New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Sydney / New South Wales Transport Discussion
burrumbus
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by burrumbus »

Another service to investigate Tony!!!.
The online timetable states the operator as Premier Motor Service,rather than Nowra Coaches.The timetable states that opal fares are not accepted on the service,as the timetable states that is a Private Service.So presumably this is included on the operators Rural and Regional contract.
Also there is no indication that the service actually waits for late running trains at Kiama.As the turn around at Kiama on most services is 15 minutes that would throw the timetable out the window waiting for inevitable late trains.
If as this appears to be the case it doesn't cut the mustard as an extension /connection to the train service at Kiama.Quite ridiculous the whole set up!!!
I think swift described it as a service designed to fail.That statement can only be backed up by observing the patronage one way or the other.After 8 months operation there should be a patronage pattern,if the service is carrying pax.
Fascinating !!!
burrumbus
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by burrumbus »

Thanks for the feedback Rad.What actual numbers did it carry during the school holidays and what would be the numbers now during school term ??
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Rad
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by Rad »

My trips were on different days and times. Probably up to 15 and 20 pax during February. I believe there was talk before Christmas whether they would need a standby bus on call during the peak times. One or two trips in January early afternoon northbound buses were quite full.
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tonyp
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by tonyp »

In some ways there's more need for thus service on weekends when lots of people are going off to activities up the coast and Sydney and have the time on their hands (6 hour return journey to Sydney). For commuting, the bus only drags an already slow journey out even longer. It's less than an hour to drive to Wollongong, 1hr 15+ on the train, about 1hr 35 on the bus/train combination. Only the carless would use it - of whom there would always be some and their alternative would be no transport at all.

Not only aren't the buses mentioned in the train timetable, but the connecting trains aren't mentioned in the bus timetable which, although in the name of Nowra Coaches, is presumably produced by TfNSW. All other Shoalhaven regional bus timetables show train connections. It's almost as though they don't want it to succeed.
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by Fleet Lists »

I have raised the Opal issue with Transport for NSW who acknowledge there is a software problem which needs to resolved to allow Opal To be shown on the timetable for this route.
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by Fleet Lists »

The timetable is created by Transport for NSW from a data file supplied by the operator. It would be most unlikely that such information would be supplied by the operator hence it will not appear in the timetable. This is an area where i have recently had a lot of contact with Tnsw.
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tonyp
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by tonyp »

Train arrival and departure times are in all other bus timetables of local operators - Kennedys, Nowra Coaches, Shoal Bus and I think Stuarts.

What is the Opal issue? People use the readers at the station. There's no need for readers on the buses. (Or is that why they're now using a Premier Charters bus?)
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by Aurora »

tonyp wrote:What is the Opal issue? People use the readers at the station. There's no need for readers on the buses. (Or is that why they're now using a Premier Charters bus?)
The Opal issue is the timetable says Opal not available on the service. Technically it is correct because there are no Opal readers on the bus, however it's wrong because you need Opal to use this service, tapping on at the train station not on the bus.

Ideally, a new message advising of this scenario would be developed by TfNSW for the timetable.
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burrumbus
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by burrumbus »

Quite silly the whole situation.
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by Fleet Lists »

Aurora wrote:
Ideally, a new message advising of this scenario would be developed by TfNSW for the timetable.
Very true - TfNSW are aware of the situation and it is on their list of things to be done but as it may only be a temporary service, it is a very low priority compared with such problems as the latest Nightride services for routes operating Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights in some cases showing in trip finder as Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This seems to happen when the first trip for the night starta after midnight.
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jpp42
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by jpp42 »

It's worth noting that in all of these South Coast stations, the Opal readers are in the station forecourt, easily accessible to intending bus passengers without having to venture far into the station. I'd like to think this was actually on purpose, planning for this scenario where buses would be used while tapping on/off at the stations themselves. However maybe I give TfNSW too much credit here...
tonyp
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by tonyp »

Gerringong, Berry and Bomaderry station buildings are wafer thin. There's no distance between the entrance and the platform, so the readers are equally accessible to both trains and buses. Kiama is different with its overbridge. Are there readers up the top for bus users only going to and from Kiama?
Last edited by tonyp on Tue Mar 13, 2018 5:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
gascoyne
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by gascoyne »

Yes, clearly visible in Google Streetview. Two of them.
burrumbus
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Re: New South Coast bus route 737 to supplement rail

Post by burrumbus »

My south coast correspondent reports loadings for the 737 from his vantage point of 10-15 pax average per trip.Not bad for a new service-but not quite justifying a full size bus
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