Brisbane Bus Brands (2)

 Is BUZ A Buzzin' Brand?

We have already met the BUZ bus stops flag and we already know that the 'brand' designates frequent (hmmm, every 15 min?) limited stop services. 

We may also remember that the 200 runs to Carindale ...

... which is east of the central area of Brisbane.

But we can sample the route - which will be exciting (yes it will!) - courtesy of a full length YouTube video which is, ahem, not very exciting.

We start from Queen Street subterranean bus station ...

... and quickly emerge from the gloom ...

... to cross the buses only Victoria Bridge ...

... remember? Picture below taken before it was buses only.

The bridge is now part of the South East Busway, a massive bus lane used by a substantial flock of limited stop buses. 

Immediately on the far side of the river you cone to the first "station" (Cultural Quarter) ...

... where a major re-jig was underway when the video-ist was at work.

There are tunnels ...

... open sections ...

... and more  "stations" ...

... more tunnel ...

... and we reach the fourth and newest "station".

This goes by the delightful name of ...

... Wooloongabba!

Everything so far, since the underground bus station, has been running on bus only infrastructure.

Magnificent!

Oh, yes. Wooloongabba is the same "Gabba" as the celebrated cricket ground a few hundred yards away!

You may be able to pick up the early part of the 200 route from this plan of the busway.

The 200 leaves its secluded roadway after the fourth and final "station", to continue its journey on ordinary roads.

There then follows a lengthy section of uninspiring retail premises, car lots and light industry. It has little to offer visually unless you like spotting MacDonalds and similar. You do get patches of greenery from time to time ...

... until you hang a left to take you to ...

.... Carindale, which is more of the same, but with no obvious MacDonalds!

There is a bus station ...

... into which you U turn, exchange passengers ...

... but there weren't any! You U turn to pass the colonnade again and you are then en route to Carindale Heights and the terminus. The area is now entirely residential, almost universally single decker property.

You know it us residential because there are frequent road naurrows markings to awake you from your slumbering response to the excitement of the route.

If you are reasonably awake, you might spot the previous bus in the cycle speeding it's way back to Brizzy.

The terminus is almost as exciting as watching paint dry, but not quite.

Here the video ends with no picture of the bus or indication of how and where it turns. 

But Streetview comes to the rescue. 

A little further along the road, and on the right, is a dinky little turning circle ...

... equipped with TWO shelters to accommodate the crowds  (!) ...

... c/w timetable frame and BUZ 'flag'! There is also a mysterious but unexplained hut in the middle.

Any guesses as to what it might be? Toilet?

It has ventilation grilles and a trellis on the opposite side ..

... and what might be a locked door.

But, inside, the roof is sloping.

Maybe steps down to a nuclear bunker?

Or, more mundanely, an electricity transformer station?

And A P.S.

We can probably see why Victoria Bridge became buses only!

Yikes!

Tomorrow we look at route and timetables on a printable leaflet and we meet yet another, more obscure, brand!

  Next Brizzy Bus Brands blog : Wed Mar 11 

Brisbane Bus Brands (1)

 Free City Centre Bus

This promontory of land contains the central business district of Brisbane. It shows a sharp 'U' turn in the river, Central station (upper centre) and, just peeping in upper left (marked with a   T ) Roma Street station. Central opened in 1889 and is a key stop on the suburban network.

The present frontage dates from 1899. 

Roma Street, however, is the departure point for long distance trains. An early Roma Street building still stands, now somewhat lost amidst past development with more change to come.

Also on the map above is Queen Street Mall, a major shopping Street now closed to traffic.

Under the street/mall you will find a busy bus station ...

... of which more in due course.

The Central area has TWO free bus routes with THREE route numbers.

The 40 and 50 ...

... ply the CityLoop operating both ways round the business district.

Because of one way roads, the two routes only come together for 25% of the loop.

Both routes run every 15 min, Monday to Friday only ...

... and stop close to the Queen Street Mall - but do not actually enter the subterranean platformd. A proper printable timetable is, sadly, a state secret! To be fair, an all-stops version is available on-line if you don't  mind the scrolling!

The other loop is route 30 ...

... which runs in one direction only, via the Soring Hill district.

It also stops near the Mall and bus station and runs every 11 minutes Monday to Friday only ...

.. or thereabouts, but with somewhat frustratiing longer gaps at times. Thankfully a proper timetable is provided.

Then We Might BUZ

The Bus Upgrade Zone project began in 2003. The idea was to create faster, limited stop routes with a distinctive "brand". To understand how this works will take a full blog looking at just one of the 17 routes currently part of the scheme.

As a taster, here is a bus on route 200.

It's only distinctive features are a pink splodge below the windscreen and a brand mention on the destination screen.

fbb does wonder whether the 'brand' has lost some of its impact over the years. Wikipedia tells us, so it must be right, that many BUZ bus stops have distinctive BUZ 'flags" (as above); the implications being that many haven't!!

Two BUZ services are not 'limited stop'.

That pink splodge contains a picture of an animal ...

... a gliding possum! It glides from tree to tree and from tree to ground. But there is another brand ...

City Glider!

There are currently TWO Glider services with branded vehicles. We have a Maroon City Glider (route 61) ...

... and a Blue City Glider (route 60).

To add to the fun, some buses have a multicoloured livery.

Like BUZ routes these two are also limited stop.

What is the difference for the customer between a BUZ route and a City Glider?

The only difference fbb can spot is that you get less information! 

The leafet/PDF file for City Glider 60, for example, gives us a map ...

... a route summary ...

... and very limited timetable information.

That's yer lot, cobber! At least the possum is wearing a blue helmet.

Service 61 has even less information; being a map and an even less helpful chunk of frequency information.

But the possum now has a maroon helmet.

One difference : City Gliders run overnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

PDF printable timetables are NOT provided. POOR!

Brisbane Metro

It's a bus, innit?

But a bus that wants you to think it's a tram. It uses extensive bus only roads, of which more in due course. 

But it is only a posh looking bus!

The TWO Metro routes offer better frequencie8s than Glider, herewith a frequency list ...

... and a route summary ...

... with a rather spindly map which is quite hard to read!

A scrollable all-stops timetable is also available on-line.

Like the Gliders, the Metros run all night in Friday and Saturday.

Rather than write about something he has never seen, fbb can append a short video, dated from before the full public Metro service. But it explains "Metro". The original plans were for a proper "metro" similar to Paris, but politics and budgetary constraints led to a significant cut back in aspirations.

Impressive bus, poor metro, eh?

Tomorrow, fbb will look more closely at BUZ route 200.

 Next Brisbane Bus Brand blog : Tues 10 Mar