TransLink (South East Queensland)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For a list of all TransLink services, see the list of TransLink services.
TransLink is a system of integrated public transport that covers rail, bus and ferry networks in South East Queensland, Australia. It was introduced by the Queensland Government in July 2004, and is operated by Queensland Transport.
The aim of TransLink is to coordinate transport services run by Queensland Rail, Brisbane Transport, and more than 10 other public transport operators in South East Queensland. The system allows a ticket purchased on any of these public transport services to be used for travel on any of the other ones, provided that it covers the appropriate zones. TransLink is a marketing repositioning strategy for public transport which is trying to get passengers onto buses, trains and ferries. There are 2.6 million residents living within South-East Queensland, and this is set to increase as the region is the nation's fastest growing area[1]. Each new family in the region will generate an estimated 7 extra trips per day, so the need for quick, low-cost, efficient and integrated public transport is great.
To this end, TransLink is largely responsible for the operational and financial management of all public transport in South East Queensland, a role that, prior to the scheme's introduction, was left in the hands of the individual operators. Today all fare revenue is collected by TransLink, who then pay the individual operators based on kilometres travelled. TransLink also approve funding for new services and infrastructure.
Contents |
[edit] Zones
Zones radiate out in concentric rings from the centre of Brisbane which are used to determine ticket prices for passengers. There are a total of 23 zones stretching from Gympie (170 km north of Brisbane) to Coolangatta (100 km south of Brisbane). The zones stretch as far west as Helidon (80 km west of Brisbane) and as far east as the bayside suburbs of Brisbane. While these zones indicate TransLink's coverage, services may not actually be in operation in certain parts of these zones. For example, in the outer south-west of the region, TransLink may control public transport, but there are no public transport services in operation.
The borders between zones are called precincts -- areas where the cost of a ticket purchased will depend on whether the travel is away or towards the Brisbane CBD. This ensures that the passenger always pays the lowest fare for their journey.
[edit] Tickets types and fares
Tickets available include:
Single - one-way travel with unlimited transfers for 2-4 hours dependent on zones purchased
Daily - the equivalent of a return ticket, but unlimited travel within the zones described on the date of purchase, for around 2x the cost of a single ticket. Depending on the number of zones purchased, the daily fare is sometimes $0.10 cheaper than the cost of two singles.
Off-peak Daily - same as a daily, but cannot be used before 9:00am or between 3:30pm and 7:00pm on weekdays. Tickets cost 1.5x the amount of a single fare and rounded up or down to eliminate the need to handle 5 cent coins.
Weekly - unlimited travel within the zones described for seven days. Tickets are 4x the daily fare for 1-10 zones, 3.75x for 11 zones, 3.5x for 12 zones and 3.25x for 13-23 zones.
Monthly - unlimited travel within the zones described for one calendar month. Tickets are 4x the weekly fare. This means they are cheaper than daily's if one travels at least 13-16 days per month depending on the number of zones purchased.
Concession fares are also available for students, pensioners and children, and these riders travel for half the price of regular adult passengers. Children under 5 travel free. There are several conditions which exist in relation to concession fares, which are available at TransLink's website (see below).
[edit] Services operators
Translink is roughly divided into 11 different operating regions. Different operators provide different services in different regions.
- Bribie Island Coaches - Operating bus services in Northern Region
- Brisbane Bus Lines - Operating bus services in Brisbane North
- Brisbane Transport - Operating bus services in Brisbane Central, Brisbane North, Brisbane East, Brisbane South, Brisbane West and Northern Region
- Caboolture Bus Lines - Operating bus services in Northern Region
- Hornibrook Bus Lines - Operating bus services in Northern Region
- Kangaroo Bus Lines - Operating bus services in Northern Region
- Laidley Bus Service - Operating bus services in Western Region
- Logan City Bus Service - Operating bus services in Southern Region
- Metrolink Queensland - Operating ferry services in Brisbane Central
- Mt Gravatt Bus Service - Operating bus services in Eastern Region
- Park Ridge Transit - Operating bus services in Southern Region
- QR CityTrain - Operating train services across South East Queensland
- Sunbus Sunshine Coast - Operating bus services in Sunshine Coast
- Surfside Buslines - Operating bus services in Gold Coast and Southern Region
- Thompsons Bus Service - Operating bus services in Northern Region
- Veolia Transport Brisbane - Operating bus services in Eastern Region
- Westside Bus Company - Operating bus services in Western Region
[edit] TransLink at present
Since TransLink's introduction, patronage has grown faster than ever before. Since 2004, 151 million trips has been made per year[2]. Prior to the system's introduction, combined patronage for all Public Transport modes was only around 90 million trips per year[3] . This can be attributed to improved services and cheaper trips. In some cases, fares to the Brisbane CBD for passengers in areas such as Redcliffe have decreased by as much as 60%.
The TransLink network currently consists of approximately 10 ferry routes, 10 rail lines and 400 bus routes in operation across the region.
[edit] TransLink in the future
 |
This article or section contains information about a planned or expected public transportation infrastructure. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the infrastructure approaches, and more information becomes available. |
 |
In the future, ticketing equipment will be upgraded and service improvements are expected.
[edit] Ticketing improvements
In relation to ticketing improvements, the current paper-based ticketing system will be enhanced by the availability of a Cubic smartcard system to speed up boarding times. Passengers will no longer need to carry cash with them. The current range of ticketing products will still be available concurrently, at least for the foreseeable future.
In 2006, a smartcard trial has began on bus services in Redcliffe and the system will be perfected and implemented across the rest of the network. More than 2,000 ticket gates and validators will be installed across the network over the next 2 years. Passengers will be able to simply "tag on" and "tag off", and the ticket gate will automatically calculate and deduct the correct fare from the smartcard. The installation of ticket gates will mean that for the first time in South-East Queensland, all tickets will be automatically checked and processed at all stations, which has the potential to lower fare evasion and speed up boarding times. At present, tickets are checked manually by inspectors at major inner-city railway stations in Brisbane, occasionally at other important stations such as Robina, and by bus drivers and roving ticket inspectors, called Transit Officers.
It is envisaged that TransLink smartcards will also be able to be used to purchase small items such as drinks and snacks from station vending machines. A smartcard-based driver's licence will be implemented in Queensland in 2007 that will also be able to store TransLink fare credits. However, if a passenger wants to use these credits, they will need to transfer them to their TransLink smartcard. This will be the case so that all passengers remain anonymous on the TransLink network to prevent stalking (since the gates will log every journey made by a user) and identity theft.
New ticket vending machines, static smartcard readers and barriers are being rolled out across the rail network and smartcard readers fixed to some buses. The TVM's are touch-screen models and can accept notes, coins and ATM cards. They dispense smartcards and paper tickets. Some machines associated with Stage II of the pilot trial, and those at most Nambour/Gympie North Line stations are now operational.
[edit] Service improvements
[edit] Draft Translink Network Plan (DTNP)
TransLink completed a draft of its network plan[4] -- a long-term vision for public transport in South-East Queensland. It details the new bus routes, train services and ferry service improvements which will be introduced gradually between 2005 and 2014. It also details the new bus route numbering system which is starting to be rolled out.
A major impact of the network plan is the introduction of minimum service standards for all services. These standards state the minimum frequencies for each type of service, and hours of operation.
While most rail and ferry services already met or exceeded standards prior to TransLink's introduction, the services that did not were mainly those run by the private operators. The standards dictate that all bus routes should run to a minimum hourly frequency and run between 6am-9pm Monday to Saturday, and 7am-6pm Sunday. [5]
[edit] Bus Service Improvements
A new logical bus numbering system was recently extended to Gold Coast Highway services, and is expected to come to the rest of Gold Coast in near future. Increased service frequencies and/or weekend services are being provided on many bus routes with the addition to more new routes as well servicing more areas in the system.
[edit] Ferry Service Improvements
The CityCat network's timetable was completely revamped on April 10, 2006 with more peak hour services and extra padding in the running times to improve reliability. Additional CityCats were constructed to provide these new services.
[edit] Heavy Train Service Improvements
On the CityTrain network, new tracks are being constructed and stations are being upgraded in the southern suburbs of Brisbane to provide a more frequent service on the Beenleigh / Gold Coast Line [6]. New tracks are also being provided between Corinda and Darra [7], Mitchelton and Keperra [8] and between Caboolture and Landsborough [9].
Queensland Rail has ordered 16 new inter-urban trains for service on the Gold Coast and Nambour / Gympie North lines to address the shortage of interurban rollingstock and to prevent the use of elderly suburban trains with no toilets or other facilities for long range trips. 8 new suburban trains have also been ordered to cope with increased suburban demand. [10]
The extension of the Gold Coast Line to new stations at Varsity Lakes, Andrews, Elanora, Tugun and the Gold Coast Airport is anticipated. Proposals are also under way to provide rail services to Springfield via Darra Station, to Browns Plains down the current standard gauge alignment and to Maroochydore via the CAMCOS corridor branching from Beerwah Station. Redcliffe will not be likely to receive a rail service for many years, if ever.
[edit] Other Rapid Transist Service Improvements
[edit] Gold Coast Rapid Transit System
Translink is investigating options for the Gold Coast Rapid Transit System.The Gold Coast is one of the fastest growing cities in Australia with travel demands exceeding population growth. In order to tackle congestion effectively, there is a need to squeeze much more capacity from existing corridors. The system is expected to encourage visitors and residents to use public transport to reduce major traffic congestion and pollution problems.
[edit] NightLink
In December 2005, TransLink began a trial of late night bus and train services on Friday and Saturday nights under the name "NightLink". There are now 20 NightLink bus routes and 3 NightLink trains in operation. The NightLink brand also includes special "FlatFare" taxi services operating on Friday and Saturday nights. NightLink services have carried 70,000 passengers since it has started [11]
NightLink bus routes run every hour from 1am to 5am and are prefixed by the letter "N". Most NightLink routes mirror the equivalent "normal" service, although slight variations apply on some routes to maximise coverage.[12]
NightLink trains run on the Beenleigh, Caboolture and Ipswich lines with a single service around 4am. Services used to run on all lines in greater Brisbane; those with low patronage were discontinued in mid-2006, although many of these areas are now serviced by buses.
The NightLink FlatFare taxis operate from designated taxi ranks and pick up multiple passengers travelling in the same general direction. The taxis can travel as far as zone 5 of the TransLink system and passengers are charged based on the number of TransLink zones included in their journey.
[edit] References
- ^ South East Queensland Regional Plan - Growth Management & 2004 population statistics, Office of Urban Management, Queensland Government, retrieved 1 January 2007
- ^ Queensland Government Queensland Transport Annual Report 2005-2006 , page 8, retrieved 14 January 2007
- ^ Queensland Government Draft South East Queensland Regional Plan , page 55, retrieved 14 January 2007
- ^ Draft Translink Network Plan 2005
- ^ TransLink minimum service standards page 3, retrieved 28 December 2006
- ^ Salisbury to Kuraby third track SEQIP, retrieved 28 December 2006
- ^ Corinda to Darra third track SEQIP, retrieved 28 December 2006
- ^ Mitchelton to Keperra duplication SEQIP, retrieved 28 December 2006
- ^ [1][2] North Coast Line duplcation, SEQIP, retrieved 28 December 2006
- ^ Downer EDI and Bombardier to supply rail cars to Queensland Rail Bombardier, retrieved 28 December 2006
- ^ Paul Lucas MLA, NightLink services cuts taxi queues by 70,000, retrieved 28 December 2006
- ^ Brisbane City Council Buses retrieved 28 December 2006
