A day trip to the Sunshine Coast
humehwy31
Today I took a day trip to the Sunshine Coast. My main motivation for
going up there was to explore the region. Apart from an overnight
camping trip to Mudjimba four years ago, passing through Noosa on my
way to the Teewah Sands and back, driving along the M1 and catching
the train to Gympie North, I've never actually checked out what the
Sunshine Coast has to offer. Overall, I'm impressed - it's NOTHING
like the Gold Coast. Far more restrained, subdued, tasteful, and just
as scenic (if not more).
Now after my Christmas and New Year trip to NSW, I am sick to death on
driving, and don't want to get behind the wheel for quite some time.
So I did it totally by public transport. My journey incorporated two
train trips and seven bus rides:
* Brisbane Transport bus to Roma St
* Train from Roma St to Nambour
* Route 630 from Nambour to Noosa via Eumundi (trainlink service)
* Route 620 from Nambour to Maroochydore via David Low Way (SR6)
* Route 600 from Maroochydore to Caloundra via the Nicklin Way (SR6)
* Route 609 (loop service, Caloundra to Pelican Waters back to
Caloundra)
* Route 605 from Caloundra to Landsborough (trainlink service)
* Train from Landsborough to Roma St
* Brisbane Transport bus home
The photos are all up and captioned, though a lot of them aren't
roadgeek-oriented at all. You can see them here:
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/humehwy31/SunshineCoastJanuary2009?feat=directlink
Now, for observations that I didn't manage to photograph ...
* Does anybody realise just how bloody hard it is to take photographs
from buses? It's truly, truly horrible. First, you have to get the
correct seat. The frontmost seat on the left is not ideal, because the
window to your left is usually too small, and looking forward you have
to take photos through two panes of glass. You also run the risk of
getting dragged into an unsolicited conversation with the driver, or
having the driver ask you why the hell you're taking photos on his
watch. My favourite seat is the one on the left immediately in front
of the side door. But that's not always available, and you can hardly
evict someone just because you want to indulge in your hobby ...So my
ability to take pics was extremely restricted on routes 620 and 605.
This applies not only to road signs, but scenery as well.
Also, even if you do get a good seat you often don't have a clear view
ahead of you so you can't see things in advance to get your camera
ready, then there's the glare and reflection problem that's 100 times
worse than in a car, sometimes you'll find a good pic of natural
scenery or a road sign or a bridge and you focus the camera, and
click, only to have a grove of trees or a truck or a telegraph pole
obstruct your precious view! Just keep all this in mind before you
complain about the appalling quality of my pics. :-)
* I'm going to put this one into my "Only In Queensland" file. I
boarded the Nambour-bound train at Roma Street at 5:45am, it was an
Inter City Express. I enter the front carriage at the front door. As I
do so, a station attendant runs up to the driver's cab in a panic, she
yelps "Do you REALISE that you have Yandina on the front of the
train?" How did the driver respond? "Ahhh, there's no Nambour on the
rolls, so I picked Yandina, it's close enough!" What did I say before
on this board about Queenslanders and their attitude to workmanship
and quality assurance? *sigh*
* The stretch of the Sunshine Motorway route 620 travels on - between
Pacific Paradise and the Bradman Avenue interchange, over the Maroochy
River bridge - is now four-lane. It was also four lanes as far as I
could see to the north and to the south.
* Caloundra Road (SR6) is now four lanes east of the M1 for its entire
length. My 2008 Brisway shows this under construction as well as a
"Caloundra-Mooloolaba Road". The signs at the intersection of SR6 and
the Caloundra-Mooloolaba Road do not display the name of the latter.
Rather, they show on a yellow road name patch - YELLOW! - "TO
WOODLANDS BVD". Why yellow? I always thought yellow was used to
indicate warnings, roadworks and tolls. Trent, you know the MUTCD far
better than I do .... is QMR correct to use a yellow road name patch
to show a derivative road?
* Roadworks are under way to duplicate the Steve Irwin Way between the
M1 and the Mooloolah Connection Road. For some sections, the bitumen
is down, awaiting the final coat and line marking. I'd say the
progress made is about the same as on the Pacific Highway's Coopernook
to Herons Creek upgrade. The existing carriageway swaps over from one
side to the other, just like C2HC.
* Public transport wise ... considering that my journey involved 2
Brisbane Transport buses, 5 Sunbuses and 2 Queensland Rail trains, I'm
surprised at how reliable everything was. I planned my itinerary last
night and typed and printed it, some connections were pretty tight but
I still managed to make them effortlessly. Nothing was ever more than
about 3 minutes late. The only hiccough - the douch.... ahem, the
driver of the 630 logged out of his Cubic console BEFORE we reached
the terminus at Noosa Heads! The result: I couldn't tag off with my Go
Card! All the douch... ahem, DRIVER did was shrugged his shoulders and
said "Sorry, I've already logged off, you'll have to wait for the next
bus and tag off then!" (Yes. Seriously.) I'm going to also put this
incident into my "Only In Queensland" file. I should have kicked up a
stink, but I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to get into
conflict and I reasoned, well, it's only a $1.50 penalty I got for not
tagging off.
That's all I can think of for the time being ....
Cheers,
Brad.
Rob Tilley
>
> * I'm going to put this one into my "Only In Queensland" file. I
> boarded the Nambour-bound train at Roma Street at 5:45am, it was an
> Inter City Express. I enter the front carriage at the front door. As I
> do so, a station attendant runs up to the driver's cab in a panic, she
> yelps "Do you REALISE that you have Yandina on the front of the
> train?" How did the driver respond? "Ahhh, there's no Nambour on the
> rolls, so I picked Yandina, it's close enough!" What did I say before
> on this board about Queenslanders and their attitude to workmanship
> and quality assurance? *sigh*
My roll has Kippa Ring on it lol the Cooroy run always has Yandina as there isnt a Cooroy on the roll lol
> I couldn't tag off with my Go
> Card! All the douch... ahem, DRIVER did was shrugged his shoulders and
> said "Sorry, I've already logged off, you'll have to wait for the next
> bus and tag off then!" (Yes. Seriously.) I'm going to also put this
> incident into my "Only In Queensland" file. I should have kicked up a
> stink, but I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to get into
> conflict and I reasoned, well, it's only a $1.50 penalty I got for not
> tagging off.
So how much were you stung for the whole trip now thats its 20% plus dearer?
Rob
Leo Giusti
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Rob Tilley
humehwy31
February 2006, it was on-and-off 2-lane and 4-lane pretty much all the
way. It was 4 years ago so I don't remember where exactly the 4-lane
sections began and ended.
humehwy31
On Jan 14, 9:07 pm, Rob Tilley <yobborobb...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Gee you didnt come to visit me at Nambour lol
Maybe next time. :-P Nambour is a strange town. I can't figure out its
raison d'être. Yes, I know its economic base in the past was sugar,
but the sugar mill has now closed. But the town didn't look depressed
or decaying in any way. So what's the town there for now, economically
speaking? Do people in Nambour commute to hospitality and tourism jobs
on the coast? Is it kept alive by government offices (though most
government departments seem to be in Maroochydore)?
> My roll has Kippa Ring on it lol the Cooroy run always has Yandina as there isnt a Cooroy on the roll lol
I'm somewhat sure I once saw "KIPPA-RING" on an electronic destination
sign, on an SMU or IMU.
> So how much were you stung for the whole trip now thats its 20% plus dearer?
Don't get me started on those fare rises! *GROOOOOOOAN* So much for
making public transport more attractive! Personally, I think PT should
be no user-pays at all, and funded out of general taxation. Educating
our kids isn't user-pays. Borrowing a book from the library isn't user-
pays. Going to the hospital isn't user-pays. Why should PT be? Why
this obsession with increasing the fare recovery ratio from 20% to
25%? Why not make it 0% and reap the economic benefits of less
congestion, less pollution, and a healthier, more cohesive and
civilised society?
Anyway, just checking my Go Card account online .... I'd love to tell
you exactly how much I paid today ... but I've forgotten my password.
And I can't be bothered calling 131230 to reset the password, and I've
only got a month left on my card anyway. Anyway I started with about
$32 and when I tagged off the bus stop near my home, I think it was
about $22 (I get concession fare). I also forgot to tag on at
Landsborough - I just didn't see the Go Card readers! Normally the
green stickers remind me ... So that was a $2.50 penalty there. I also
noticed that after the doucheb ... I mean, the DRIVER at Noosa
wouldn't let me tag off, then I caught the 620 to Maroochydore, and
when I tagged off the 620 I got charged $0.00. I don't know what
happened there.
> Rob
humehwy31
I just remembered my password. The whole trip cost me $11.30. I
probably would have spent $40 on petrol if I had taken my car. So good
value. :-)
And I went to the TransLink website and looked at the far-too-
complicated Go Card fare calculation rules (now made even less simple
by the new Go Card off-peak fares!) ..... and, by rights, I should
have paid $15.81.
I don't get it, myself. For once, those stupid Go Card glitches have
worked in my favour!
Rob Tilley
On 14/01/2010, at 10:14 PM, humehwy31 wrote:
> G'day Rob,
>
> On Jan 14, 9:07 pm, Rob Tilley <yobborobb...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Gee you didnt come to visit me at Nambour lol
>
> Maybe next time. :-P Nambour is a strange town. I can't figure out its
> raison d'être. Yes, I know its economic base in the past was sugar,
> but the sugar mill has now closed. But the town didn't look depressed
> or decaying in any way. So what's the town there for now, economically
> speaking? Do people in Nambour commute to hospitality and tourism jobs
> on the coast? Is it kept alive by government offices (though most
> government departments seem to be in Maroochydore)?
Woolworths is really the only thing keeping the town open lol if it wasnt for that i seriously would think the town would be deserted.
More than half the town would be on welfare of some sort, 10% are homeless that live in the bins at Woolworths lol and the rest live there but dont work there and dont tell people they actually live in Nambour lol
Rob
Trent Thomson
The driver really is a douche. You have to touch on and touch off on the same bus. If you attempted to touch off on the next bus the system would interpret it as a touch on and you would have been fined $1.50. Although in almost all cases the fine is cheaper than the fare anyway!
Go Card fare calculation rules put simply:
- You are charged for each trip made on the system.
- Consecutive trips are grouped to form journeys. A journey is equal to 3 consecutive trips where each trip starts within an hour of the end of the last trip.
- When the system realises you're making a journey, the system takes the lowest and highest zone travelled through during the journey and calculates the fare (just as if you were to buy a cash ticket). In other words if you make multiple trips within the same zone(s) you'll be charged on the first trip and then the other two trips will be free (hence 'CHARGED: $0.00' when touching off).
- Off peak trips are discounted by 10%.
- If you have made more than 10 journeys in a week all subsequent trips/journeys are discounted by 50% for that week. This is in addition to the off peak discount (where applicable).
So with that in mind, had that bus driver not screwed up:
- Your trip on the bus to Roma Street, train from Roma Street to Nambour and bus from Nambour to Noosa constitutes a single journey. You would have been charged a single 23 zone fare ($7.35 concession).
- Your trip from Noosa to Maroochydore, Maroochydore to Caloundra and trip on the Caloundra loop constitutes another journey. You would have been charged a 14 zone fare ($4.15 concession).
- Your trip home from Caloundra is another 15 zone journey ($4.50 concession).
Total of $16. Then add in any off-peak discounts and the frequent user discount if it applies to you.
A lot of people argue that the Go Card is more expensive than a daily cash ticket (which allows unlimited trips). But really, the Journey feature, off-peak discount (not available if you buy a cash daily during peak) and frequent user scheme of Go Card is better anyway. Had you purchased a cash daily you'd have been slugged $21.40! Adult-fare payers would just drive because it would've cost $42.80!
Following the recent fare changes you'd be bonkers to buy cash tickets full stop (that includes tourists). I live in zone 5, if I travelled to the city and paid cash that's $6 one way (adult fare). But with Go Card it's as low as $1.80 depending on time of travel. And because of the journey feature I can then make another two trips within zones 1-5 for free!
humehwy31
The Go Card fare calculations are a little bit more complicated than
that. It's actually up to 4 trips (3 transfers) that can be grouped to
form journeys - just as long as the last trip starts less than 3.5
hours after you tagged on for your first trip, and finishes less than
5 hours after you tagged on for your first trip. (Told you it was
complicated!) The way you broke yesterday's travels up was correct,
because I tagged on the 620 at Noosa more than 3.5 hours after I left
home, and I tagged on the 605 at Caloundra more than 3.5 hours after I
left Noosa.
The journey from Noosa to Caloundra is only a 10-zone fare; Noosa is
in Zone 23 and Pelican Waters is in Zone 14. That was an off-peak trip
so it would have cost only $3.02.
Also, the Go Card's off-peak discount. If you start the last trip in
the journey before the end of off-peak (3:30pm or 2am - yes, TWO AM!)
- the whole journey is an off-peak journey. Man, the buses are just so
crowded at 2am in the morning, it's bumper-to-bumper traffic on the
Pacific Motorway all the way from Yatala to the Captain Cook Bridge!
So stressful!
I agree, despite all these annoying technical glitches, and me
occasionally forgetting to tag on or tag off, and douchebag drivers
who log out of their consoles before the journey's end (this has also
happened to me several times on Brisbane Transport buses, but only
when passengers are required to change buses mid-route due to low fuel
or mechanical troubles), I much prefer the Go Card to paper fares.
It's just so much less stress, and I don't have to think to myself "Oh
no, I have to return home by 3:30pm otherwise I'll have to buy another
ticket or turn into a pumpkin! And I'll have to buy another ticket if
I take a side trip to another zone!" The Go Card gives me so much more
freedom on my PT trips.
Cheers,
Brad.
P.S.: Trent, was that yellow road name patch "TO WOODLANDS BVD" on
Caloundra Rd yet another QMR stuff-up? :-)
> http://picasaweb.google.com.au/humehwy31/SunshineCoastJanuary2009?fea...
>
> Now, for observations that I didn't manage to photograph ...
>
> * Does anybody realise just how bloody hard it is to take photographs from buses? It's truly, truly horrible. First, you have to get the correct seat. The frontmost seat on the left is not ideal, because the window to your left is usually too small, and looking forward you have to take photos through two panes of glass. You also run the risk of getting dragged into an unsolicited conversation with the driver, or having the driver ask you why the hell you're taking photos on his watch. My favourite seat is the one on the left immediately in front of the side door. But that's not always available, and you can hardly evict someone just because you want to indulge in your hobby ...So my ability to take pics was extremely restricted on routes 620 and 605.
> This applies not only to road signs, but scenery as well.
>
> Also, even if you do get a good seat you often don't have a clear view ahead of you so you can't see things in advance to get your camera ready, then there's the glare and reflection problem that's 100 times worse than in a car, sometimes you'll find a good pic of natural scenery or a road sign or a bridge and you focus the camera, and click, only to have a grove of trees or a truck or a telegraph pole obstruct your precious view! Just keep all this in mind before you complain about the appalling quality of my pics. :-)
>
> * I'm going to put this one into my "Only In Queensland" file. I boarded the Nambour-bound train at Roma Street at 5:45am, it was an Inter City Express. I enter the front carriage at the front door. As I do so, a station attendant runs up to the driver's cab in a panic, she yelps "Do you REALISE that you have Yandina on the front of the train?" How did the driver respond? "Ahhh, there's no Nambour on the rolls, so I picked Yandina, it's close enough!" What did I say before on this board about Queenslanders and their attitude to workmanship and quality assurance? *sigh*
>
> * The stretch of the Sunshine Motorway route 620 travels on - between Pacific Paradise and the Bradman Avenue interchange, over the Maroochy River bridge - is now four-lane. It was also four lanes as far as I could see to the north and to the south.
>
> * Caloundra Road (SR6) is now four lanes east of the M1 for its entire length. My 2008 Brisway shows this under construction as well as a "Caloundra-Mooloolaba Road". The signs at the intersection of SR6 and the Caloundra-Mooloolaba Road do not display the name of the latter.
> Rather, they show on a yellow road name patch - YELLOW! - "TO WOODLANDS BVD". Why yellow? I always thought yellow was used to indicate warnings, roadworks and tolls. Trent, you know the MUTCD far better than I do .... is QMR correct to use a yellow road name patch to show a derivative road?
>
> * Roadworks are under way to duplicate the Steve Irwin Way between the
> M1 and the Mooloolah Connection Road. For some sections, the bitumen is down, awaiting the final coat and line marking. I'd say the progress made is about the same as on the Pacific Highway's Coopernook to Herons Creek upgrade. The existing carriageway swaps over from one side to the other, just like C2HC.
>
> * Public transport wise ... considering that my journey involved 2 Brisbane Transport buses, 5 Sunbuses and 2 Queensland Rail trains, I'm surprised at how reliable everything was. I planned my itinerary last night and typed and printed it, some connections were pretty tight but I still managed to make them effortlessly. Nothing was ever more than about 3 minutes late. The only hiccough - the douch.... ahem, the driver of the 630 logged out of his Cubic console BEFORE we reached the terminus at Noosa Heads! The result: I couldn't tag off with my Go Card! All the douch... ahem, DRIVER did was shrugged his shoulders and said "Sorry, I've already logged off, you'll have to wait for the next bus and tag off then!" (Yes. Seriously.) I'm going to also put this incident into my "Only In Queensland" file. I should have kicked up a stink, but I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to get into conflict and I reasoned, well, it's only a $1.50 penalty I got for not tagging off.
>
> That's all I can think of for the time being ....
>
> Cheers,
> Brad.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Trent Thomson
I agree Go Card gives you more freedom. I used to buy a 5 zone monthly and every time I wanted to venture outside of that area, say, to visit the Gold Coast or go to the Hyperhole at Logan, I either didn't bother or spent 5 mintues explaining to the bus driver or ticket vendor that I just wanted a fare extension. Sounds simple but it was a pain. Now it doesn't matter. I can even change my mind mid journey with no penalty :)
Yellow backgrounds are for temporary roadworks and warning signage only. In this case the road is only half-built and Woodlands Blvd/Creekside Blvd is the end of the road for now. There really isn't any useful focal point to use. So I think they could probably get away with it in this case. But if, when they complete the next stage, they keep the patch there (or worse still replace it with the correct road name but still on a yellow patch) then someone should be shot.