Monday, May 2, 2011

On the buses (if you can find one)

Recently BrizCommuter tried to catch the 390 bus from the CBD back to Chez BrizCommuter. The problem is,  BrizCommuter didn't know from which CBD stop(s) the bus originated. After a long walk along Adelaide Street, looking at dozens of bus stops, BrizCommuter was still none the wiser. It seems that there are no information boards to tell passengers from where in the CBD they need to go to catch a particular bus (or if there is, they are very well hidden). This must be very confusing to many public transport users, in particular tourists and infrequent users. This situation also does not help passengers who have to endure different bus routes heading to the same destination that leave from different CBD stops.

Japanese Community Bus
In London, a city with an excellent public transport system, finding the correct bus stop is very easy. At all bus stops located around major transit locations and interchanges, there is a spider map. These spider maps show the bus routes, and from which bus stop in that area that bus travels from. Simple, and easy to use. A few examples on Transport for London's website are linked to below:
Camden Spider Map
Kennington Oval Spider Map
Chelsea & Westminster Hospital Spider Map

London Midi Bus  CC: Kmb gu657
If the patronage of a London bus route cannot justify frequent services using full size buses, then smaller and more energy efficient midi buses (lower photo) are used instead. There is huge potential for midi buses, or even cute Japanese style disability accessible community buses (upper photo) in SE Queensland, especially in place of the much disliked FlexiLink services and on other low patronage routes. Some previously midi bus routes in London such as the C2 and C3 have increased their patronage so much that they now require double decker buses!

2 comments:

  1. I'm very surprised that you do not already know this. 390 stops on Adelaide St, last stop approaching Albert St/KGS. The one which is genuinely confusing is the 412/109 as that is heading away from the direction of travel.

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  2. Last year I moved from the Gold Coast to Brisbane. I went into the city in January 2010 and wanted to catch a bus to UQ...but I had no idea where the bus stop was! I managed to find the Translink Information Centre in Queen St Mall and they said the correct stop was approaching George Street. I didn't have a map or any idea of how to get around the city so it took me 30 mins to find the stop. I only found the stop after walking up and down Adelaide Street, looking for a map on the bus stop blades. A confusing system!

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