New bus network arising from SMNW opening

[Fleet Lists]

I have also received an email from Busways that there will be additional route 747 trips in the Riverstone, Tallawong, Rouse Hill area.

[marcnut1996]

https://cdcbus.com.au/images/files/maps ... rk-map.pdf
Hillsbus has released the new network map.

[swtt]

The irony is that 642X will only be shortworking from Round Corner to Cherrybrook Station - the "X" designation would've been via Lane Cove Tunnel which it won't go anywhere near during the off peaks

[marcnut1996]

I also found that amusing. I feel like they should have differentiated 642X to City peak hour service vs maybe 642 (or 643) day-time short working service.

Also today is 1 November, the new timetables are up on Transport NSW Info. Just checked 642X, the last bus leaves City at 9pm instead of the current 7:30 pm.

[Richard290]

Upon closer inspection of the current and upcoming Route 625 timetables, it seems that three weekday services, the Mon-Fri 07:21 ex Pennant Hills Station service to Parramatta diverting via North Rocks and Tara Anglican School, the Mon-Fri 14:48 ex Parramatta to Pennant Hills service diverting via Baker Street and Jenkins Road, and the Mon-Fri 15:17 ex Parramatta to Pennant Hills service diverting via North Rocks will all cease and be replaced with direct services via Pennant Hills Road through Carlingford from November 17, with departure times at Pennant Hills (07:27) and Parramatta (14:50 & 15:20) being altered to remove these service anomalies.

Current 625 timetable
https://transportnsw.info/documents/tim ... 191116.pdf
Upcoming 625 timetable
https://transportnsw.info/documents/tim ... 191117.pdf

[swtt]

Upon closer inspection of the current and upcoming Route 625 timetables, it seems that three weekday services, the Mon-Fri 07:21 ex Pennant Hills Station service to Parramatta diverting via North Rocks and Tara Anglican School, the Mon-Fri 14:48 ex Parramatta to Pennant Hills service diverting via Baker Street and Jenkins Road, and the Mon-Fri 15:17 ex Parramatta to Pennant Hills service diverting via North Rocks will all cease and be replaced with direct services via Pennant Hills Road through Carlingford from November 17, with departure times at Pennant Hills (07:27) and Parramatta (14:50 & 15:20) being altered to remove these service anomalies.

Current 625 timetable
https://transportnsw.info/documents/tim ... 191116.pdf
Upcoming 625 timetable
https://transportnsw.info/documents/tim ... 191117.pdf

Why Route 625 isn't a major strategic corridor route beggars belief. It doesn't have any more useless deviations and basically has a pretty big catchment of residential areas.

Maybe it's totally overshadowed by M54/550 between Parramatta and Carlingford?

IMHO all major non-motorway road routes should have high frequency buses conveying passengers along its entire length. But that's for another discussion thread

[rogf24]

MHO all major non-motorway road routes should have high-frequency buses conveying passengers along its entire length. But that's for another discussion thread

Yes! But they also need longer operating hours. M90, M91, M92 are otherwise excellent examples of major non-motorway road routes (or close enough) but large sections of those routes end at 8pm. Longer operating hours please, not enough attention is paid to this in terms of buses and everyone just looks at frequency, it's really even more important imo. Some new NW services are great at this, surprisingly (even their frequency is otherwise rubbish), but some have rubbish operating hours.

[Richard290]

Upon closer inspection of the current and upcoming Route 625 timetables, it seems that three weekday services, the Mon-Fri 07:21 ex Pennant Hills Station service to Parramatta diverting via North Rocks and Tara Anglican School, the Mon-Fri 14:48 ex Parramatta to Pennant Hills service diverting via Baker Street and Jenkins Road, and the Mon-Fri 15:17 ex Parramatta to Pennant Hills service diverting via North Rocks will all cease and be replaced with direct services via Pennant Hills Road through Carlingford from November 17, with departure times at Pennant Hills (07:27) and Parramatta (14:50 & 15:20) being altered to remove these service anomalies.

Current 625 timetable
https://transportnsw.info/documents/tim ... 191116.pdf
Upcoming 625 timetable
https://transportnsw.info/documents/tim ... 191117.pdf

Why Route 625 isn't a major strategic corridor route beggars belief. It doesn't have any more useless deviations and basically has a pretty big catchment of residential areas.

Maybe it's totally overshadowed by M54/550 between Parramatta and Carlingford?

I’ve actually caught a number of Pennant Hills-bound 625 services from Parramatta during the off-peak - patronage is healthy to warrant (at the bare minimum) an hourly service, with loadings varying between five to fifteen passengers, but not enough to fill the entire bus. Peak services generally yield a plentiful number of passengers with most of the people being commuting workers and school students who live near or study at schools along busy Pennant Hills Road.

The popularity of route 550 (and its previous identity as the M54) is due to the fact there are very few other frequent services that service Carlingford (the Carlingford Line doesn’t even come close), compounded by the fact that it serves many schools, Macquarie University, commercial centres (Parramatta, Carlingford, Epping & Macquarie Park) and many recent unit developments along the route, while also sharing the burden of carrying cross regional commuters between Parramatta and Macquarie Park with route 545, since there is a lack of a direct rail link between Epping and Parramatta that will never be built. I have often seen crush loadings on route 550 between Carlingford Court (Rembrandt Street) and Epping Station in the morning peaks.

Until June 2017, weeknight M54 services finished operating at around 21:30, and weekend services finished around 20:00. After 5 June 2017, daily M54 services were extended to run half-hourly until midnight, before additional hourly all-night services were introduced on 6 May 2018. The 550 thus inherited all the M54’s services, passengers (and inherent unreliability and overcrowding) since the M54 was renumbered on 28 April.

[tonyp]

https://cdcbus.com.au/images/files/maps ... rk-map.pdf
Hillsbus has released the new network map.

This is not the same map that is linked on NSW Transport website. Both maps are still slapdash. Neither appears to show what routes go to Cherrybrook Station. There isn't even a "box" for Cherrybrook Station that shows what routes pass through it, like for the other stations. There's a lot of laziness and sloppiness in the way information is presented, not only in this specific case but in the websites generally. The maps are poorly drafted. Not to mention the ongoing problem of having operator-based maps rather than regional maps. Like the Hillsbus map shows that Tallawong Station is only served by a single nightride bus, when we know (unlike many members of the general public) that a lot of Busway services go through Tallawong into the Hillsbus area. For that you have to go to the Busways map which never opens for me (shown as broken link both through Busways and TfNSW).

The whole presentation of transport information is opaque and downright slack. Personally I notice this more acutely because I'm regularly using the Transperth information which is the complete opposite in quality and attention to detail. Incidentally, both organisations have their maps done by Transit Graphics, so it's not a problem of output by the cartographer but of input into the maps that originates with the agencies/operators.

[Ted]

Being a intending passenger waiting at Castle Hill (Bus Stand A) you become 'a target" for lost commuters wanting information which bus Route will take them to their particular destination.

Actual 'on-board" Bus destination signs need to be appropriately shown for the full route rather than just the suburbs they have already serviced. Route 600 buses are the only ones to display future suburbs to be serviced prior to arriving at their final destination.

A enlarged Bus Information (Interchange Layout, Suburb Directory with Bus Route Numbers and Timetables) displayed at the Castle Hill Station/Bus Interchange would be most beneficial.

The bus network map for services operating to and through the Cherrybrook Station Interchange needs to be more clearly shown.

It would also be helpful if bus stop timetables (displayed at many bus stops) could be 'down-loaded' just as a bus route timetable can be.

Cheers

Ted

[moa999]

Download your preferred transport app.
All the timetables you want.

[Campbelltown busboy]

This is not the same map that is linked on NSW Transport website. Both maps are still slapdash. Neither appears to show what routes go to Cherrybrook Station. There isn't even a "box" for Cherrybrook Station that shows what routes pass through it, like for the other stations. There's a lot of laziness and sloppiness in the way information is presented, not only in this specific case but in the websites generally. The maps are poorly drafted. Not to mention the ongoing problem of having operator-based maps rather than regional maps. Like the Hillsbus map shows that Tallawong Station is only served by a single nightride bus, when we know (unlike many members of the general public) that a lot of Busway services go through Tallawong into the Hillsbus area. For that you have to go to the Busways map which never opens for me (shown as broken link both through Busways and TfNSW).

All maps that show routes in all SMBSC regions should be mapped out drawn up and printed by Transport For NSW as they would be able to see how many locally maintained roads have weight limits that are imposed by council

[Fleet Lists]

Like the Hillsbus map shows that Tallawong Station is only served by a single nightride bus, when we know (unlike many members of the general public) that a lot of Busway services go through Tallawong into the Hillsbus area. For that you have to go to the Busways map which never opens for me (shown as broken link both through Busways and TfNSW).

Your criticism is basically very true.

But some comments
Busways region 1 map from their website works at https://www.busways.com.au/sites/defaul ... ay2019.pdf on page https://www.busways.com.au/plan-your-trip/network-maps

And from TfNSW https://www.busways.com.au/sites/defaul ... ay2019.pdf from page https://transportnsw.info/travel-info/w ... rator-maps

[tonyp]

Busways region 1 map from their website works at https://www.busways.com.au/sites/defaul ... ay2019.pdf on page https://www.busways.com.au/plan-your-trip/network-maps

And from TfNSW https://www.busways.com.au/sites/defaul ... ay2019.pdf from page https://transportnsw.info/travel-info/w ... rator-maps

Thank you. I know you've given me these links previously. It must be my Chrome browser. I've tried in Firefox and I can get the Busways map open via the Busways website.

[Fleet Lists]

Interesting - I am a Firefox user who rarely uses Chrome. But when I was on a cruise last week, there were a number of sites including Transport for NSW which I could not open but when I switched to Chrome they did work.

[tonyp]

Interesting - I am a Firefox user who rarely uses Chrome. But when I was on a cruise last week, there were a number of sites including Transport for NSW which I could not open but when I switched to Chrome they did work.

I greatly prefer Firefox, but my computer is too old to run the latest versions to their best, so I stay with Chrome but have Firefox available if something doesn't work in Chrome - which it regularly doesn't! When I can afford a new computer I'll definitely go to Firefox.