B-Line success could lead to changes to northern beaches bus network
Changes to the northern beaches bus network are being considered after a state MP released Opal card statistics he claimed showed at least nine minutes had been saved on the average morning peak by people using the B-Line.
Manly
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CHANGES to the northern beaches bus network are being considered due to the success of the B-Line.
It comes as Manly state MP James Griffin released Opal card statistics he claimed showed at least nine minutes had been saved on the average morning peak by people using the B-Line.
“What is happening is that due to the popularity of the B-Line more people getting on them instead of the ordinary blue bus they would have caught,” Mr Griffin said.
“That is freeing up capacity in those blue buses, which is allowing Transport for NSW to have a look at blue buses and where can we deploy them to increase service elsewhere. It has been a good flow-on consequence of the B-Line.”
Mr Griffin said Opal statistics showed a 20 per cent shift from the blue buses and the longer bendy buses which ran similar routes to the B-Line.
Customers travelling citybound from Condamine St in Manly Vale to Wycombe Rd in Neutral Bay were saving more than 10 minutes, the data revealed.
Despite complaints that the B-Line does not turn up as frequently as advertised (one every five minutes during peak and every 10 minutes off-peak) Opal data suggest it is exceeding expectations.
Mr Griffin said they were averaging a bus every four minutes.
In January, an average of more than 54,000 trips per weekday were taken on buses in the B-Line corridor between Mona Vale and Wynyard, an increase of 2.6 per cent on January 2017. Of these, an average of more than 14,000 trips were taken on B-Line buses.
Trips in the middle of the day (10am to 3pm) increased by 9 per cent.
In February an average of 63,000 trips per weekday were taken on buses between Mona Vale and Wynyard, with 16,000 being a B-Line. Time statistics for February were not yet available, meaning the impacts of controversial plans to turn T3 lanes into bus lanes is not yet known.
“The feedback I have from Transport for NSW is that the T3 has assisted in the flow and has done what it set out to do, which was to give priority to buses,” Mr Griffin said.
Transport Minister Andrew Constance said early feedback from B-Line customers showed the service was exceeding expectation.
“We want to see more people on public transport and we are now seeing a positive shift in behaviour as customers take advantage of the new northern beaches bus network,” Mr Constance said. “These buses make up just 10 per cent of the fleet on the northern beaches and lower north shore but are already carrying more than 25 per cent of customers.”
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