Superbus has a successful year

Bus passenger boardings along one of Perth’s busiest transport links have increased by almost 40 per cent thanks to the highly successful 950 bus route - known as the ‘Superbus’.
 
Transport Minister Dean Nalder said the 950 bus service travelling from Morley to Perth and then on to The University of Western Australia (UWA) and the Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) Medical Centre was launched on January 27, 2014.
 
“The Route 950 bus service replaced four services (routes 21 and 22, 78 and 79) to become Perth’s most frequent bus route,” Mr Nalder said.
 
“The 950 has netted 3.7 million boardings in its first year of operation - that’s up one million boardings or 39 per cent on all four routes combined. It’s clear that passengers really do love the new service.
 
“In Transperth’s 2014 Passenger Satisfaction Monitor, 94 per cent of passengers said they were satisfied with the service. This is the highest passenger satisfaction level ever recorded for a Transperth fare-paying service.”
 
The Minister said the route was part of a co-ordinated approach to transport planning.
 
“The flow-on effect of an extra million passenger boardings on a bus route is huge - that could reflect thousands of people who have chosen to leave their cars at home and use public transport instead,” he said.
 
“With the help of local government, we’ve also added bus priority lanes between Morley and Perth via Beaufort Street and will extend them between Perth and UWA/QEII.”
 
Construction on the $3 million westbound Mounts Bay Road bus priority lane between Hackett Drive and Broadway - which Route 950 buses will use and benefit from - will start this month. This bus priority project is expected to take around six months.
 
Eight more buses and close to 550,000 extra annual kilometres were allocated to the Route 950 bus service to meet the demand.
 
Fact File

• The Route 950 bus service is Perth’s most frequent bus route, departing every 3-4 minutes during peak, and 7-8 minutes during the day on weekdays 
• Each bus carries between 60 to 100 passengers and takes dozens of cars off the road
• A new timetable was introduced last month, with amendments based on feedback, patronage and running time data