Geelong by bus campaign

[krustyklo]

Travelling around Geelong today, I noticed a lot of publicity in terms of bus posters, stop posters, stop flags, and even a large poster on the footbridge at Geelong station, advertising the "Geelong by bus" campaign, which looks similar to the Melbourne one, and includes a website reference to www.geelongbybus.com.au (although someone at the PTV might want to work on their SEO as the first mention of the site is the second page on Google). There is also a concurrent Geelong-centric PTV app campaign with posters on buses with different artwork to the Melbourne ones (the Melbourne ones seeming based on St Kilda Esplanade, the Geelong ones feature what look like 19th century worker's terrace cottages). The Geelong PTV app campaign also includes a number of poster-flags advertising the app with the same artwork as the bus posters (the poster-flags are similar to those commonly used in Melbourne to advertise service changes). The Geelong bu bus campaign also includes posters featuring prominent landmarks (the main ones I saw were the Geelong Dome Library) in a similar art-deco style to the Melbourne ones. The website also features map pointers for the landmarks mentioned in the campaign. Looking at the Melbourne by bus map, so now does the Melbourne by bus map.

The main criticism I have of the website is that the route lines are a bit haphazard (Geelong station is a mess) - I am guessing these may come from the PTV official lines which, if true, may need some significant work to tidy them up.

There doesn't currently appear to be "by bus" campaigns for any other Victorian regional cities, certainly not Bendigo or Ballarat.

As a related aside, I must admit I was pleasantly surprised by the usefulness of the Geelong bus network today. My travels were only around the inner city area (Eastern Beach across to West Geelong) but the routes we used (mainly 1 and 60) were frequent enough to be usable, as was the 20 minute Geelong Vline service (which is what attracted our trip to Geelong as opposed to any other Victorian city - my two young boys have been wanting a ride on the "purple" trains for a while and every 20 minutes is effectively turn up and go - an hourly service is potentially problematic with young kids who might be uncooperative enough to mean a 58 minute wait...) The waterfront is extremely pleasant on a warm sunny day like today as well. The Vline conductors deserve commendation as well for their excellent service - the one on the way down told me about the Family Saver tickets where two kids travel free for every paying adult, and the one on the way back had a great sense of humour.

[burrumbus]

Thanks krustyklo.Hope you enjoyed your day there.We've also had several nice days on the waterfront there.Very nice indeed.The V/Line service there is very good and quite quick as you say.
What sort of patronage did the suburban services you used attract.??
The last few times I've been in Geelong the noted patronage on the suburban buses have been very light-but we did visit in VIC school holidays.

[krustyklo]

What sort of patronage did the suburban services you used attract.??

We caught the 10.50am Waurn Ponds. It was a 3 car Vlocity and had a decent seated load - I'd guesstimate somewhere between 60 and 80% full (each row of seats was taken by 1-2 people). This was consistent throughout the whole journey - I expected more to get off at Tarneit and Wyndham Vale - but it was roughly like for like between those disembarking and those boarding. Quite a few got off at Geelong but there was still a decent load past there to where we got off at South Geelong.
Coming back we were on the 5.48pm from Geelong - a six car Vlocity. Unsurprisingly it wasn't very full - in our 3 car section there would have been between 10 and 20% of seats taken. More interesting were the 6 car Vlocities the other way - the one waiting for our train's arrival at Geelong still had a standing load.

The last few times I've been in Geelong the noted patronage on the suburban buses have been very light-but we did visit in VIC school holidays.

In our case, most of the services we used were reasonably loaded - not full but at least 30-50% loadings, if not slightly better. This was mainly on route 1 during the day. The 60 we caught was more lightly loaded heading back to the city around 4.30pm but that probably is no surprise. Other buses observed were similarly loaded (ie, the 30-50%), and the wait between buses at Geelong station showed quite a few people standing at stops around the edge of the interchange. I suspect like most parts of Victoria there is an element of, if there is the catchment, build it and they will come. Indeed, my very trip to Geelong was primarily possible because of the 20 minute Vline weekday services, and with the trip being so easy now I'd be likely to do it again semi-regularly in the future as a school holiday activity, especially given my two boys absolutely loved it and couldn't stop talking about it to their mum when they got home and wanting to do it again today!

Even getting around Geelong was pretty easy by bus with the services we used. I appreciate there are still a number of hourly services, but the frequent ones at approximately 20 minutes frequency were pretty much about quickly glancing at the PTV app to see whether to hurry the boys up if a bus was immediately due, or let them dawdle along taking in the different environment if we were going to wait a few minutes anyway or just going to miss one.

[flaneur]

great idea and encourage other town and cities to do the same, amazing the extra things you see when travelling by bus. when I visit a new town I always use the local bus service to see what the town has to offer, for the more interesting parts I can then spend more time rather than driving around