BUS CHANGES FROM DECEMBER 2020

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Year 12 Student survey results

Over 200 Newport residents were invited to join a survey carried out by Year 12 Student Sam Lydon – Sam has kindly allowed us to publish the survey results

https://www.surveymonkey.com/stories/SM-6W2CBPLD/

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Northern Beaches buses are renumbered

from Sunday 3rd May 2020

L88  becomes 188X

L89 becomes  189X

L90 becomes  190X

199  No change

 B1   No change

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20th April 2020

Keoride On Demand public transport in the Northern Beaches has extended it’s services during the COVID-19 crisis.

Whether it’s food shopping, medical appointments or work related travel, Keoride is offering an extended transport service.

Keoride have added additional hubs to better support the community within it’s service area. They will now drop off and pick up to the following locations during the COVID-19 crisis:

  1. Newport Coles and the local pharmacy
  2. Woolworths Mona Vale
  3. Warriewood Square
  4. Elanora Heights pharmacy and IGA
  5. Woolworths Narrabeen
  6. Mona Vale Hospital

Please note these additional hubs are a temporary offering to support the community during the COVID-19 crisis. These hubs will be in place until further notice.

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Sunday 10th February 2018

KEORIDE BECOMING OPAL ACTIVE THIS SUNDAY

Friday February 8th, 2019

Member for Pittwater Rob Stokes today announced that from this Sunday passengers will be able to use their Opal card to pay for the highly popular Keoride on-demand transport service.

OpalPay will allow customers to ‘tap on’ with their Opal card when boarding Keoride, reducing the need for separate payment methods and making multi-modal travel more seamless.

“Keoride has been overwhelmingly embraced by Pittwater residents,” Rob Stokes said today.

“The recent introduction of the B-Line and other new bus services, as well as the Opal card and the Keoride on-demand service, has seen an encouraging increase in public transport patronage.

“This announcement brings them all together and helps deliver even better passenger opportunities.

“The introduction of OpalPay as a Keoride payment method makes this excellent service even simpler and more accessible.

“I encourage anyone in Pittwater who hasn’t tried Keoride to give it a go and experience first-hand how convenient it is to get from their homes to our local public transport hubs,” Rob Stokes said.

OpalPay will be available from Sunday, 10 February.

Customers are still required to pre-book their Keoride either by downloading the Keoride App and selecting ‘OpalPay’ during the booking process or by calling Keoride on 1800 536 743.

Keoride fares available through OpalPay will continue to cost $3.10 for a standard fare and $1.55 for concessions. Paying the standalone Keoride fare using OpalPay will not count towards Opal benefits such as Weekly Travel Rewards, Transfer Discounts or Travel Caps.

Pittwater’s Keoride on-demand service provides a fast, agile and effective method of connecting people in Pittwater from their doorsteps to their nearest B-Line bus stop.

Pittwater’s Keoride has the following operating hours:
6am – 10pm Monday – Wednesday
6am – 11:30pm Thursday – Friday
7am – 11:30pm Saturday
7am – 9pm Sunday.

To find out more go to www.keoride.com.au/northern-beaches-home

 
Wednesday, 14 November 2018

Despite our requests for direct consultation (which hasn’t happened), although subsequent to us making a written submission with the results of a “Better Bus Service survey”  the Member for Pittwater Rob Stokes  announced on the 14th November  some improvements to bus services north of Mona Vale. We are yet to fully analyse these but will do so and publish those results.

The additional services, commencing 2 December, follow Transport for NSW’s decision not to pursue the extension of B-Line services to Newport, in response to community feedback and construction complexities.

  • An additional 15 weekday E88 express services will operate across the week between North Avalon and Wynyard.
  • Weekday morning E88 services departing North Avalon will be extended beyond 7:56am, with additional services at 8:16am and 8:36am.
  • In the evening, weekday E88 services from Wynyard to North Avalon will be extended beyond 7:37pm, with an additional service at 8:07pm.
  • 31 additional L90 services will operate across the week between Palm Beach and Wynyard.
  • Weekday L90 services from Wynyard to Palm Beach will restart again after the evening peak, with new services at 9:15pm, 10:15pm, 11:15pm and 12:15am.
  • Weekday L90 services from Palm Beach to Wynyard will be extended beyond 3:10pm, with additional services at 4:10pm and 5:10pm.
  • On Saturday evenings, L90 services departing Wynyard will be extended from 11:33pm to 12:33am.
  • Late night 188 services will continue to operate after midnight from the city to Avalon Beach until the early hours of the morning.

“These improvements will address identified gaps and extend the operating hours of services north of Mona Vale,” Rob Stokes said today.

“Evening L90 services are being reinstated to assist late evening passengers, such as workers and uni students, to catch a direct bus home from the city to Palm Beach.

“These improvements will be a welcome addition to the range of transport options available for Pittwater residents north of Mona Vale,” Rob Stokes said.

When travelling to the city, commuters have the choice of catching the high frequency 199 service to connect with rapid turn-up-and-go B-Line services at Mona Vale, or using the timetable to catch direct E88, E89 and L90 services from North Avalon, Avalon Beach, Newport and Palm Beach. These options can also be complemented by the highly popular Keoride on-demand transport service.

Customers can plan their trips at www.transportnsw.info

Extended hours for Keoride commence from 15th November 2018

Thursday, 15 November 2018

Operating hours have been extended until 11:30pm on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and until 9pm on Sundays.

Keoride operating hours from 15 November 2018 are:

  •  6am – 10pm Mon – Wed (no change)
  •  6am – 11:30pm Thursday/Friday (previously 6am – 10pm)
  •  7am – 11:30pm Saturday (previously 7am – 7pm)
  •  7am – 9pm Sunday (previously 7am – 5pm)

Keoride allows commuters in Pittwater to book a vehicle at a time that suits them, connecting their home address or designated local pick up point to the nearest B-Line transport hub at Mona Vale, Warriewood or Narrabeen.

“Keoride has revolutionised public transport in Pittwater,” Rob Stokes said today.

Keoride operates in Pittwater using a fleet of passenger vehicles and has become renowned for its personalised, frequent and direct services, with friendly drivers being a core aspect of the service.

Each Keoride trip costs a flat fee of $3.10 per trip or $1.55 for concession card holders. The service can be booked through the Keoride app, online https://www.keoride.com.au/ or by phone 1800 536 743.

October 2018  –  A Better Bus Service

Following the recent announcement that the B-Line proposed extension to Newport had been cancelled the question of the adequacy of the bus services north of Mona Vale now needs to be addressed.

 At recent meetings with Pittwater MLA Rob Stokes and subsequent Newport community discussions, proposals have been put forward to achieve a better bus service for those of us who live north of Mona Vale:

  •  * Additional Express (E88) buses which are the quickest way to get to the City
    * Extended hours of operation of these Expresses, to 10am in the morning and commencing at 3pm in the afternoon
    * L90 needs to be retained with more buses, ie increased to 2 per hour all day
    * Two of the 199 services be replaced by the L90
    * L90 & 199 must continue to service the ‘Newport Loop’ & run to North Avalon or Palm Beach
    * Keoride service should link not only to the B-Line but to any E Bus which means Avalon or Newport, not just Mona Vale

It would be appreciated if we could have your input on the above proposals, whether in favour of these suggestions or have a varied suggestion, simply we ask that you let us know by clicking here  –  contact

or alternatively making a comment below.

RESPONSE TO NRA SURVEY (conducted September 2018)

Participants were invited to “Please complete the following survey” (with the result shown alongside each option):

Are you in favour of the improved Bus services as suggested above? (Just click your answer)

YES      90.4%

NO       3.8%

PREFER A VARIATION TO ABOVE  5.8%”

We thank all that took the time to respond  (47% of 275 on the B-Line e-mail list) to this survey and we will convey this to TfNSW, our State Politicians & our council.

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Letter to TfNSW and State Member requesting meeting and advising survey results – October 2018

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New Timetables from 26/11/2017

B-Line

L90 Palm Beach to City

E88 Avalon to City

E89 Avalon to City

199 Palm Beach to Manly

Here is a brief summary of the  timetables and services:

  • The L90 will be a very limited service during the week, running roughly hourly between 9:00am to 3:00pm – it will do the Newport Loop in non-peak hours.
  • We will have a new bus service, the 199 Palm Beach to Manly service. This is how we will get to the B-Line at Mona vale (until Transport NSW determines whether it is extended to Newport) – it will do the Newport Loop and the only bus to do so during Peak Hours
  • The only Newport to City service in non-peak hours will be the hourly L90
  • The B-Line will run from Wynyard to Mona Vale. There are plans to run the service to Newport in late 2018.
  • There will still be the four E89 express buses which go directly into Wynyard in the mornings leaving Newport  at  6:41, 7:01, 7:22 and 7.42 am and coming back in the evenings leaving Wynyard at 4:55, 5:26, 6:02 and 6:32 pm –
  • There will be more E88s . They will run between 5:10 – 8:07 am into Wynyard       (5.10, 5.40, 5.56, 6.10, 6.22, 6.34, 6.44, 6.54, 7.04, 7.15, 7.26, 7.37, 7.47, and 8.07 am – a total of 14 services) and 4:00 – 7:30 pm coming from Wynyard to Avalon near Careel Head Road.

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Impact of September 2017 announcement of deferral date of the extension to Newport

(Refer to Current Issues Item – The Story To Date for details)

26th July 2017 Meeting with B-Line Project Team re Proposed Service Schedule a Failure

Representatives from four community groups north of Mona vale (Palm Beach Whale Beach Assn [PBWBA], Clareville and Bilgola Plateau Residents Assn [CABPRA], Avalon Preservation Assn [APA] & ourselves [NRA]) met with the NSW Dept Transport B-Line project team responsible for creating a new Bus Services schedule for the full B-Line route on Wednesday 26thJuly 2017.

  • The project team offered nothing in the way of addressing the service concerns raised in a joint submission from those community groups. The project team only tried to justify their proposals.
  • They have not finalised a new timetable as yet and will not seek community feedback before they publish it.
  • They remain intent on taking the B-Line to Newport
  • Attempted to justify Newport by saying their future demand study for the next 10 years suggested 60% of the demand at Mona Vale would be from the North and 40% from the West. This was a new answer completely at odds with those previously given whereby their initial economic assessment had Mona Vale as the start point.
  • They intend to dedicate up to 70 car spaces at the Newport Surf Club as permanent commuter spots but did not define how that would work
  • They defined a bus ‘Terminus’ as where a service finishes or commence from (and where staff can take a break)
  • They are still looking at 9 different terminus options at Newport including the streets to the west of Barrenjoey Road
  • They have no knowledge of the Mona Vale depot ever being considered as a terminus/commuter parking station
  • They confirmed that there would be no through city services covering the ‘Newport Loop’ during peak hours (there are currently 14 between 6 & 8am weekdays).

In summary Tspt. NSW have made up their minds about the proposed service schedule they have come up with and are not prepared to deviate.  With regard to the effect of the B-Line terminus at Newport we have no further detail to be able to assess the real impact and so at this stage it remains a real concern regarding the impact on the Surf Club Carpark and/or the residential streets around Newport.

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Proposed changes to services (click on the link)

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Resident Groups  submission re bus services north of Mona Vale.

The issue of an extended service and the retention of bus connections to the city that we already have from Palm Beach to Mona Vale is currently being discussed with other community organisations at Avalon, Bilgola Plateau and Palm Beach. To this end the CABPRA (Clareville & Bilgola Plateau Residents Association) have produced an agreed alternate services proposal which has been submitted to the Dept of Transport and our local state rep. Rob Stokes. To view this proposal please click on the following link (Alternate Services Proposal). Should you have any comments regarding this submission please advise the NRA executive.

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OPAL DATA

We had been asking for the opal data the government were basing their plans on without much success, however via the office of Rob Stokes we have recently (in August) been supplied the following data based on the questions we asked.

  • Newport Loop Mon/Friday Peak hour to city (average number of daily passengers who board between 6am-9am and travel right through to Wynyard)

Peak

Hour Monthly Opal boardings Daily average Opal boardings
6-7am 359 16
7-8am 374 16
8-9am 201 9
Total 934 41
  • Newport Loop Mon/Friday Non-Peak hour (Say average number of daily passengers who board between 9am-3pm and travel right through to Wynyard)

Off-peak

Hour Monthly Opal boardings Daily average Opal boardings
9-10am 191 8
10-11am 143 6
11-12pm 77 3
12-1pm 94 4
1-2pm 67 3
2-3pm 42 2
Total 614 27
  • Newport Barrenjoey Road Mon/Friday Av peak hour to City (Say average number of daily passengers who board in the Newport village between 6am-9am and travel right through to Wynyard)

Peak

Hour Monthly Opal boardings Daily average Opal boardings
6-7am 1110 48
7-8am 1281 56
8-9am 254 11
Total 2645 115
  • Newport Barrenjoey Road Mon/Friday Av  Non- Peak to City – day  (Say average number of daily passengers who board in the Newport village between 9am-3pm and travel right through to Wynyard)

Off-peak

Hour Monthly Opal boardings Daily average Opal boardings
9-10am 167 7
10-11am 156 7
11-12pm 99 4
12-1pm 66 3
1-2pm 78 3
2-3pm 52 2
Total 618 27
  • Weekends trips Palm Beach to Newport pick-ups – Total (Say average number of weekend passengers who board the L90 at stops between Palm Beach and Newport village )

Weekend – All destinations

Hour Monthly Opal boardings Daily average Opal boardings
5-6am 47 6
6-7am 80 10
7-8am 211 26
8-9am 301 38
9-10am 388 49
10-11am 564 71
11-12pm 680 85
12-1pm 582 73
1-2pm 604 76
2-3pm 724 91
3-4pm 816 102
4-5pm 987 123
5-6pm 844 106
6-7pm 712 89
7-8pm 557 70
8-9pm 306 38
9-10pm 222 28
10-11pm 174 22
11-12am 10 1
Total 8809 1101

  • Weekends trips Palm Beach to Newport pick-ups – Through to city (Say average number of weekend passengers who board the L90 at stops between Palm Beach and Newport village – and travel right through to Wynyard)

Weekend – To Wynyard

Hour Monthly Opal boardings Daily average Opal boardings
5-6am 18 2
6-7am 28 4
7-8am 66 8
8-9am 82 10
9-10am 96 12
10-11am 131 16
11-12pm 90 11
12-1pm 112 14
1-2pm 85 11
2-3pm 219 27
3-4pm 269 34
4-5pm 396 50
5-6pm 262 33
6-7pm 275 34
7-8pm 226 28
8-9pm 63 8
9-10pm 42 5
10-11pm 17 2
11-12am 3 0
Total 2481 310