WA Transport Questions thread

[Mr OC Benz]

As a general rule and me in general being a tight arse, I always try have a minimum balance on my smartrider as much as possible so that if anything like that happened, it wouldn't matter so much.

Yes all concessional cards are automatically registered, especially if it's done through a school, an tertiary institution or through WA Seniors etc...

[BorgShadow]

G'day everyone,
I've just heard on Sunday channel 10 news report that they'll introduce a new 'Green CAT' Perth service between Leedervile and Esplanade. Can anybody confirm that please?

FYI I don't believe anything on the news these days but I'm just asking.

[Transperthpaperbus]

There is an article about it in today's Sunday Times as well.

[Cat]

I can confirm that it's been announced; unfortunately the timing of the next election makes me doubt whether or not it will actually be introduced.
There's some discussion at http://www.busaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=46296&start=475

[kp.nuts]

Does this mean Leederville station would then be in the FTZ? Cool.

Also, who the heck would pay for this research? : http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/newshome/13397457/bus-lanes-to-blame-for-traffic-jams/

Research conducted for Main Roads and other Australian transport and traffic authorities has found some bus lanes have an adverse impact on other road users.

While dedicated lanes allowed buses to queue-jump and avoid congestion, they could add to delays facing the motorists they were overtaking.

I could have saved them a lot of money and told them this for free. It's just one of a plethora of reasons to take public transport rather than drive. And I'm guessing it's somewhat designed that way too.

The ironic thing is, they mention the South Street bus lane, and yet the evening traffic doesn't really build up until Roe Hwy / Bannister Rd after the bus lane ends. (yeah it's busy before that, but it's peak hour, everywhere is busy)

[Off The Rails]

What depot is 678 at?

Cheers!

[route171]

678 was withdrawn in 2010. 687 is based at Canning Vale.

[cfc4ever]

Question in a little different direction

What is the rule for bus with connecting train services if the train service is running late. Is the bus expected to go or stay until the connecting service arrives?

This is the situation;

About 6mnths ago I was on the 514 train ex Perth, which connects with the 1737 463 from whitfords, on arriving at whitfords I went up the escalator to see the bus leaving. Contact TP then a Joondalup Bus Depot supervisor got in contact with me. She told me the bus didn't leave early, the train was late (which I didn't agree with as I beleive I was at the stop before 1737), she did however say that the bus should have waited as it was a connecting train.

So jump forward to today, same times same connections, the train was a few minutes late arriving into whitfords at 1737 I run up the escalator to prey the bus is there, however once again it is driving away. This onUe has really annoyed me as its raining heavily and now I am forced to catch a 464 32 min later and walk for 15 min in the rain (I type this while waiting), now the superviser from the joondalup depot all but said that the bus should be waiting, if this is the case, then how inconsiderate is this bus driver? It is pissing down and I ain't the only one that is sitting here waiting.

Besides getting fogged off again like last time with a half hearted apology, I am annoyed and actually want TP to do something about this. Beside contacting the feedback line what other options are there??

(sorry for poor spelling done on phone, in bad mood & it's cold)

[Off The Rails]

All connections are between 3-9 minutes. Any longer are at the next available service.
This is what almost all timetables have on the back.
So this in inconsiderate at anytime ( worst during Summer and Winter )

Cheers!

[cfc4ever]

All connections are between 3-9 minutes. Any longer are at the next available service.
This is what almost all timetables have on the back.
So this in inconsiderate at anytime ( worst during Summer and Winter )

Cheers!

Cheers thanks! So that bus should have waited?

To make matters worst the 464 was 15 mins late! I want to get home

[Cat]

My understanding of the Connection Policy for Transperth is that the bus definitely should have waited. Had this been a weekday, the 20-minute (soon to be 15-minute) frequency would mean that it wouldn't have mattered as much, but on a weekend buses are expected to wait for train delays up to 8 minutes. Also, the last bus on each route should wait for the connecting train except in exceptional circumstances. Also, I understand it to be true that bus operators do not incur financial penalties for delays - including domino-delays - caused by Transperth Trains going AWOL.

Not waiting on a weekday would be inconsiderate, but on a weekend - when services are only every hour on most feeders - really ought not to happen unless it is really necessary. To the point of being downright rude. (I'm not trying to criticise bus drivers - on this forum or otherwise - who exercise common sense, by the way.)

Maybe bus companies should be fined for not waiting reasonable lengths of time for connecting trains? (Edit - having read the tender documentation for the Kalamunda and Fremantle areas, this evidently is already the case, however not all trips are audited by the PTA.)

Also, bus interchange stations have real-time "delay displays" to facilitate waiting for trains.

[laptop15]

Should of definitely waited for you, make sure you complain and really complain.

[PoweredByCNG]

Many drivers that I have spoken to know nothing about the real-time information displays showing the status of the next two trains from Perth to arrive at their respective stations.

Additionally, in a lot of cases, these real-time information displays do not function correctly.

Worse still, many drivers are not entirely familiar with the connection policy. Drivers need to be aware that a train running five minutes late will possibly affect the timely departure of the bus by only a couple of minutes, as there is a certain amount of headroom given for the bus-train connection to occur. Drivers need to wait for an appropriate amount of time for passengers to make their way from the train to the bus under all circumstances where a connection is specified.

[Bus-1809]

A Bus is required to wait up to 5 minutes after it's scheduled departure time (unless it is the last service for the day, in which case it must wait until the train arrives, regardless of how long that is). Any longer than that, the bus is clear to leave

[PoweredByCNG]

The training video that I have states that drivers need to take into account service frequencies and if in doubt to contact base.

[cfc4ever]

Thanks for the replies guys, I contact the TP comment line last night, got told I should get a response by the 5 May. Going to wait until then to see what I do next (which I guess is contacting the minister/local member)

I am expecting the response to be similar to last time. Bus should have waited our bad! Might also try and say that the routes (460/461/462/463/464) have just had an increase in frequencies and time changes which start today (I noticed that this 463 has been push back a couple of mins)

So will get handled of with, it's a known issue and the new timetable that has come into effect will fix it. Normally the buses doing this or being late doesn't annoy me, but I have been sick as a dog all week and could only get Anzac day off work, so it tipped me right over!

[I love the old buses]

Is TP 1050 still in service, I looked on the Bus info website... it says it is still in service but I haven't seen it in ages and I have been in Fremantle during Peak quite a lot lately and I have not seen it once.

[Off The Rails]

1050 was in service at least 1 month ago. Saw her on a 111 at Freo.

Cheers!

[I love the old buses]

1050 was in service at least 1 month ago. Saw her on a 111 at Freo.

Cheers!

Cheers!

[Bus-1809]

Yep, 1050's still going strong... Was O.T. for a while, but was quickly brought back in to service

[Cat]

Does anyone know why the Live Train Times system has gone down?

[Off The Rails]

Does anyone know why the Live Train Times system has gone down?

Good bloody point. It's replaced by traveleasy. But WHY?!?

Cheers!

[laptop15]

Wasnt what was there a trial? Maybe a new format for showing the times is coming soon?

[123go]

You can still access the Live Train Times page by going to:

Timetables + Maps -> Live Train Times.

[Cat]

Thanks 123go, nice to see it's kind of back online now. (For a while, that link and my bookmarks redirected to TravelEasy.)
Though at the moment I'm only getting station departure boards, not overall train line health.