New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

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Rad
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New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by Rad »

Additional services on South Coast were introduced last Monday 3 July. Five return bus services Monday to Fridays between Bomaderry and Kiama during peaks and middle of the day to supplement the existing endeavour service for trains at Kiama currently with no connection through to Bomaderry and vice versa. Timetable also appears as route 737 on Transport NSW website
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New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

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tonyp wrote: In other breaking news, Constance has agreed to a 12 month trial to run buses between Nowra Bomaderry station and Kiama station to meet 10 daily electric slugs, er trains, that don't have a railcar connection to Nowra. This will mean hourly transport to and from Nowra as opposed to the current 2 hourly.

The first question some down there are asking is what about level access for prams, wheelchairs etc. So obviously they're going to have to be urban buses rather than coaches.
Finally announced on Transort Info although according to the route 737 timetable it started on 3rd July
https://transportnsw.info/news/2017/new ... outh-coast
New Route 737 bus service for the South Coast
Friday 14 July

A new route 737 bus service now runs between Kiama and Bomaderry stations for an initial 12 month trial period.

This service aims to fill gaps in the train timetable to improve connecting services between these train stations. Route 737 will also stop at Berry and Gerringong train stations.

There will be ten bus services each weekday, five northbound and five southbound. The earliest service will leave Bomaderry station at 5.50am while the latest service will leave Kiama station at 8.15pm.

This service is an extension of the existing train service:

If you have already tapped on with your Opal card, you can simply transfer to the bus service and tap off at your destination train station.
If you are beginning your trip on this service you will need to tap on with your Opal card at the train station before getting on the bus and tap off at your destination train station. You can transfer to a train service without needing to tap on or off until you reach your final destination.

Route 737 will be run by Nowra Coaches and will be serviced by air-conditioned buses that are accessible with two wheelchair spaces available per bus.

To use this new service use the Trip Planner, look up the timetable and route map or download a real-time transport app to help plan your travel.

And according to https://transportnsw.info/routes/detail ... /737/08737 it will not accept Opal which seems rather strange as the article makes specific mention of Opal.
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by BroadGauge »

It would make sense to include this service in the train timetable, in order to show the public that these services actually exist.

The long standing late night rail buses between Kiama and Bomaderry are shown in the timetable presently, but not this new service. Is there actually difference at all between route 737 and the late night service? Except for the fact that one has a route number and one doesn't, and one is shown under bus timetables and the other under train timetables!
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by Tonymercury »

Fleet Lists wrote:

And according to https://transportnsw.info/routes/detail ... /737/08737 it will not accept Opal which seems rather strange as the article makes specific mention of Opal.
I assume that Nowra Coaches wouldn't have Opal readers?
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by Fleet Lists »

The article covers that situation.
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by tonyp »

Tonymercury wrote:
I assume that Nowra Coaches wouldn't have Opal readers?
No. Opal isn't available on any buses south of Wollongong afaik. The lack of Opal scanners would put paid to the suggestion somebody made here of having additional stops along the way. It's obvious from the announcement that they expect you when leaving the bus to walk over to an Opal reader at the railway station to tag off.
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by Linto63 »

Tonymercury wrote:
Fleet Lists wrote:

And according to https://transportnsw.info/routes/detail ... /737/08737 it will not accept Opal which seems rather strange as the article makes specific mention of Opal.
I assume that Nowra Coaches wouldn't have Opal readers?
Much like the Lithgow - Bathurst and Moss Vale - Goulburn services, passengers are supposed to tap using the station readers. As to how many do is probably a different story. Common sense would be to fit readers to the buses as V/Line do.
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by tonyp »

BroadGauge wrote:It would make sense to include this service in the train timetable, in order to show the public that these services actually exist.

The long standing late night rail buses between Kiama and Bomaderry are shown in the timetable presently, but not this new service. Is there actually difference at all between route 737 and the late night service? Except for the fact that one has a route number and one doesn't, and one is shown under bus timetables and the other under train timetables!
If you were not a local you wouldn't even know the service existed thanks to these separate timetables, although they are included in the journey planner. At 40 minutes Bomaderry to Kiama they inflate the already too-long Bomaderry-Sydney journey by nearly 15 minutes and that's just time on the move. Add to that some of the waits on the Down at Kiama blow out to 25 minutes which puts the whole journey well over 3 hours at an average speed of less than 50 km/h. I don't think I'd be far off in reckoning that they're actually trying to kill off the service in favour of the motorway which will get you to Sydney in less than 2 hours once it's finished. These additional buses are also only Monday to Friday.

When I write the 737 timetable into my hard copy train timetable I can see that it's framed for convenience of rostering a single bus. It turns around quickly in Kiama but in Nowra it often obviously heads off to do other things between some trips, which is fair enough since the bus is Nowra-based. Departure times from Bomaderry are not evenly-spaced since the bus takes longer than the train. There would be very few people, those who don't have a car, who would benefit from this extra service. There's absolutely nothing in it that would attract people from car onto public transport.

Incidentally, they appear to have replaced the 0715 train Kiama to Bomaderry with this bus, although a service at this time is listed in both timetables, so it's anybody's guess what the reality is. Perhaps they both run as positioning trips. As discussed elsewhere here, they could do an hourly service just with the Endeavour if they put some effort into it. The whole thing is just a typical NSW public transport shambles.
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by Daniel »

Also you'll be pleased to note that Nowra Coaches have just added another new Scania CB80 to their fleet!
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by Rad »

The new Nowra/Kiama services have been showing in the Transport info Trip Planner since they started but not in mobile apps. I spoke to Gareth Ward about it this morning so hopefully this will get fixed in the next few days.
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by Xplorer »

i think the number is just an arbitrary thing, and i doubt the operator will use that number on their buses, much like Berrima Buslines, who operates the Picton-Bowral loop line, with just "railway bus picton" or "railway bus bowral" on the destination display
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by Linto63 »

The Sydney to Eden service is (or at least was) numbered 700, recall Denning coaches having a window stick on in the 1990s. NSW TrainLink service numberss are displayed in their timetables. Noted a Swan Hill coach recently operating out of Lithgow with the route number included in the electronic destination display.

When the Toronto to Fassifern rail replacement service was introduced it was named 'The Train'. Not sure if it has since been given an ordinary 3 series number, but do recall seeing it in destination displays in the not too distant past.
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

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The timetable for the Eden service in Transport Info is still shown as 700 but not on the Premier website . The Train is route 273.
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by Xplorer »

Linto63 wrote:The Sydney to Eden service is (or at least was) numbered 700, recall Denning coaches having a window stick on in the 1990s. NSW TrainLink service numberss are displayed in their timetables. Noted a Swan Hill coach recently operating out of Lithgow with the route number included in the electronic destination display.

When the Toronto to Fassifern rail replacement service was introduced it was named 'The Train'. Not sure if it has since been given an ordinary 3 series number, but do recall seeing it in destination displays in the not too distant past.
The Toronto to Fassifern service is now just called 273, and has pretty much lost all identities relating to "The Train"
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Re: F6, STM and rail tunnel

Post by tonyp »

Gladys rode the Bomaderry-Kiama bus yesterday:

http://www.southcoastregister.com.au/st ... on/?cs=203

I sent the following to both Gareth Ward's and the South Coast Register's Facebook pages, particularly in view of the "local" whom Gareth and Gladys nailed down in the bus publicity was returning to Bomaderry from a trip to Perth (no, not me!):
Transperth trains can cover the distance between Kiama and Bomaderry on a similar track profile and with the same number of stops (e.g. Mandurah-Wellard) in about 20 minutes compared with 27 minutes in our Endeavour service. This means it would be possible to have an hourly service from Bomaderry by train and you wouldn't need the bus, which takes a very slow 40 minutes. The Perth trains have the same maximum speed as our Oscars, 130 km/h, and are slower than our Endeavours which can do 145 km/h. It's not the maximum speed that's significant (contrary to what Andrew Constance is trying to claim), it's the competence to operate trains at a higher average speed, something that our railways seem completely incapable of, even with good track which has been upgraded at great cost over many years. Incidentally, even leaving aside the debate about the line between Thirroul and Waterfall and looking at the mostly straight line between Thirroul and Kiama, Transperth can run trains over a similar 50 km section (e.g. Leederville-Warnbro) with the same number of stops (10) in about 42 minutes compared with about 55 minutes for NSW Trains. That means that if our south coast line was run by Transperth, the running time between Bomaderry and Thirroul could be up to 20 minutes faster.
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Re: F6, STM and rail tunnel

Post by Swift »

It's like they don't want it to succeed. They are artificially holding it back in the hope the line will die off or they can avoid upgrading it in the future.
It is a plot to turn it into a bus service. Pretty weird to introduce buses as a full time addition to a rail service. Something reeks of two day old tuna here.
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Re: F6, STM and rail tunnel

Post by tonyp »

There are 100,000 people (and growing) living in Shoalhaven and another 200,000 on top of that visiting in holiday times, with just a two-car Endeavour set and a single Nowra Coaches bus, both going as slowly as possible, holding them at bay. If that isn't courage under fire I don't know what is. There must be some sort of transport award for holding the thin blue line against patronage.
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Re: F6, STM and rail tunnel

Post by Tonymercury »

They haven't yet figured out how to run a one car Endeavour?
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Re: F6, STM and rail tunnel

Post by tonyp »

Tonymercury wrote:They haven't yet figured out how to run a one car Endeavour?
They have:

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Re: F6, STM and rail tunnel

Post by Swift »

You could certainly pull off a ram raid heist with that metal bumper.
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by Fleet Lists »

https://transportnsw.info/news/2018/rou ... e-your-say
Route 737 bus service for the South Coast: Have your say
Wednesday 07 March 2018

Since July 2017, trial route 737 bus service has been running between Kiama and Bomaderry train stations, stopping at Berry and Gerringong. The service was introduced to improve connecting services between these train stations.
Have your say

Transport for NSW is seeking your feedback on the new trial bus service and the transport service between Kiama and Bomaderry in general. We want to hear from you – even if you have not used the service.

Have your say on the service by completing the survey by 18 March 2018.
About the service

Eleven bus services run every weekday - six northbound and five southbound. The earliest service leaves Bomaderry station at 5.35am while the latest service leaves Kiama station at 8.30pm. See a route map and download a timetable for this service.

The service is an extension of the existing train service:

If you have already tapped on with your Opal card, you can simply transfer to the bus service and tap off at your destination train station.
If you are beginning your trip on this service you will need to tap on with your Opal card at the train station before getting on the bus and tap off at your destination train station. You can transfer to a train service without needing to tap on or off until you reach your final destination.

Route 737 is run by Nowra Coaches and serviced by air-conditioned buses that are accessible with two wheelchair spaces available per bus.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Kiama737trialbus
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by tonyp »

I note that a single-door bus from the Premier Charters fleet is being used on the service lately.
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by burrumbus »

Evening everyone.
Tony have you noted the patronage the 737 bus is obtaining,and your opinion on its usefulness ??
Cheers.
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by tonyp »

burrumbus wrote:Evening everyone.
Tony have you noted the patronage the 737 bus is obtaining,and your opinion on its usefulness ??
Cheers.
No I haven't sorry burrumbus, partly because I'm rarely down at the station when they come and go and partly because I can't see through the heavy window tint when I see them on the road!

They're not all that convenient, having a longer journey time (thus uneven headways), very limited in scope and not integrated in timetables. I suspect most users would be in the Nowra-Wollongong section of the train market. It will be of interest if any stats emerge from TfNSW.
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by Rad »

They're not all that convenient, having a longer journey time (thus uneven headways), very limited in scope and not integrated in timetables. I suspect most users would be in the Nowra-Wollongong section of the train market. It will be of interest if any stats emerge from TfNSW.
I have used it a number of times. It was reasonably well patronised during school holidays but lately dropped off. The advantage is that it fills in the gap when the Endeavour runs a 2 hourly service so it meets the intermediate hourly train at Kiama. I have written to Gareth Ward a number of times about intergrating this service into the timetable like the buses between 10pm and 4am. You have to know it is running or come off a train by accident to find no connection. Considering the Endeavour can't run an hourly frequency all day and there are no spares on the network, at least the bus fills the void
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