Brisbane Transport is Made of Fail

330 from town to bracken ridge

i recently had a problem getting off the bus.
my son and i were moving from the back of the bus to the middle door, had almost reached the door when the driver shut the door. i called out "hey, i need to get off the bus" and he started driving.
my child is 4. he cannot stand on a moving bus. he fell over, he wasn't hurt...this is not the issue.
i pressed the bell and called out "could you let me off just in front of taigum state school?" (not an official stop, but i was being hopeful). he drove past that stop, stopping at the next official stop. i called out "i hope the driver will let us off this time" and successfully escaped the bus.
the next stop is about the same distance, or maybe only a little further than the stop i prefer. that is not the issue. the issue is that he wouldn't let us off the bus. we were right near the door!

Re: 330 from town to bracken ridge

yikes!

Asshole bus drivers are an all-too-frequent problem. I'm not sure what can be done about that, but I do think it's something that needs addressing.

A couple of Thursdays ago on the 333 to Chermside (on the way back from QUT Kelvin Grove) we had a speed freak bus driver. I was standing and had to grip on to the sides to keep from falling over. He kept getting tailgating other cars in front of him and I lost count of the number of times he slammed his breaks on (lurching forward into the person in front of me is great way to start a conversation!).

I wonder if thats the same driver I had on the 325 a few weeks ago, who was sitting on roughly 80k's an hour all the way from stafford to the city, even though a 50k zone! One passenger said to him "I can see you're doing 80k's, you're speeding, this is a 50 zone" and he said to her "what, do you want me to go back and do it again... SLOWER??" what a tool. There were little old ladies on the bus and they were scared!

This is what happens when the council spends about a kazillion dollars on building a freaking tunnel (thus encouraging people to drive) instead of spending much money propping up their crap public transport system. I really wish I lived somewhere near a train station instead of having to catch the bus to work each day - if its not 20-30 mins late in the morning, its 10 minutes EARLY so I'm constantly late either way.

I don't think your experiences are that uncommon with buses - I'm constantly disappointed with the buses either being really late, or the drivers being complete jerks. I couldn't usually be bothered complaining to Brisbane Transport, but a few of weeks ago I had a bus driver who was doing 20-30k's over the speed limit the entire way to the city (including 80ks in a 50k zone) who gave serious attitude to another passenger who pointed out he was speeding. So I gave feedback via their website... and 8 days later got an email saying "thanks for your feedback, we've passed it on to the relevant area and you'll hear from them soon" and over a week later I've heard nothing further. Which makes you wonder if there is any point at all!

I've noticed over the last 5 or so of years that I've been catching buses, the service has really deteriorated to the point that its now incredibly frustrating, and I can count the number of buses this year that I've caught that have actually been on time on one hand.

I agree with this as well.

I wish something could be done about the buses in my area. I live out near Ipswich, and have to put up with the awful Westside Bus Company which does the public transport here (under the Translink banner). Buses regularly arrive up to an hour and a half late (I've waited about two hours before, ended up catching a taxi), or not at all, they're in awful disrepair, and some of the drivers are incredibly careless behind the wheel.

Myself and other people I know have written to both the bus company and the council with complaints, but we haven't heard zip back - not even an acknowledgement that they got our letters.

Arseholes.

Don't forget there's always brisvegas_buses for more of these kind of stories. I've got a couple of bitching posts on there.

What's currently bugging me is that for a long time, there were no bus timetables on the Redcliffe Peninsula ... as in timetables at the bus stops. They finally put them up (at most stops), but the times are different to when you go look it up on translink! Usually it's only a few mins difference, but there are some that seem to be missing or I don't know what.

Generally though, I find the Hornibrook bus drivers and system in general to be a lot nice than Brisbane Transport. I hate trying to get a bus from the city or Toowong to UQ. They have some of the foulest people working for them.

Once (well, as there are most days) there was a queue around the block at Toowong for the 402/412/411/any other bus going to UQ. I was either at or around the front of the line because the last bus was filled up. So the next one came along and pulled up at the stop. The bus driver let the passengers off, then proceeded to scream at the entire line that he wouldn't have stopped if passengers hadn't been getting off because no one put their hand out.

Yes, I know you're supposed to hail a bus. Technically he was correct (and really rude). But freaking hell, that bus driver could not claim that he thought no one wanted to get on a bus there. Cos if he's that stupid, he shouldn't be driving a bus.

then proceeded to scream at the entire line that he wouldn't have stopped if passengers hadn't been getting off because no one put their hand out.
Y'know, a kinda similar thing happened to me once (for a 333). I was at uni and went to check what bus was coming. It wasn't one I wanted, so I sat back down. The bus driver stopped, opened the doors, and yelled at me that I didn't put my hand out, so I was lucky he decided to stop. To which I was like, "errr, ok? I didn't want to catch this bus and had sat back down?"

My problem has always been more that buses are too full to let me on... have to love the 130 route...

They have improved things somewhat in that way, but I've long since given up on paying the remotest attention to given bus timetables.

I've always thought that the public transport here is quite good - it's just that the buses are unreliable, which spoils the entire thing.

Amen.
They really have improved things on the 130/140 route (the 137 was a great idea,) but only between 7-9am.

The rest of the time, you leave a good half n hour early, and just wait for whichever bus turns up. Usually three of them at once, after a half hour wait.

I gave up on the timetables ages ago. Mostly I just check them to see when *they* think the bus will arrive.

Please remember that the timetables are developed by Translink, not Brisbane Transport. Also bus routes are worked out by Translink, BT just put the buses there to follow them.

Also remember that buses get caught in traffic just like normal cars, especially within the city area/valley/etc. When there is an accident somewhere, the bus can't magically extend its wings and fly to you.

If you want to blame someone for the poor level of public transport in Brisbane, blame previous councils. The lack of investment for the future over the last ten years by all level of government is just poor planning. Combine this with governments pandering to voters by either offering tax cuts or lowering rates and no wonder there is no money to spend on infrastructure.

I would much rather my tax cut be spent on public transport, hospitals, schools and the like rather than for me to spend it on crap I won't really need anyway. I could really use the money (however small it is) but I would at least know that in the future I'll get good health care and buses will turn up on time.

My biggest issue is that I catch the 360 home from work in the Valley and the stop is is the most digusting / scary area. The top end of brunswick street just before it hits greogry tce is just not a fun area to hang out. I wouldn't mind BUT the 360 is always late. 15 minutes late on average. I've been harassed for money, people have been spat at, their are people having domestics everywhere. It freaks me out.

LOL, I live in the Valley - you shuld try catching the 204 at Warner street some mornings. Yikes. O.o

I totally empathise, though. You don't want to be standing around waiting somewhere you don't feel safe. I was once left for 30 minutes at a deserted-ass bus stop at qut - I ended up running away from some creepy guy. The bus never turned up.

Once when I was catching the 109 at the UQ Lakes stop to go to the city, the surly bus driver shouted at me when I tried to get on because I had only held up a ticket and not my student card as well. Funny that, given that I am not a student and was holding up an adult ticket and had held it up for more than ample time for him to read every necessary detail on the ticket. He was being completely unnecessarily rude. And I've seen a lot of bus drivers shout at someone because the person didn't hold up their ticket for long enough for the driver to read all the details, and the drivers are so patronising about it, like "You need to hold it vertically, you know, so I can actually read it, and you need to not cover the tickets up with your fingers, move your fingers out of the way, I can't see through your fingers, they're not transparent". But then you'll get drivers who don't even look at you when you get on the bus and hold up a ticket, don't even acknowledge your existence. All they're required to do is read the ticket and say "thanks" or whatever, not stare out the windscreen or launch into a tirade about how stupid you are for not holding your ticket perfectly vertical and unobstructed for at least 30 seconds.

The 109 seems to be generally pretty shit. It's supposed to come every 10 minutes or so, but I've had to wait more than 40 minutes for it before, and that's happened several times. On one occasion, I was running for the bus and I was obviously in the driver's field of view and I was about three metres away when he shut the door and pulled away. I checked the time on the display screen at the stop: that was the 4:30 bus, pulling out at 4:27. He wasn't just making sure he left punctually. It didn't help that it was also pissing down rain and he was quite happy to be completely inconsiderate rather than just having some general human decency and waiting about five more seconds for me to get on the bus. So then I waited for the 4:40 bus, which didn't come, and then waited for the 4:50 bus, which didn't come, and then the 5:00 bus turned up at 5:05. I've also seen a 109 driver pull out of the stop as an obviously disabled person with two walking sticks was hurrying as fast as they could to get to the bus (and was again obviously well within the driver's field of view).

I was also on the 180 at the Cultural Centre and this African woman who didn't seem to speak very good English got on the bus and asked the driver "Do you go to Southbank?" and he said very rudely "This is Southbank!" and she looked confused and then slowly repeated "Do you go to Southbank?" and he shouted "This is Southbank! This is Southbank! Here! This stop!" and she was in the process of getting back off the bus when the person behind her stepped in and said "Actually, this is the Cultural Centre bus stop. Southbank is the next stop and yes, this bus does go to Southbank". And the driver gave him the dirtiest look!

I've also been on the bus when the driver accidentally almost side-swiped a cyclist (unfortunate but understandable, accidents do happen) and the cyclist was obvious quite angry about it and pulled up beside the bus at the next set of lights and demanded that the bus driver pull over so the cyclist could get the driver's details. But once the driver had pulled over, he just stayed sitting there in the driver's seat and said nothing. The cyclist was on his mobile phone to someone, but the bus driver didn't say anything. After about five minutes, a passenger went up to the driver and asked what was happening, and the driver mumbled something, and the passenger looked confused then turned around and said "Well, the driver says that he's actually not going anywhere. So I guess we all have to walk to the next bus stop or something". So the bus driver didn't even bother to tell a bus-load of people that the bus wasn't going any further, nor did he report it back to anyone so another bus could pick us up. So we all had to walk about 20 minutes to the nearest major bus stop.

I just have too many stories of buses going missing or going the wrong way or bus drivers being angry or rude, I could write an encyclopaedia of how crappy the bus system is, especially since I use it about 6 or 7 days a week.

Ditto to being berated for not holding my ticket the exact way they like.

I have also had to give directions to people who were obviously out of town or lost, because the bus driver didn't bother to understand what they were asking.

"Why can't passengers realise that there is a middle door and use it when they get off, instead of using the front and blocking people who are trying to get on."

Two reasons: first, I get off at a stop where there are generally two or three people waiting, who'll hail my bus; which means that the driver forgets that he's stopped to let someone off and hence doesn't even bother opening the middle door. Since I blend in and am rather shy/socially inept, this is a real problem as I don't like to call across the bus "please open the door". I've also had busses who completely ignore the fact that I've rung the bell to get off, so I've found it far more helpful to wait at the front where my presence reminds them that I'm ready to get off.
Second, I'm used to Logan City busses. When there is a second door, I don't think to use it, because I'm not used to it existing at all.

*shrug*

Brisbane buses have disimproved at a lesser rate than traffic in general.

Compare and contrast with late 90s buses - on a weekend, frequency in many near-city areas was once every two hours. Now? At least there's an attempt at least once an hour, usually once every half hour, in most near-city suburban lines.

The busway has helped a lot.

The bus drivers - well, unfortunately, we have a bit of a skills shortage in SE QLD at the moment, and one of those areas is people willing to drive buses. Yes, the drivers (especially new ones) are terrible. Unfortunately, that's what happens when the unemployment rate is low - in lower-paid, lower-skill positions you get people who aren't ideal. It sucks, yes, but it is hardly the bus companies' fault. There simply isn't anyone better to hire. Additionally, it's hard to run more buses when you're out of drivers.

There are a set of interlinking problems here, and most of it is due to previous city council incumbents doing nothing to improve the city's infrastructure in any way, shape or form. Unfortunately, the present council is copping a lot of flak for getting to those issues that were successfully ignored by voters and council alike for the better part of two decades.

we have a bit of a skills shortage in SE QLD at the moment, and one of those areas is people willing to drive buses

Yes, this!
Though apparently bus drivers get a decent wage for sitting on their arses being bitches all day*.


* Actually I haven't had a bad bus driver in years, mostly because I like to kill people with kindness.

To be honest i've had pretty good experiences with the buses here on the whole.

My only real problem is the incredible amount of drivers who drive right past the Hibiscus stop in Klumpp rd at Upper Mount Gravatt when i want to get off coming from GU Nathan or the city on the 120 and 125 services. I don't know why they fail to stop there so often, the stop isn't obscure at all and the road is straight. The thing that really drives me crazy is when i tell the driver i wanted to get off and they get shitty and say i should have rung the bell.. um i always do, thanks.

Ughhhh Brisbane Transport...don't get me started!!!

I have had both good and bad experiences, but what I wanted to bring up was the Travel Tens.....I have had so many of these just crap out on me after just being purchased...%^$^%$ wtf!? Has anyone else had this happen? I mean...alot? I may be cursed..??
Ok annoying and stupid enough, I've then had drivers think I have been trying to scam a free trip or think I did it on purpose etc. I don't think I should be punished for owning a faulty ticket for no good reason. It's not my fault they can't get it together and provide a decent service! It just shits me!

Then theres the running VERY late bus; consistently running late all the time...or the ones that just don't bother turning up..........**sigh**

The 10 Trip Savers? Yes, almost every second one in the last year! They just die and then it's this big drama.

I catch the 300 from Adelaide Street after work, and am completely shocked when it turns up on time/at all. Like other commenters above, I've had experiences where the bus has driven straight past me.

In terms of driving off before people have had a chance to sit down, I saw that happen a couple of weeks... when a heavily pregnant lady was trying to find a seat. The driver swung from the stop and she almost fell. Half the bus gasped in horror.

Little recent suck: yesterday, pressed the stop for the Taigum shopping centre, he drove straight through, I yelled, he stopped and looked up, but didn't open the doors - I repeated myself and he muttered a half-assed apology and opened the doors.

Worst suck I've ever experienced: ok, you know Pinkenba? It's out behind the airport. I had a job down there for a while last year. The stop I would get on was the second stop on the inbound route (the first was about 30 seconds away). The bus, up until then, had never been late - it had never had a reason to be late).

Five minutes go by, then ten, then fifteen (mind you, I had seen the bus go by at the usual time to go turn around). Finally, twenty minutes after it was supposed to have left, it gets there.

He says something about roadworks (which I know is complete BS) and we pull away.

I would like to point out that this is the Doomben railbus.

We pick up all the people and we're all getting pretty nervous (it's about five minutes until the train is due), when he makes a weird shortcut and pulls up - he points and says that the train is "that way, run". So we all do. (It was a little path through to the station - we could see the train sitting there).

One guy falls down and two other people stop to help him. The rest of us are just running and I'm screaming for the train to wait. No dice, the doors are shutting as a few of us get to the bottom of the ramp.

I jump in through the closing doors (yaya, bad me, whatever) - damn door cracks my scooter helmet then just close.

Train pulls away, leaving about half a dozen people on the platform.

>_<

Public transport is wonderful.

I used to live out at Loganholme and catch the 555 and 553 routes. the 555 is ALWAYS late. Like, consistently, every singly time, even if it's only 5 minutes. Now whenever I go back to Logan, I stand at mater hill and marvel at how every BT bus that goes past is relatively on time, yet the 555 is still. Always. Behind. Maybe Logan is in a slightly different timezone. Huh. The drivers are either impossibly rude or just.. so, so dim.

I catch the 196/7 now and it has an inordinate amount of nice drivers. I lucked out. Usually on time, but it falls apart on the weekends. I blame this on Translink.. It makes absolutely no sense to me that they increased the buses on 199, but not the 196/7. they are essentially the same route through the valley, city and west end, but splits at Boundary and Vulture - the 199 goes to the ferry at Orleigh St. The 196/7 down to fairfield gardens. It is REGULARLY packed on weekends, which is why it runs so late. Let's think about this, how many people are going to bus from the middle of west end to the citycat? Compared to the amount of people going to Dutton Park, Annerley, and Fairfield.. so stupid.

I had a bus driver who was the biggest jerk I have ever seen.

The bus was late to begin with (I'm near the beginning of the route) and a guy got on before me to ask where the bus went exactly and I stepped on behind him ready to show my ticket. The guy found out the bus didn't go where he needed to go and started to get off the bus. THEN THE FUCKING BUS DRIVER CLOSED THE FUCKING DOORS ON ME AND THIS GUY AND STARTED DRIVING OFF!!! BEFORE THE GUY COULD GET OFF! The guy said he wanted to get off and had to be quite forceful about it so the bus driver jerked on the brakes - I hadn't even gotten out of the no standing area at the front of the bus - and opened the door for the guy to get out.

Then at the next stop someone had pressed the bell to get off so the bus driver pulled in and opened the back door and not the front door where more people were waiting to get on the bus. AND THEN FUCKING DROVE OFF WITHOUT LETTING THE PEOPLE ON THE BUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sorry but it makes me so angry just thinking about the incident. He's a regular bus driver on my route and I hate getting on a bus with him driving.

I have to ask - was the bus full (or near it)?

Often bus drivers will only open the back doors when the bus is full because ignorant and rude passengers keep trying to get on when there is obviously no room for them, and then the driver cops a serve.

If the bus isn't full, then you should probably get Brisbane Transport know about it. I'm sure they'd like to have a word with the driver.

Did you's know that when the doors may close before you get off you can press the bell button a few times to alert him.

Its no biggie... Im sure they dont do it deliberatly.

The number of times I've been caught out by this is amazing. It happens mostly when I'm on a packed bus where it's hard to get to the doors.

Most drivers are good in this situation and a quick "Back door please" will get the doors open quick smart.

I'm sure you are right - I'm sure it's not deliberate.

The 340 is the bane of my existence

Good on you for complaining to Council - I hope you get your ten trip saver. The whole point of having bus services is to pick up passengers. I think there needs to be a lesson in etiquette as well, since manners appears to have gone out the window with bus drivers.

On another topic...

I am a regular on the 340 City Express from Carseldine and it is the most unreliable service ever. Often it is ten, fifteen minutes late, but more often than that it doesn't show up AT ALL.

Since the uni year began I've been left waiting at my stop for buses that haven't showed on five separate occasions. One time about a month ago, two buses in a row didn't show. The bus drivers are unapologetic, when you lodge a complaint with QT, which I have done a ridiculous number of times, it gets nowhere (they say they'll forward it to Virginia Bus Depot i.e. end of), and the councillors do nothing (of course). Many elderly people rely on it to take them to the RBH for medical appointments and what not, which irks me more than being repeatedly late to uni. I am so fed up with the 340 it isn't funny, but with no car, I'm stuck catching it.

I think that it's a real shame that it's gotten to the point now where I'm pleasantly surprised and appreciative to actually get a nice bus driver, rather than a rude one.
But then, speaking in their defense, I've had some real wonderful ones. One guy used to hang out little tiny pieces of paper where he'd printed out a nice quote for the day that he'd made himself. And they definetly get a hard time themselves. I got a free trip from a lovely lady once because she appreciated the simple fact that I actually hailed the bus (rather than just standing on the pavement expecting it to stop) and had the correct change, rather than a twenty dollar note.

What pisses me off the most about catching busses are the people on them.
Especially the ones that sit towards the rear of the bus and then whinge and bitch and tsk when they have to push past people to get off the bus.
IE. People that live at The Gap (or towards the start of any line) and then get off one or two stops from the city.

...oh and the school kids... bring back dedicated school buses I say!

LIke everyone else here I've had my share of awful and frankly immoral bus drivers and co-passengers (be that on a bus or a train). Throwing money at a problem hardly ever solves it, so seeing some actual REFORM go into the Translink network would be a great thing and a pipe dream all at once (lucky us).

I usually catch 2 buses to and from home/work, Paddington to/from Griffith Uni at Nathan and I rarely hit a bad driver. Sure, there are the regular surly sorts, but why would anyone trust what people appear to be anyway? It's not like we can speculate on their motives successfully when the carriage is wall-to-wall people... Indeed, considering the number of ads I've seen for bus drivers over the last year or so you can't help but wonder if there's a staffing shortage and the drivers are working more hours than they really should be.

Everyone has a good/bad story to share, but it's our own investment in what we think 'they' (the drivers) should be at all times that gets us upset. Such devout egotism is good, it means we understand that these drivers need us to keep their jobs, but it also leaves us open to making petty criticisms. Living in the inner-city I'm surprised that people even expect the bus to stop for them during busy periods, but there they are nonetheless... hailing away...

Ain't life grand.

Yeah I had recent issues with the buses lately, but I think I've just caught bus drivers in a bad mood lol.
During the introduction of the new "Go card" I went to swipe my card to get on the bus. It came up with an error and a red flashing sign. When this happens you are supposed to get a free ride, but when the error came up the busdriver told me (in a sarcastic voice) I was the cause of the error and I wasn't using the card correctly. He then closed the doors and accelerated as I was walking to my seat.
Another issue was when I had luggage and had to get to Roma Street. I had a bus driver shout at me saying that I couldn't get on the bus unless I put everything up on the luggage racks, and he gave me no time to lift the bag up, as he accelerated as soon as I got on. Needless to say I almost fell over with the bag on top of me, and a young guy was nice enough to help me lol.

My uncle is a train driver, and I know he has been run ragged over the past year or so due to being overworked. (80 hours a week some weeks!) He's making a lot of money, but he is as snappy as buggery recently. And he doesn't even have to deal with the public! I think that the bus drivers are doing a pretty good job considering the circumstances.

And if I see a grumpy bus driver I just give them a big smile and a "hello how are you?" and normally they cheer right up.

I dunno. I think it'd be nice if there was a greater investment in public transport, but not on the "more routes more often" side. I think instead of creating more routes with more buses, they should maybe try and improve on the services already running. Investing more in the people side of things, with adequate training and better working conditions.