My observations of the P332 is that the new version of the route still carries fewer passengers than when it ran from Chermside to City.moreton wrote:P332 is now getting good loading in A.M. services city workers have worked out where it goes and they don't have to change buses, City students now catch the bus from Mary and George st stops, PA workers also use it and overflow students catch it to UQ also. It takes time for passengers to try different services to make decisions for what works for them. It works for those that don't want to stand up on a 330, to RBWH, those that work in the Mary/ George st area UQ Gardens Point students, Students that live in inner city get a seat to UQ, anyone going to PAH gets a seat, Boggo Rd passengers can get a seat to UQ instead of barging onto fully loaded 109, 209 etc. Moreton.
When the P332 departed Chermside Interchange, the bus was often half full.
Passengers north of Chermside still avoid the P332 - they will always preference the tunnel-using 330 or P331 to the above-ground P332. The P332 is perfect for students at Wavell and Kedron High Schools but these students still get on the 330 and transfer at Chermside.
P332 generally takes longer to travel from RBWH to UQ Lakes than the 66 - very few people if any get on the P332 at RBWH; UQ students still prefer the 66.
I don't understand why the P332 travels along Mary Street in the CBD - if the bus travelled along Alice Street and used Stop 95A approaching George Street, this would save up to four minutes in travel time (particularly as it would get rid of the very tight left turn from Mary Street into George Street).
I believe that the lack of information provided at busway stations also hinders the P332 - I believe people get confused with the "rocket" terminology (i.e. that it does not stop between City and UQ Lakes) and thus look for other services to and from UQ.
For instance, the evening P332 services often leave UQ Lakes with only a couple of passengers. If you sit at Boggo Road station and watch, you see that almost every other service departing UQ Lakes (29, 66, 139, 169, 209) sets down students at Boggo Road so that they can transfer to trains - the P332 almost never stops as I don't think students know that the bus actually sets down at Boggo Road and PA Hospital.
From my observations, there are often as many Griffith University students as UQ students on the 77 so changing the route would disadvantage those students who actually have further to travel.simonl wrote:I still reckon that there was no need for this extension and a 79 route from Chermside to UQ Lakes via the Clem 7 to replace the 77 and run more frequently would have been a bigger improvement. Should always have been done that way.
A compromise could be that the 7.15am, 7.45am, 8.15am, 8.45am and 9.15am services from Chermside could become the '79" so that there was a 30 minute service to both UQ Lakes and Eight Mile Plains in morning peak.
