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Brisbane ferry
So, I chose poorly with this new place. Local bus runs every 40 minutes and stops running at 1930. It's a 23 minute walk to the nearest busway station. But it is near ferry stops, and today I tried that. There's CityHopper, a free but short route running every 30 minutes. CityCat, a long paid route that runs every 15 minutes during the day, though slowing down in the evening. And a few ferries that just shuttle across the river at points. I actually have three ferry terminals: one is Hopper, one is Hopper plus cross-river, one is CityCat.
So I went down to the CityCat one, and hopped on, toward QUT St Lucia. I sort of feel like it doesn't go THAT far down the river -- no further than I've already been -- but it does take 50 minutes to get there from Mowbray. This despite being a catamaran with 25 knots cruising speed.
Boat capacity is around 150 people, which given 4 an hour, doesn't seem much -- no more than 600 people an hour passing through a ferry terminal.
Anyway, it was fun. Having been to QUT already I got off at West End instead, which wasn't super exciting. The buses there aren't good, but there's a City Glider thing, which is two good buses -- 15 minute or better headways, USB chargers, 24 hour service on Friday and Saturday. Google Maps knows nothing about it, which is weird. But I took one (5 minute headway at 1630) and rode across Brisbane to Tenerife terminal, taking another ferry back home.
Ferries from North Hamilton go to every 30 minutes at 1719; going the other way from QUT, they switch at 1818. Pretty early.
First ferry was pretty punctual, not sure about the second one.
They look weird, like they're riding on ice skates. I assume there are pontoons beneath the water surface and I'm just seeing a thin connector.
Edit to add: I keep forgetting to rant again about the lack of announcements on the buses. (No sign, no verbal announcement, of what the next stop is.) It was particularly telling when I was coming back from the Botanical Gardens. Strange route, in the dark, with no landmarks, no way of knowing when to get off except asking the driver (maybe) or GPS. Does Brisbane assume everyone has a smartphone and GPS now?
Would have been an issue on the City Glider today too, but I was heading to the end of the line.
The trains and ferries don't have this problem, but all the buses do, including the fancy busways and City Glider.
So I went down to the CityCat one, and hopped on, toward QUT St Lucia. I sort of feel like it doesn't go THAT far down the river -- no further than I've already been -- but it does take 50 minutes to get there from Mowbray. This despite being a catamaran with 25 knots cruising speed.
Boat capacity is around 150 people, which given 4 an hour, doesn't seem much -- no more than 600 people an hour passing through a ferry terminal.
Anyway, it was fun. Having been to QUT already I got off at West End instead, which wasn't super exciting. The buses there aren't good, but there's a City Glider thing, which is two good buses -- 15 minute or better headways, USB chargers, 24 hour service on Friday and Saturday. Google Maps knows nothing about it, which is weird. But I took one (5 minute headway at 1630) and rode across Brisbane to Tenerife terminal, taking another ferry back home.
Ferries from North Hamilton go to every 30 minutes at 1719; going the other way from QUT, they switch at 1818. Pretty early.
First ferry was pretty punctual, not sure about the second one.
They look weird, like they're riding on ice skates. I assume there are pontoons beneath the water surface and I'm just seeing a thin connector.
Edit to add: I keep forgetting to rant again about the lack of announcements on the buses. (No sign, no verbal announcement, of what the next stop is.) It was particularly telling when I was coming back from the Botanical Gardens. Strange route, in the dark, with no landmarks, no way of knowing when to get off except asking the driver (maybe) or GPS. Does Brisbane assume everyone has a smartphone and GPS now?
Would have been an issue on the City Glider today too, but I was heading to the end of the line.
The trains and ferries don't have this problem, but all the buses do, including the fancy busways and City Glider.