PTA / Transperth Service Changes - 2022

[Merc1107]

26 getting cut is a surprise. It had potential to be integrated with 270. Also, 23 could have been removed altogether with selected deviations on 995 replacing it similar to arrangements on 68 and 531. 995 itself can be integrated with 970 easily.

Will there be interlining between 940/290/291 like 930/210/211/212 in Thornlie? Would Bayswater be getting 353 in exchange for Midvale getting 277/278?

280 is a blessing for Queens Park and Wattle Grove. Hope this one, along with 507 can get the 915 treatment in the long run.

The Purple CAT negates the need for a 26, as does the more frequent rail link into the general area accessible from Shenton Park

With the 940, I wouldn't expect it to be organised to formally connect with any feeders except in exceptional circumstances from trips oriented towards schoolkids. There's also the issue of these potentially being two separate operators (the others you mentioned fall into a similar area of wait and see). It will probably look more like the arrangement with the "peaky" feeders you see elsewhere in Perth, a bus runs a peak direction trip, 000 back, does another, 000 back, round trip, and so on.

Given the 280 will more or less run every 30mins all day, except on weekends, it's hard to see that becoming high frequency. I'm not sure what 294s look like through there presently for comparison (I know weekends/night service is practically non-existent), but am guessing the relatively even frequency all day means the service is expected to be moderately popular all day.

Finally, I'm not sure on the fascination with through-routing. It's worked well for some routes, like the 950, for a variety of reasons. For the more suburban corridors it seems a bit pointless; bearing in mind Perth once had a lot of through-services and they were slowly picked apart after privatisation. Maybe not all needed to be, but there was obviously a fairly good reason to do so (perhaps someone a bit more knowledgeable might like to chime in) versus keeping them.

[Enviro 500]

26 getting cut is a surprise. It had potential to be integrated with 270. Also, 23 could have been removed altogether with selected deviations on 995 replacing it similar to arrangements on 68 and 531. 995 itself can be integrated with 970 easily.

Will there be interlining between 940/290/291 like 930/210/211/212 in Thornlie? Would Bayswater be getting 353 in exchange for Midvale getting 277/278?

280 is a blessing for Queens Park and Wattle Grove. Hope this one, along with 507 can get the 915 treatment in the long run.

The Purple CAT negates the need for a 26, as does the more frequent rail link into the general area accessible from Shenton Park

With the 940, I wouldn't expect it to be organised to formally connect with any feeders except in exceptional circumstances from trips oriented towards schoolkids. There's also the issue of these potentially being two separate operators (the others you mentioned fall into a similar area of wait and see). It will probably look more like the arrangement with the "peaky" feeders you see elsewhere in Perth, a bus runs a peak direction trip, 000 back, does another, 000 back, round trip, and so on.

Given the 280 will more or less run every 30mins all day, except on weekends, it's hard to see that becoming high frequency. I'm not sure what 294s look like through there presently for comparison (I know weekends/night service is practically non-existent), but am guessing the relatively even frequency all day means the service is expected to be moderately popular all day.

Finally, I'm not sure on the fascination with through-routing. It's worked well for some routes, like the 950, for a variety of reasons. For the more suburban corridors it seems a bit pointless; bearing in mind Perth once had a lot of through-services and they were slowly picked apart after privatisation. Maybe not all needed to be, but there was obviously a fairly good reason to do so (perhaps someone a bit more knowledgeable might like to chime in) versus keeping them.

960 in a way is also something of a through route, and it appears quite a success. My idea of integrating 970 and 995 gives Charles Street a direct link to William Street, as well as a direct connection from UWA to the northern suburbs.

Also, I feel 103 is better off starting from the Busport as there is no direct connection from there to PCH. But the removal of 26 means 103 is likely still needed for Malcolm Street and King's Park Road.

[Traklink]

There's also a question of how the 506 would fit into this - whether it stays the same, becomes a Ranford Rd Stn - Nicholson Rd Stn (or whatever they're officially called) or is deleted entirely.

Whe you're at it, there's also there's the question of whether 75 will terminate at Ranford station instead of CVDEP.

This is what was included in the Development Applications for the two new stations:

Nicholson Road Buses.PNG (90.02 KiB) Viewed 3639 times

Ranford Rd buses.PNG (93.72 KiB) Viewed 3639 times

Couldn't find anything to suggest where the 200-series routes go but I think it's reasonable to assume that 75 and 506 are the current routes with minor changes, and that the frequencies shown for the 75 are an error and should be 20 or 30 minutes ie 2-3 buses per hour.

Obviously still subject to change at this stage

Some interesting detail on the as yet un-numbered Ellenbrook line feeders as well, in the transport impact assessments for the five stations: https://www.wa.gov.au/government/docume ... t-projects

[WEMBLEY 75]

Does anyone know if there are plans for a Thornlie to Cockburn Central bus service which travels via Nicholson Road and Ranford Road stations?

[Merc1107]

Couldn't find anything to suggest where the 200-series routes go

It looks like they're expecting to keep the existing routes, perhaps adding a local feeder option and making other minor changes - for the 200s it looks like the service level will improve somewhat on existing levels. It's also strange there isn't an indication of frequent service for Ranford Rd at least in the preliminary plans.

[TP1462]

PDF timetables are up the only major change to the Fremantle line is the removal of the Shenton Park shuttle and introduction of the W* pattern which is a Claremont line service. Midland line timetables also shows which service runs to the airport


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[Merc1107]

Among a host of other bits and pieces, a new Route 95 between Shenton Park and Glendalough, on school days only, has appeared on Timetable 41.

[Enviro 500]

Is this Route 95 similar to 279, 534 and 569?

[hack404]

There's some vague wording there for the 282 about "Changes to the frequency and operating hours of the service." With any luck that means the Lesmurdie area might get a better service at night, and on weekends (esp. Sundays!).

The new timetable is now up.
https://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/timeta ... 221010.pdf

[shinjiman]

The timetables are uploaded for those changes below for 11 September 2022.

Some time changes across the south east from 11 September. Biggest news would be the peak period upgrades to route 517.

Routes 100, 101, 177, 178, 179, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 506, 507, 508, 509, 515, 516, 517, 518, 519, 523, 527 and 537 Service Changes
Sun 11 Sep

From Sunday September 11, routes 100, 101, 177, 178, 179, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 506, 507, 508, 509, 515, 516, 517, 518, 519, 523, 527 and 537 will undergo time changes.

Routes 210, 211, 212, 219, 220, 223, 231, 232, 233, 240, 241, 243, 244, 245, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254 and 930 - Service Changes
Sun 11 Sep

From Sunday September 11, routes 210, 211, 212, 219, 220, 223, 231, 232, 233, 240, 241, 243, 244, 245, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254 and 930 will undergo time changes.

Timetables updated:

• Bus Timetable 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 17, 18, 20, 21
• Bus Timetable 117, 122, 123
• Bus Timetable 208
• Ferry Timetable 300 (from 18/09/2022)

[shinjiman]

The timetables are uploaded for those changes below for 10 October 2022. Looks like this change is being effective on Monday instead of Sunday as usual.

Airport Line Service Changes
Effective 10th October

Timetables updated:

• Train Timetable Airport Line, Armadale/Thornlie Line, Fremantle Line, Joondalup Line, Mandurah Line, Midland Line
• Bus Timetable 31, 32, 33, 37, 41, 44
• Bus Timetable 86, 87, 89, 90, 91, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 104, 108, 109, 110, 111
• Bus Timetable 125, 126, 131
• CircleRoute Timetable 200
• Bus Timetable 209, 213, 214

[TP1462]

The timetables are uploaded for those changes below for 10 October 2022. Looks like this change is being effective on Monday instead of Sunday as usual.

Airport Line Service Changes
Effective 10th October

Timetables updated:

• Train Timetable Airport Line, Armadale/Thornlie Line, Fremantle Line, Joondalup Line, Mandurah Line, Midland Line
• Bus Timetable 31, 32, 33, 37, 41, 44
• Bus Timetable 86, 87, 89, 90, 91, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 104, 108, 109, 110, 111
• Bus Timetable 125, 126, 131
• CircleRoute Timetable 200
• Bus Timetable 209, 213, 214

Trains will be running on the 9th for reference when Butler opened some trains ran through to Butler but most continued to terminate at Clarkson station and when Mandurah opened there was some shuttles most services terminated from Clarkson station terminated at Elizabeth Quay/Perth station. There will be some shuttles running between High Wycombe and Perth most likely at a reduced frequency


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[Merc1107]

There's some vague wording there for the 282 about "Changes to the frequency and operating hours of the service." With any luck that means the Lesmurdie area might get a better service at night, and on weekends (esp. Sundays!).

The new timetable is now up.
https://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/timeta ... 221010.pdf

Doesn't look like much changed - although the timings are such that you can catch a 282 or 283 to Kalamunda, and only have about a 10-15min wait before a bus to High Wycombe.

[WEMBLEY 75]

It looks like Lesmurdie is the big loser amongst all of the changes!

[subtekjr]

Among a host of other bits and pieces, a new Route 95 between Shenton Park and Glendalough, on school days only, has appeared on Timetable 41.

Interesting they finally added it to a timetable. They announced it back in the Bob Hawke College announcement but obviously nothing happened of it until now.

[busdriver12]

Interesting they finally added it to a timetable. They announced it back in the Bob Hawke College announcement but obviously nothing happened of it until now.

According to the announcement on 14 Feb, it was tacked onto a short 990 service which started at Charles St and terminated at Glendalough, changed to a 95 and onto Bob Hawke College. In the afternoon, when it arrived at Glendalough it changed to a 990 and continued to the Busport. The 990 timetable was only amended recently to reflect this in the latest edition dated 17/7/22.

FWIW

[busdriver12]

The timetables are uploaded for those changes below for 10 October 2022. Looks like this change is being effective on Monday instead of Sunday as usual.

Timetable 96 comes up as 404/corrupt (can only get 1245 bytes of it). Have sent off a comment for them to fix on their web site. I think this is the timetable that route 320 has been moved to (formerly on timetable 97)

[WEMBLEY 75]

I did notice a typesetting error in the headings for the route 321 and 322 timetable, Mybe that is being corrected.

[Traklink]

Well I guess a set of changes like this deserves an in-depth review so here goes, starting with the western half of the Airport Line:

Buses - Airport Line West

Summary

• A substantial improvement in legibility, with the many duplicate routes along Great Eastern Highway, Belmont Avenue and Wright/Archer Streets consolidated into a single route per corridor
• Routes in the Belmont area continue to provide a direct trip to Perth CBD (as is usual Transperth practice in the inner suburbs) but have mostly been tweaked to connect to trains at Redcliffe as well, improving journey times for those closer to the new station
• Common-sense extensions of weak terminii routes 39 and 291 (renumbered from 304), as well as short-working trips on route 935, to the interchange at Redcliffe Station - though route 38 remains with a weak terminus
• Frequency improvements to routes 38, 39 (on Sundays), 291 and 293, as well as the Belmont Av (on weekdays) and Wright/Archer St corridors
• Improvements to operating hours on routes 38 (along Belgravia St), 39, 291, 293 and 935
• A slight reduction in weekday and Saturday service along Great Eastern Highway mostly in the evening, compensated by improved Sunday frequencies both day and night
• A reduction of service on route 290 (replacing route 36) in peak times and a complete removal of evening and Sunday services, reflecting the constrained catchment area duplicated by route 291 and the Midland Line
• Interesting to see a focus on industrial areas, including with the new route 37 Oats Street-Airport Central, following on from the 355 and 449 changes two years ago - while the services aren't especially frequent (like the 407) and some areas like Welshpool still have minimal to no service there's now a clear improving trend in this regard.

Route 37
At first glance this route provides a shortcut to the Airport for those travelling from Armadale. However, this is quite severely limited by the timetable, which only provides an hourly service outside of peak times with no service at all in the evening or on weekends - but does feature an early start at 5:30am. It's also timed to connect at Airport Central station, with an extended 7 minute transfer time to account for the connection being far less seamless than at a typical Transperth train station, and thus unharmonised at Oats Street during peak times. It therefore seems that the goal of this route is to improve access to the industrial estates in the area, particularly along Horrie Miller Drive.

Route 38
One of two routes created from the current overlapping mess of routes 38, 286, 287, 288, 298 and 380, this will now run at a 15 minute frequency on weekdays while a new weekend service will run every 30 minutes on Saturdays and every hour on Sundays. Along Archer and Wright Streets this represents a doubling of the daytime off-peak frequencies currently seen on the soon-to-be-cancelled route 288, while on Belgravia Street it's an even more significant improvement from the current hourly interpeak frequency and complete absence of evening and weekend trips. If there's one thing to criticise it'd be the weak terminus on Tighe Street, especially for such a frequent route on weekdays - it would be better to have the 15 minute frequency run all the way to Redcliffe somehow.

Route 39
This route will see an extension to Redcliffe Station along Epsom Avenue, also taking in those streets no longer served by route 935. It will also see some additional contra-peak short-working trips between Belmont Forum and Redcliffe, providing a quicker journey to Perth for those living close to the station, and will have a substantial improvement to Sunday services with the frequency doubled to every half hour and services running later into the evening.

Route 270
A streamlined replacement of routes 286, 287 and 288, this will run to similar frequencies to the current routes but with a doubling of Sunday service (to hourly) and improvements to operating hours throughout the week. It will travel via Belmont Avenue at all times, replacing the all-day service currently provided by route 380 with a doubling of weekday frequency to every 30 minutes. It will also travel further along Abernethy Road in Kewdale to join the Tonkin Highway using the on-ramp built for Gateway WA, supplementing route 293 in this area. As a relatively frequent and lengthy route serving several industrial areas it'll be interesting to see if its patronage justifies the level of service.

Changes in the Forrestfield area will be discussed in a future post.

Route 290
This is one of the few eastern suburbs routes to see a reduction in service with these changes - and yet it still lookes overserved. Weekday peak frequencies will be reduced from every 10-20 minutes (on the current route 36) to every 24 minutes, while evening services along with the every-two-hours Sunday service will be withdrawn altogether. This route spends much of this time paralleling either the Midland Line or route 291, all through quite a limited catchment area, and other than serving those unable to walk to a train station and (arguably) reducing the transfers needed to get to T3/T4 from Guildford I struggle to see much justification for this route being more than a limited service. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it cut back further in the future, with the nearby route 291 (which serves a much more significant catchment area) much more deserving of any further improvements.

Route 291
While the 36 will be cut back to form the 290, this route will see a substantial improvement over the route 304 that it'll replace - particularly outside of peak periods when the current skeleton service will be improved to hourly. Services throughout the week will start earlier and finish later; even though a proper evening service remains off the cards for now, the services leaving after 7pm are a substantial improvement over 6pm on weekdays and the ridiculously early 4pm Saturday finish on the current 304. And this route will run on Sundays as well for the first time - partially replacing the almost useless service currently seen on the 36.

Route 292
Not much really to say about this one - it looks like it's timed to connect with basically every train from Perth to Redcliffe, and it does the job of connecting Redcliffe station to terminals 3 & 4 until Qantas eventually moves to the Airport Central precinct.

Route 293
While still a fairly limited service, this revised route will provide a significant improvement over the current scattershot timetable of routes 293 and 298 with a trip every 24 minutes in either direction at peak times. It will substantially improve access to the industrial area along northern Abernethy Road as well, which is currently only served by route 298 in the wrong peak direction to be useful for anyone not living in High Wycombe. It also will provide a new skeleton service in the middle of the day, running every two hours between Redcliffe and Belmont Forum to at least provide some kind of interpeak access to the Belmont industrial area (noting that Kewdale will be served by route 270 throughout the week). It does however now require a transfer at Redcliffe station, making a rather indirect route for those travelling from Perth - though the higher speed of the train means that journey times work out to be around the same. Overall, the transfer penalty makes this a step backwards for those who luckily find the current timetable usable, but the improved frequency and bidirectional operations should make the new route an option for many more people.

Route 935
As expected, this route will be truncated at Redcliffe Station with a more direct route along Stanton Road west of the Tonkin Highway. It will also run a handful of additional trips, primarily in the early morning (with first services up to half an hour earlier than at present) and evening. Also of note is that the Belvidere St (Belmont) and Malcolm St (West Perth) terminii will be mostly abandoned, with all trips outside of peak times travelling to both Redcliffe and Kings Park to significantly improve legibility so that the entire route meets the High Frequency standard of every 15 minutes or better. This also means that Kings Park will have an evening bus service for the first time in nearly two decades - and unlike back then it will run seven days a week.

Route 940
A logical addition to Transperth's High Frequency network, this route will simplify buses along the Great Eastern Highway just like the 930 did along Shepperton Road and the 995 did along Stirling Hwy - in this case reducing no less than five routes down to a single number. Like the 935, there will be minor improvements to operating hours with weekday services starting half an hour earlier, although the single after-midnight weekday trip to Perth will be withdrawn and the reduction to a half-hourly service will start earlier in the evening Monday to Saturday. That said, the Sunday service will be improved from every 20 minutes to every 15 minutes during the day, and from every hour to every half hour in the evening.

To be continued......

[Merc1107]

Thanks Traklink for the detailed write-up. Looking forward to reading your followup post for the Eastern routes; nice to have it all here versus trying to figure it all out from pouring over several maps concurrently (the East is not an area I have a great familiarity with, and trying to make sense of the timetables anywhere around Midland/Kalamunda/Armadale is usually a good way to trigger a headache!).

As I've already said previously, the improvements are a quantum leap over the existing services, which seem like reforms made early in the era of privatisation. As the area is probably quite car-dependent, will people flock to the new feeders (whose service levels are far more generous than what is enjoyed by many Mandurah or Joondalup line patrons), or will they choose to park'n'ride at the train station?

Route 940
A logical addition to Transperth's High Frequency network, this route will simplify buses along the Great Eastern Highway just like the 930 did along Shepperton Road and the 995 did along Stirling Hwy - in this case reducing no less than five routes down to a single number.

As this simplification is more along the lines of what the 930 or 950 did versus upgrading what was already a frequent, relatively consolidated service (910, 915, 935, 960, 970, 990) I will be very interested to see what effect this, and the improved frequency during some times, has on patronage. I'm certain it won't be the very sudden explosion in patronage the 950 saw in its first month, but then again, it's a pretty dramatic consolidation in service.

Route 270
A streamlined replacement of routes 286, 287 and 288, this will run to similar frequencies to the current routes but with a doubling of Sunday service (to hourly) and improvements to operating hours throughout the week.
...
As a relatively frequent and lengthy route serving several industrial areas it'll be interesting to see if its patronage justifies the level of service.

In the midst of 2020 I caught a round trip on one of those three trips to the Forrestfield Village (I think) during the early afternoon peak (or what little there was in mid-late 2020). It surprised me how busy the runs were (not standees, but far from empty and a mix of shorter/longer trips), given the mess of services available in the Forrestfield area, the generally ho-hum service level and the elephant in the room - COVID.

For travel into Belmont, which I assume would be a fairly popular journey in the region, the one-seat ride will be favourable over having to endure a bus-train-bus type of trip, or convenient for those working nearby who must presently drive.

[shinjiman]

route_id,agency_id,route_short_name,route_long_name,route_desc,route_type,route_url,route_color,route_text_color
PAT-KAL-4058,PAT-KAL,270,,,3,,009639,FFFFFF
PAT-KAL-4059,PAT-KAL,271,,,3,,009639,FFFFFF
SWA-MID-4061,SWA-MID,940,,,3,,009639,FFFFFF
SWA-MID-4062,SWA-MID,292,,,3,,009639,FFFFFF
SWA-MID-4063,SWA-MID,290,,,3,,009639,FFFFFF
PAT-KAL-4064,PAT-KAL,274,,,3,,009639,FFFFFF
PAT-KAL-4065,PAT-KAL,273,,,3,,009639,FFFFFF
PAT-KAL-4095,PAT-KAL,37,,,3,,009639,FFFFFF
SWA-MID-4096,SWA-MID,278,,,3,,009639,FFFFFF
SWA-MID-4097,SWA-MID,277,,,3,,009639,FFFFFF
SWA-CAN-4098,SWA-CAN,280,,,3,,009639,FFFFFF
PAT-KAL-4108,PAT-KAL,275,,,3,,009639,FFFFFF
PAT-KAL-4109,PAT-KAL,276,,,3,,009639,FFFFFF
SWA-JOO-4122,SWA-JOO,376,,,3,,009639,FFFFFF
PAT-MOR-4125,PAT-MOR,980,,,3,,009639,FFFFFF

According to the data from the Transperth website that had been published today with selected trips quoted above, the following route are going to operated by the operators listed below.

Path Transit - Kalamunda contract
37, 270, 271, 273, 274, 275, 276, 279

Swan Transit - Midland contract
277, 278, 290, 291, 292, 940

Swan Transit - Canning contract
280

Also the the last 2 lines of the route data, is there any idea for those listed? Is that the route 376 will be transferred to Swan Transit Joondalup, or just only have some trips shared with Path only for the trips between Alexander Heights/Landsdale to Whitfords? Also there’s another route numbered as 980 which belongs to Path Transit Morley looks like it’s being planned?

[Enviro 500]

Having 290/291/940 under one operator makes a lot of sense as they can follow the example of 210/211/212/930 at Thornlie. In a way, this harks back to the time Midvale ran the 36.

If Midvale is taking over 292 they will need the luggage buses. Also expect to see 280/229 interlining.

If anything, 75 should be operated from CV and 280 from Walliston.

[the c man]

According to the data from the Transperth website that had been published today, the following route are going to operated by the operators listed below.

Path Transit - Kalamunda contract
37, 270, 271, 273, 274, 275, 276, 279

Swan Transit - Midland contract
277, 278, 290, 291, 292, 940

Swan Transit - Canning contract
280

Midvale isn't doing the 940

Also the the last 2 lines of the route data, is there any idea for those listed? Is that the route 376 will be transferred to Swan Transit Joondalup, or just only have some trips shared with Path only for the trips between Alexander Heights/Landsdale to Whitfords? Also there’s another route numbered as 980 which belongs to Path Transit Morley looks like it’s being planned?

[Traklink]

Buses - Airport Line East and Kalamunda

Summary

• Generally a doubling of frequencies accompanied by improvements to operating hours almost across the board for routes serving High Wycombe station - with all routes (except the industrial 293) running at least hourly every day
• Route 294 has been split into routes 277 and 280, both connecting with trains at High Wycombe with a simpler and more direct route particularly on the 280. Services between High Wycombe and Midland are further supplemented by new route 278.
• Routes 295, 296 and 299 have been converted to feeder routes 275 and 276 terminating at High Wycombe station
• Routes 286, 287 and 288 are all consolidated into route 270 and extended to High Wycombe station on all trips, with a direct route along Hale Road
• New route 271 replaces the sections of routes 286, 287, 288 and 294 no longer served by the more direct replacements, but limits these areas to a feeder to the Airport Line with no cross-suburban connectivity other than by changing buses
• Co-ordination between routes is mostly solid with high (by outer-suburban standards) frequencies through High Wycombe (276/277) and to the centres of Midland (277/278) and Kalamunda (275/276) - though there are some quirks related to differing connection allowances and running times
• Routes 282 and 283 are the black sheep of the family with limited improvements - the only significant changes are scheduled connections at Oats Street Station and the replacement of the Peet Road section with route 273 (at lower frequencies) to speed up travel from Lesmurdie to central Kalamunda
• Route 291 (now 274) doubles its frequency... from about as low a base as you can possibly get
• Overall a considerable improvement from the limited services currently on offer in the area - hopefully this will be met with similarly increased patronage.

Route 270
Following on from the Belmont area changes, this route (replacing the current 286, 287 and 288) will be significantly straightened through Forrestfield to only run along Hale Road and extended the short distance from the Hawtin Rd terminus to High Wycombe Station. The Forrestfield Village terminus will be abandoned, with every trip bar one single early-morning trip to Perth running all the way to High Wycombe station. This will also be supplemented by a handful of new peak shortworkings between High Wycombe and Hartfield Park, helpfully co-ordinated with route 280 to Forrestfield. These improvements will completely supersede route 294 through the low-density Hawtin Road corridor, allowing the replacement route 280 to operate a more direct and much less confusing route.

Route 271
This new feeder route will primary serve the suburban parts of Forrestfield, maintaining a service to most areas served by routes 286/287/288 and 294 that the more direct replacement routes (270 and 280) won't touch. Compared to routes 286 to 288, it will run to a similar weekday frequency (half hourly) but with better operating hours and a slight improvement in peak frequency to every 12 minutes (currently every 15-20), while weekend frequencies will double to every half hour on Saturdays and every hour on Sundays. Compared to route 294 the improvement is even more dramatic, doubling frequencies on weekdays and quadrupling on Saturdays while introducing a Sunday service for the first time. Of note is that while outbound feeder services will operate until past midnight (Monday-Saturday) and 10pm (Sunday), inbound trips will finish around 7pm throughout the week; the inbound evening trips in the Aubin Grove area turned out to be prime targets for service cuts in the few years after that station opened so maybe Transperth is trying to get ahead of the game here. This does highlight the biggest problem with the route though, which is that (aside from serving the Forrestfield Forum) it's little more than a feeder route from a weak suburban terminus through mostly residential areas to the nearest train station, without the broader single-bus connections to Cannington, Belmont and Midland that the current routes provide. And while the new route mostly improves journey times to Perth CBD and beyond for those living north of Hale Road, for those to the south (and beyond walking distance) it's even a downgrade for travelling there, at least on weekdays, by introducing a train transfer with little travel time benefit. Overall some very good frequencies for a route like this (by the standards of Perth's low density suburbia), but I do wonder if it could be extended somewhere more useful - perhaps to either Kalamunda (via Lesmurdie) or Cannington, even if not on every trip.

Route 273
This is a bare-bones replacement for the withdrawn section of routes 282 and 283, maintaining a basic level of service on the loop out to Peet Road. It will see quite a severe drop in frequency on weekdays, from 15 to 24 minutes at peak times and from bidirectional 30 minutes to unidirectional 60 minutes off-peak - but then it's hard to see such a low-density area justifying anything better on its own. While the Transperth website states only that it will through-route with route 276 at peak times, it's clearly been timed to connect the rest of the time too (to High Wycombe in the morning and from High Wycombe in the afternoon) - even if this means having to change buses.

Route 274 (currently 291)
Ignoring the various pseudo-school-bus routes like the 95, 534 and 605, this route currently shares the title of "least frequent bus route in Perth" at just a single weekday trip in either direction - compared to an hourly weekday service along with a handful of weekend trips when it formed part of former route 300 (with much of the reduction attributable to newer routes 296 and 297 providing direct connections from Gooseberry Hill to Perth and Midland). But no more - for on school days, a second trip will be added in each direction extending to Kalamunda Senior High School. Hardly a significant increase, but it will at least put it (slightly) ahead of route 604 in terms of frequency.

Routes 275 & 276
Arguably the main event of this set of changes, these routes will replace current routes 295, 296 and 299 to Kalamunda. Frequencies will double compared to the present routes - to every 12 minutes at peak times (the 295 runs to a similar frequency inbound but only every 20 minutes outbound, and the 296 is roughly every 20 minutes both ways), every 30 minutes during the day on weekdays and hourly on weekends (with the 275 actually quadrupling to half hourly on Saturdays). Both routes will also run an hourly evening service extending until roughly midnight (a bit earlier on Sundays mainly on the 276 which will finish at 10pm) - a considerable improvement on the current sporadic evening service with gaps of up to 3 hours and nothing at all on Sundays after 8pm. Additionally the Walliston extension will run on every single route 275 trip barring a handful of school specials - a significant improvement on weekends where this section currently sees only a small handful of buses per day. Services on the two routes are about as well co-ordinated as can be with a combined frequency at High Wycombe of every 15 minutes on weekdays, 15-30 minutes (three buses an hour) on Saturdays and 30 minutes on Sundays - though due to the route design the gaps are much less even at the Kalamunda end (with a 10-20 minute pattern inbound on weekdays and 24-36 minutes on Sundays), and I can't help wonder if swapping the two route alignments east of Maida Vale would even this out. Also of note is that both new services will terminate at High Wycombe, forcing a transfer but allowing a shorter (and more consistent) journey to Perth during peak times - and also removing a lot of unproductive running north of the Airport (with only 3 pairs of bus stops over 4 kilometres) to fund improved frequencies where they'd make more of an impact.

Route 277
A relatively straightforward replacement for the northern half of route 294 with a tweak to connect to the Airport Line, this route will also see substantial improvements throughout the week. On weekdays this route will now operate into the evening with the last trip at 9:20pm from High Wycombe, and while weekend services will finish earlier at 7:41pm from Midland both days this is still an improvement from route 294's ludicrously early 3:30pm finish on Saturdays (in this direction) followed by nothing at all until Monday. Off-peak frequencies will double to every 30 minutes on weekdays (replacing route 297 along Midland Road) and every hour on Saturdays (and also on the new Sunday service) while contra-peak frequencies will increase from every 30-40 minutes to every 24 minutes - and while peak frequencies will be cut slightly to also run every 24 minutes (as is unfortunately imposed by the train timetable), the impact of this is limited thanks to very strong co-ordination with new route 278 to Midland. Route 277 is also fairly well co-ordinated with the 276 through High Wycombe, providing a service every half hour on weekends and a bus for every interpeak train on weekdays - although this isn't a perfect 15 minute frequency since compared to the 276, the 277 timetable allows for a longer (by 3 minutes) travel time from Kalamunda Road to High Wycombe Station where it also has an elongated 7-minute train connection allowance. Another oddity is the diversion to Priory Road to avoid a difficult right turn from Midland Rd to Kalamunda Rd - hopefully this intersection will be upgraded before too long so that the service kilometres can be used more productively.

Route 278
This new route joins route 277 in linking High Wycombe to Midland, and will run at basically the same frequencies throughout the week but with an earlier finish (the last weekday trip will depart at 7:50pm). It's also very well co-ordinated with the 277, providing as close as possible to a 12-minute peak service, 15-minute weekday service and half-hourly weekend service between High Wycombe Station and Midland (both the station and Midland Gate shopping centre). The route has been adjusted following the community consultation last year to maintain a service to the Hillview Lifestyle Village (currently served by route 304 to Midland along with the various Perth-Kalamunda routes), and I seem to recall that the route through Hazelmere is temporary until the Lloyd Street extension eventually allows for a more direct journey.

Route 280
The primary replacement for the southern half of route 294, all of the frequency and span-of-hours improvements to the 277 have been applied equally to this route - with the added bonus that morning peak services will run at 15 minute intervals to Cannington before 7:30am, and the move to a 24-minute afternoon peak frequency will be achieved by smoothing out the peak (currently 20-30 minutes) with no loss of services. Route 280 has also been streamlined compared to its predecessor to run directly via Berkshire and Hale Roads, eliminating the somewhat confusing loop through High Wycombe along with the Calluna Way dog-leg. I note that off-peak on weekdays there's only 2 minutes separating arrivals and departures on routes 277 and 280 at High Wycombe (which goes hand-in-hand with the longer-than-normal 7 minute train connection window) - I'd be interested to see whether this is intended to link the two routes with minimal waiting.

Route 282 & 283
These two routes have been left mostly untouched, apart from the separation of the Peet Road loop into it's own route in order to speed up travel to central Kalamunda from Lesmurdie and beyond. There are a small handful of additional weekday trips, mostly centred around school travel, and selected trips on route 283 will now extend to the Kalamunda Community Centre - although route 282 will no longer deviate to the Lesmurdie Shopping Centre. While the proposed truncation of off-peak services at Oats Street station hasn't come to pass, both routes have been retimed for more consistent connections with trains to and from Perth. Compared to just about every other service in the area, these routes have only seen relatively minor changes to both route alignment and number of trips even compared to before privatisation (when they ran as routes 292 and 305) - the daytime frequencies are slightly higher and much more consistent now but this has come at the cost of the limited evening service that used to operate. If the improvements to other services are a success then hopefully these routes will also be reviewed before too long.

Route 307
This route has been extended to Kalamunda to replace the withdrawn route 297, though for those travelling between Midland and Kalamunda this is still something of a downgrade with a slightly longer route and a halving of interpeak frequency to only every two hours. It's a reasonable improvement however for those in Helena Valley, who will not only benefit from the all-day connection to Kalamunda but will also see improved operating hours and a doubling of the afternoon peak frequency that currently languishes at a highly inadequate single bus each hour.

To be continued......

[Enviro 500]

280 is a blessing for Queens Park and Wattle Grove. These areas don't have any weekend service as 294 doesn't operate on Sunday.

The truncation of 282 and 283 may have been deferred due to the Armadale Line closure that will last for more than a year.