02/07/2004
Transperth is set to change a series of CBD bus routes because of increasing traffic congestion in the city and the prospect of more to come in the short term.
Transperth acting director Mark Burgess today said the CBD changes, to take effect from July 25, would affect buses coming to Perth from the north and the south, and the location of some bus stands.
“At the moment, we have services from the north which come in to the Wellington Street Bus Station and carry on through the CBD to the Perth Busport,” Mr Burgess said.
“Similarly, services come in from the south, through the Busport to Wellington Street.
“Heavy bus traffic through the CBD is not the best use of transport resources in a growing city, and increasing delays caused by traffic congestion in Perth have brought the matter of cross-town services to a head.”
Mr Burgess said Transperth was also taking into account the fact that, in the short term at least, buses coming from and heading to the Kwinana freeway would be affected by the work taking place to support the Southern Suburbs Railway, particularly the process of removing the William Street overpass.
“The changes will generate immediate benefits for a big number of our customers in that the bus services will become more reliable,” he said.
“While a relatively small group of patrons will now need to connect to through-services, not all our through-Perth buses will be affected.
“More than half the current services between the Busport and Wellington Street Bus Station and some through the city will continue to operate.
“CAT services will not be affected; nor will buses to East Perth.
“Once the worst of the construction-related congestion has passed, we will review the benefits and impacts of the changes to ensure that we are optimising the service to our customers.
“As part of this optimisation process, we will be able to use the bus time freed up by the CBD reductions to expand Transperth services in developing areas in the north – such as Landsdale and Darch – and increase capacity on busy services like the Mandurah-to-Perth route.”
Mr Burgess said all the changes would be heavily advertised.
Customers would be kept fully informed about the CBD and suburban changes through:
- brochures distributed on buses servicing affected routes;
- information posters on buses and at the Busport and Wellington Street Bus Station;
- letterbox drops;
- local and mainstream press advertisements;
- regular updates on Transperth’s website (www.Transperth.wa.gov.au) and TravelEasy (Transperth’s email notification system); and
- shopping centre displays.
New timetables would be issued as soon as they were available, after which Transperth’s InfoLine (13 62 13 or TTY:9428 1999) would be able to help customers who were still unsure about the changes.