CBD & South East Light Rail

[alleve]

The L2/L3 fully closed this weekend for "maintenance". This morning I observed gangs doing gardening/landscaping works at Juniors, Kingsford and UNSW.
Replacement 80L3 buses are provided, bit instead of a 400 capacity tram every 8-10 minutes (which is well utilised at weekends) we get a 60 capacity bus every 10-15 minutes. Transdev don't seem to be too good with maths.

I often wonder where the passengers vanish to during these bustitutions, which offer only a fraction of the capacity of the rail or trams they're replacing. Do people simply not go out on substitution days or do they drive?

The suggestion that this closedown of CSELR is simply for gardening is appalling.

Both, plus people use other parallel services. When the ESR is closed the 333 and 324 fill up.

[boronia]

Well, there was some legitimate trackwork carried out today, with this crew at Chalmers St.

DSC00504 (Small).jpeg (124.31 KiB) Viewed 2536 times

There was similar activity at Moore Park. Wonder if they will manage to get rid of the TSR on the down track crossovers there?

[Linto63]

I often wonder where the passengers vanish to during these bustitutions, which offer only a fraction of the capacity of the rail or trams they're replacing. Do people simply not go out on substitution days or do they drive?

Being a weekend, services are operating with a fair bit of surplus capacity, major events aside. So Transdev is not seeking to replicate capacity like for like, but provide enough to move everyone. Of course they do get it wrong on occasions and as pressure has been applied to reduce costs, the number of stand by buses to clear backlogs has been reduced.

[boronia]

Most weekends, there is not a lot of surplus capacity on the L3 trams. By 10 am today the parallel 396 buses were full by the time they got to Kensington and the L3 buses had standing loads. Couples were prams were further disadvantged; an L3 I caught had 2 prams on board already and there were 3 waiting at the stop.

[Swift]

This all shows the hunger for PT in Sydney and a government that feeds breadcrumbs to the chooks.

It will never change unless you move out and live in a real city overseas.

[Fleet Lists]

https://transportnsw.info/news/2023/l2- ... l-closures

L2 Randwick Line and L3 Kingsford Line weeknight full closures
Monday 08 May 2023

Monday 15 to Wednesday 17 May

Nightly from 9pm to 5am, L2 Randwick Line and L3 Kingsford Line light rail services will not run between Circular Quay and Randwick or Juniors Kingsford, due to trackwork and maintenance works.

Use alternative transport including:

Trains or walk between Circular Quay and Central Chalmers Street,

Replacement bus services between Central Chalmers Street and Randwick or Juniors Kingsford.

Replacement bus services:

Replacement bus services will run nightly from 9pm to 1am, every 10 to 15 min; these times may vary depending on road traffic.

Replacement buses will not stop at the following locations:

Surry Hills (towards Central and Randwick or Juniors Kingsford) - Please use the alternative stop at Central Chalmers Street (approx. 8 minute walk),

Wansey Road (towards Central) - Please use the alternative stop at Royal Randwick (approx. 11 minute walk),

UNSW High Street (towards Central and Randwick) - Please use the alternative stop at Randwick (approx. 9 minute walk).

Most replacement buses will be accessible; if not, wait for the next service.

You must tap on and tap off when boarding and alighting replacement buses. Opal readers are located onboard all replacement buses. A standard light rail fare applies.

Other alternative transports:

To plan your trip with train or regular bus services, use the Trip Planner,

Walking if able to might be an alternative transport option.

L1 Dulwich Hill Line light rail services will continue to run as per normal schedule.

Allow extra travel time and use the Trip Planner or check travel alerts to see if your travel is affected.

Normal L2 and L3 Line light rail services between Circular Quay and Randwick or Juniors Kingsford will resume running daily from 5am to 9pm Monday 15 to Wednesday 17 May, and from 5am Thursday 18 May.
Walking distance along the L2 and L3 Line, including in the CBD
Last full L2 and L3 light rail services on Mon 15, Tue 16 and Wed 17 May
L2 replacement bus stop locations
L3 Replacement bus stop locations

[boronia]

Teenage girl dies after becoming trapped under tram in Sydney’s CBD

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/tee ... 5d7i3.html

[Swift]

Teenage girl dies after becoming trapped under tram in Sydney’s CBD

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/tee ... 5d7i3.html

Very tragic. The article mentions she may have attempted to go "between carriages" as it was stopped at lights.
I wonder if any preventative measures can be implemented as a result?

[boronia]

There is a near metre high barrier between the cars. Nothing will stop stupidity.

cse98 009 (Small).jpeg (113.39 KiB) Viewed 1893 times

[Swift]

Goodness. Nothing short of a 2m high chain link fence with barbed wire. It would look pretty hideous on that.

[boronia]

There should be plenty of CCTV footage of the event to discover the cause.

A 16 year old at midnight opens the possibility of an attempt at "surfing" on the couplers. I've seen it quite a few times during the day even.

[boronia]

Goodness. Nothing short of a 2m high chain link fence with barbed wire. It would look pretty hideous on that.

Maybe something like this? Common on many 19th century trams
https://img.zcdn.com.au/lf/8/hash/38295 ... 2BGate.jpg

There will be an enquiry and inquest into the incident. Should be plenty of CCTV evidence.

[Swift]

Maybe something like this? Common on many 19th century trams
https://img.zcdn.com.au/lf/8/hash/38295 ... 2BGate.jpg

I was thinking of that very thing myself. Why not? The tram looks weIrd enough as a coupled unit anyway.

[bussie]

Goodness. Nothing short of a 2m high chain link fence with barbed wire. It would look pretty hideous on that.

Maybe something like this? Common on many 19th century trams
https://img.zcdn.com.au/lf/8/hash/38295 ... 2BGate.jpg

There will be an enquiry and inquest into the incident. Should be plenty of CCTV evidence.

A modern take on this:

[matthewg]

There is a near metre high barrier between the cars. Nothing will stop stupidity.

cse98 009 (Small).jpeg

Apparently, the MU connector boxes make convenient step points to get up over the barrier. I suspect nothing short of electrified barbed wire will stop em.

[Fleet Lists]

Incident activity

Ongoing - Until further notice

Details
Light rail services are not running between Circular Quay and Moore Park due to a building fire. A limited replacement bus service is running between Central and Moore Park. You can catch the train between Circular Quay and Central, or regular buses instead. Light Rail services are still running between Moore Park and Randwick, as well as between Moore Park and Juniors Kingsford.

[tonyp]

Incident activity

Ongoing - Until further notice

Details
Light rail services are not running between Circular Quay and Moore Park due to a building fire. A limited replacement bus service is running between Central and Moore Park. You can catch the train between Circular Quay and Central, or regular buses instead. Light Rail services are still running between Moore Park and Randwick, as well as between Moore Park and Juniors Kingsford.

Where's the bus/tram interchange at Moore Park?

[boronia]

Inbound, walk across the bridge to a bus stop near the stairs.
Outbound, walk back from the bus stop south of Lang Rd.

Standard TfNSW interchange practice these days.

[tonyp]

Inbound, walk across the bridge to a bus stop near the stairs.
Outbound, walk back from the bus stop south of Lang Rd.

Standard TfNSW interchange practice these days.

A case where the stupid planning of CSELR comes home to roost.

[moa999]

I mean if only there was a massive three bay bus stop just off the bus way that's only 200m (unfortunately by an indirect route) from the Moore Park light rail stop.

Coordination is not among TfNSWs strong suits.

[tonyp]

I mean if only there was a massive three bay bus stop just off the bus way that's only 200m (unfortunately by an indirect route) from the Moore Park light rail stop.

Coordination is not among TfNSWs strong suits.

Yes, that's where I was thinking replacement buses should go and a couple of hundred metres in a straight line to the tram stop isn't much, but it looks like TfNSW went to a special effort to ensure that there could be no possible direct connection between the two.

The walk around Tramway Oval is about 500 m.

[Swift]

Coordination is not among TfNSWs strong suits.

Do they have any thing that stands out as a strength?

[alleve]

Coordination is not among TfNSWs strong suits.

Do they have any thing that stands out as a strength?

Good livery design? Not that it matters since half the buses driving around are in STA and private liveries...

Apart from that I'm struggling to think of anything

[Swift]

Would have had they been even half as vigorous as PTV.

[tonyp]

Would have had they been even half as vigorous as PTV.

It's still better to have this umbrella agency than the bag of uncoordinated fiefdoms we had in the past, plus absorbing roads into the transport cluster has finally overcome that roads bias that dominated NSW transport politics for generations. Being such a large organisation there is bound to be unevenness in performance in various areas, but overall I think they've done well managing what have been epic transformations, unprecedented for ninety years, within a mere decade. I think their strongest suit so far has been metro. They've made mistakes in all areas, but they're learning from it. I hope Labor doesn't unpick it all again as it did with the PTC.