48 / 38:51
Nth Ryde - Chatswood:    21:21 / 60:12
Alighting:               01:14 / 61:26

Arrived at Epping Station at about a quarter to five and asked one of the pink staff members how I should get to Chatswood. He advised me that bus SL1 will take me there -- let's see how that goes!

When I get to the bus stop, about 15 people were waiting for the SL1. Lots of buses arrive but all are going out of service. Frequency is supposed to be every 6 minutes, but our service only arrives 10 minutes later. For some reason the bus driver does not open the rear door despite marshals being present. About 30-32 passengers board.

After a bit over 2 minutes waiting for traffic lights at the end of Pembroke St, we turn into Epping Road, where a number of buses were stuck in traffic towards Epping. Traffic was queued up to Vimiera Road. Would it possibly make sense for buses to go via the M2 in evening peak?

Bus ride itself has been relatively uneventful so far, with the turn from Herring Rd to Waterloo Rd only requiring one light cycle.

Macquarie Uni Station is where it starts to unravel. Front door is opened. About 15 seconds later, inexplicably the front door is closed and rear door opened. Marshals then seem to signal the bus driver to move forward. Passengers wanting to alight stand there as the front door reopens while not opening the rear or letting people off. Finally, after another 30 seconds and communication with the marshals, the front door is closed and the bus moves to the front of the stop.

After all that kerfuffle, the rest of the alighting and boarding takes place using both doors. About 15 passengers get off and another 40 get on, but a bunch of Chinese girls stand around the rear door blocking anyone from moving into the rear of the bus. An SL4 bus was right behind us but people boarded this service anyway, with about 10 people left behind.

Then the slow crawl along Waterloo Rd commences, getting extreme once passing the roundabouts. The left lane was clogged with private cars wanting to turn left on to Lane Cove Rd, moving metres in minutes. The right lane is also congested but not as bad. Perhaps they could move the SL1/3/4 stop to the departure side of the Lane Cove Rd intersection?

Finally we arrive at Macquarie Park Station, where the marshal finally gets people boarding via the back door to to move up (squeezing past the girls). Two passengers gets off and about 10 on. About 40 people were left behind. Just as we were about to depart, the marshal asks the driver to reopen the front door, then gets on to ask the people at the front to move away from the no standing area ("you're blocking the driver's view"). All in all, ended up wasting 30 seconds getting them to move about 30 cm -- they weren't that close to the front in the first place.

Surprisingly, the trip to North Ryde was relatively quick, with the turn from Wicks Rd to Epping Rd only needing one light cycle.

At North Ryde, the front door opens, and it takes yet another 10 seconds for the rear door to open. Four people get off and nobody gets on as the bus is deemed full, despite the rain starting to pour and more than 50 grumpy people left behind.

Delhi Road is a crawl along to the merge point, where traffic moves slowly until Lady Game Drive, where it starts to speed up. Pacific Hwy and Fullers Rd needed three light cycles to get through, green arrow was on for about 10 seconds each time.

Finally arriving at Chatswood after an hour, the driver manages to slam the rear door into passengers even as they continue to alight, causing a reaction from the marshal ("whoa whoa, hey!").

All in all, if you're actually heading to Chatswood during evening peak you probably don't want to be taking SL1. From Epping you can take a train to Hornsby and back down, which should take 40-50 minutes. From Macquarie Uni/Park, it would be much faster to take SL4 to St Leonards and a quick train ride back up to Chatswood.

It seems like TfNSW are too focused on replicating the ECRL route at the expense of much longer journey times. Also, I'm not sure if the doors on the Station Link buses are so hard to operate as the drivers seem to have real trouble opening/closing them. What's up with that?! I've never seen anything like this on the regular bus routes I take.

[Daniel]

CDC are very particular about using rear doors. Keep putting in complaints and keep pressing the emergency door release buttons to take matters into your own hands.

[GazzaOak]

All in all, if you're actually heading to Chatswood during evening peak you probably don't want to be taking SL1. From Epping you can take a train to Hornsby and back down, which should take 40-50 minutes. From Macquarie Uni/Park, it would be much faster to take SL4 to St Leonards and a quick train ride back up to Chatswood.

It seems like TfNSW are too focused on replicating the ECRL route at the expense of much longer journey times. Also, I'm not sure if the doors on the Station Link buses are so hard to operate as the drivers seem to have real trouble opening/closing them. What's up with that?! I've never seen anything like this on the regular bus routes I take.

I think they should be more promoting the other routes... its weird as (insert swear word) seeing empty buses on other SL routes but SL1 get packed... and also its the commuter fault for not researching how to avoid the (insert swear word) fight of called SL1

[moa999]

Hard to change behaviour. Used to change at Chatswood, will continue to do so.

[rogf24]

Another option instead of using Station Link is the 294 route during peak hours. It got quite a nice boost in services in the last timetable.

[neilrex]

They should be running SL2 both ways in the peak periods. Or even all of the time. North Ryde seems to be the stop where the largest number of people are being "left behind", and running SL2 both ways would help with that.

That they are still stooging around with the doors after 2 weeks is pathetic.

However it is good to see that they seem to be making some kind of effort to move buses down to the front of the stop at Macquarie Center.

[GazzaOak]

They should be running SL2 both ways in the peak periods. Or even all of the time. North Ryde seems to be the stop where the largest number of people are being "left behind", and running SL2 both ways would help with that.

Its because of the North Ryde station roads leads into one of the congested area (Delhi Rd) and its dreadful at all hours.... so government is trying to get people to avoid boarding buses around that area if you don't need to visit that area....

And there a bus stop on epping rd, probs few mtrs near north ryde station (near the microsoft joint), they should also get station link buses to stop there, and have 2 SL routes (1 via delhi rd and another to chatswood via lane cove tunnel)

[tonyp]

Australian Bus & Coach seems to be running a lot of advertorials lately. This is one for Volgren (and CDC).

https://www.busnews.com.au/industry-new ... ation-link

Apparently a lot of the buses will be going to Hunter Valley and Blue Mountains after Station Link.

I gather by deduction that Transdev is the company getting all of the Bustechs and only a relative few Volgrens.

[Daniel]

The Volgrens are with CDC, why would Transdev end up with them?

[tonyp]

The Volgrens are with CDC, why would Transdev end up with them?

Because in Fleetlists I see a bunch of about 30 Volgren/B7s with Transdev so I'm wondering if they're part of the Station Link fleet.

[Fleet Lists]

They date back to 2010 and 2011 so NOT part of Buslink.

[Fleet Lists]

The 62 Trandev StaionLink buses are lsited at http://fleetlists.busaustralia.com/tdv. ... q=Camellia

[grog]

No news is good news I guess?

[rogf24]

I think it's because we're resigned to the fact that it's bad. I pressed the emergency door release on the back door the other day, the driver slammed the door shut again as soon as I and 2 other people got off and forced everyone else through the front door. If only they could press the button as well.

[tonyp]

Full marks for trying. Honestly the bus industry digs its own grave. What exactly is the issue for them? CDC was it?

Anyway it's interesting to learn that they can reset the door from the drivers position, so it's no hardship for them. Back in DGT days the driver had to get out and go to the back door to reset the sliding lever. That produced some colourful language from the driver's seat!

[rogf24]

It was Transdev this time.

[Swift]

Looks like we're have some NPCs as bus drivers.
In case you haven't heard the term, see the link below.
It has just taken off as the perfect meme for lefty SJWs.
https://www.techopedia.com/definition/1 ... racter-npc

[Jurassic_Joke]

So I read earlier in this thread that CDC's Stationlink Volgren Optimus, most will be moved to the Hunter Valley after Station Link ceases which I think is a shame, because they're nice buses.

Any word on what will happen to Transdev's Mercedes / Volvo Bustechs after Station Link? I predict these will contribute towards replacing all those old high floors with red leather seats that can be found during weekday peak hours around the Macquarie Centre / Turramurra / Hornsby area

[tonyp]

I would say they'd mostly end up in the SW operations, maybe some at Hornsby.

[Campbelltown busboy]

Any word on what will happen to Transdev's Mercedes / Volvo Bustechs after Station Link? I predict these will contribute towards replacing all those old high floors with red leather seats that can be found during weekday peak hours around the Macquarie Centre / Turramurra / Hornsby area

Not Sure where Transdev will place their Volvo B8RLEs yet where the Mercedes O500LEs will most probably be split between Taren Point Meani and Kingsgrove to replace all the active high floor route buses that are still running around in the shire and the Hurstville/Kogarah area

[tonyp]

https://www.busnews.com.au/industry-new ... lQ0PKaQ4_Y

[Swift]

^ Turn up and crawl more like. They need more expresses and outside peak.
It's pretty easy to figure out that these new buses devoted to this shut down, will be displacing a lot of high floors once StationPink is disbanded.