Red Rapid 200

Started by Barry Drive, October 08, 2010, 09:35:06 AM

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Barry Drive

Further to the discussion about whether the "Redex" name will be kept, I have seen a reference to "Red Rapid" - will this be the new name for Redex?

Snorzac

Red Rapid sort of makes sense. You could then have other 'Rapid' services such as 'Blue Rapid', 'Green Rapid', etc.

Bus 400

With the trail over & Redex being integrated into the shifts. Does anyone know if Tuggeranong will keep their diesel MAN's?


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Snorzac

Going by the shifts, no.

Barry Drive

Quote from: Bus 400 on October 09, 2010, 12:33:34 PM
With the trail over & Redex being integrated into the shifts. Does anyone know if Tuggeranong will keep their diesel MAN's?

Quote from: Metrobus on October 09, 2010, 02:41:07 PM
Going by the shifts, no.

Good question (I have been waiting for someone to ask). Going by the shifts: maybe; maybe not. All I can say for certain (at this time) is that Tuggy shifts won't be using MAN diesels for Redex (Red Rapid/200/50). But there is a chance they will be keeping the buses for other uses.

smitho

Yes, some Tuggy shifts for Network 10 have runs marked with an MAN stamp, but without identifying whether they are diesel or gas MANs.

smitho

New bus stop signage installed yesterday today at southbound stops @ Railway Station and Southside Lighting (Canberra Ave) for Redex / Redline extension.

smitho

Quote from: smitho on October 20, 2010, 09:38:05 PM
New bus stop signage installed yesterday today at southbound stops @ Railway Station and Southside Lighting (Canberra Ave) for Redex / Redline extension.

Checked progress this am; only the poles have gone in - at Railway Station, Market and Southside Lighting.

Looks as if they're waiting for the new style full length bollards to go over the poles.

Southbound Station stop now also has a new green, standard issue bench, but no indication of a shelter going up..

Bus 400

#8
Had a look on the weekend & all those stops (DFO Terminus included) have the standard ACTION bollards in. None of them had a Redex sign or any timetable information.

Bus 400

Red Rapid bollard headers are now being installed on some stops.

Bus 400

These are the new Red Rapid bollard headers:








With this being the timtable at Kingston Railway Station. Soo much information is provided for the 200.

The Love Guru

Thanks for the photos there BUS400. Typical ACTION style, provide inconsistent info, with the 80 having all the correct info, the 980 omitting the fact it goes to DFO and then the 200, well obviously if you want to go to Woden on Tuggeranong that is the bus you catch, they are South.

400:D

I'm curious as to why the info for the 80 and 980 is helpful and the 200 just says to South.

Snorzac

Because it's ACTION, enough said

Barry Drive

Quote from: 400:D on November 12, 2010, 06:32:47 AM
I'm curious as to why the info for the 80 and 980 is helpful and the 200 just says to South.
That's just a temporary timetable print-out from HASTUS. There will be more detailed ones coming soon. Notice that the Blue Rapid stops around Belconnen (e.g. College St) have new timetable/information displays including a route diagram; I expect Red Rapid will eventually have similar information.

400:D

The new signage for the Redex etc, looks really nice, it's easy to read and you won't be getting anyone wondering why those services didn't go to their stop.

Quote from: MyWay on November 13, 2010, 12:29:25 AM
That's just a temporary timetable print-out from HASTUS. There will be more detailed ones coming soon. Notice that the Blue Rapid stops around Belconnen (e.g. College St) have new timetable/information displays including a route diagram; I expect Red Rapid will eventually have similar information.

Cool thanks for explaining.

Bus 400

Was going along Canberra Avenue on Saturday & the DFO bound Red Rapid bollard hasn't been installed, all that was there was a plain metal pole. Hopefully it is in by tomorrow morning or a bit more confusion might come about.

smitho

While doing Red Rapid (RR) runs this morning, all of the operating RR services I observed were worked by Tuggy gas buses (mainly Scanias). First MAN diesel seen was a dead running 200 coming from the south at around 0945 and heading for DFO.

smitho

Makes sense to concentrate the diesel MANs on the 300s and the gas buses on the 200s in peak hours.

The superior performance of the diesel MANs on steep climbs such as Barry Drive northbound makes them ideal for the intertowns, whereas the more modest gradients on the 200 route can be easily handled by the gas fleet.

Barry Drive

B depot have sent a few Irisbuses out on Red Rapid today.

Sir

Quote from: smitho on November 15, 2010, 12:20:01 PM
Makes sense to concentrate the diesel MANs on the 300s and the gas buses on the 200s in peak hours.

The superior performance of the diesel MANs on steep climbs such as Barry Drive northbound makes them ideal for the intertowns, whereas the more modest gradients on the 200 route can be easily handled by the gas fleet.

Just driving home from civic and alll the 300's i saw were Gas Man's while when i saw the 200 i only saw two Dis Mans.

Snorzac

Quote from: MyWay on November 15, 2010, 01:29:25 PM
B depot have sent a few Irisbuses out on Red Rapid today.
829 (might have been 839) was sighted doing a Red Rapid

400:D

Quote from: MyWay on November 15, 2010, 01:29:25 PM
B depot have sent a few Irisbuses out on Red Rapid today.

My worst nightmares are coming true! Soon there will be .3's and Darts!

But seriously why not have just Scanias and Mans on it? Renaults maybe only if no other choice. But Irisbuses? It's why the 727 will always be better.

Bus 400

Quote from: 400:D on November 15, 2010, 06:47:26 PM
... But Irisbuses? It's why the 727 will always be better.

The occasional Irisbus was on the 727, the sad thing was that the 727 route wasn't programmed in. So they had to display a plastic sign in the dash.

400:D

Quote from: Bus 400 on November 15, 2010, 06:52:30 PM
The occasional Irisbus was on the 727, the sad thing was that the 727 route wasn't programmed in. So they had to display a plastic sign in the dash.

That makes it all better though laughing at the plastic sign.

Barry Drive

Quote from: Bus 400 on November 14, 2010, 10:03:42 PM
Was going along Canberra Avenue on Saturday & the DFO bound Red Rapid bollard hasn't been installed, all that was there was a plain metal pole.
They have attached the Red Rapid header and two timetable holders (empty) to the pole. Ran out of orange bollards perhaps?

smitho

This morning's southbound, peak hour 200s were really struggling with the slow moving car park from Watson to Civic (= Northbourne Ave).

Got into Civic about 17 minutes late, where I overtook the earlier southbound 200 which was supposed to be running ahead of me. 

400:D

Quote from: smitho on November 16, 2010, 02:08:08 PM
This morning's southbound, peak hour 200s were really struggling with the slow moving car park from Watson to Civic (= Northbourne Ave).

Got into Civic about 17 minutes late, where I overtook the earlier southbound 200 which was supposed to be running ahead of me.

That can get real terrible, from Harrison/Franklin stop to Motor Registry takes on average 16 to 20 minutes depending on traffic (8:21 Service)

lukeo25

There is still a redex map @ the railway station near the countrylink timetable on the outside of the station so photograph while can

743

It's a pity there isn't a Red Rapid equivalent on the weekends. The Blue Rapid has its 900, the Green Line has its 938, the Gold Line has its 934. But apart from a pseudo-equivalent 980, the Red Rapid headers really have no use on weekends and public holidays - at least the Redex ones had "Mon - Fri" shown. Maybe a weekend equivalent is in the works?

Bus 400

Would anyone agree with me to say that the Red Rapid is the 'Intertown' service for Gungahlin? I say this as it is the only express service to Gungahlin & having the Tuggeranong to Belconnen Intertown renamed Blue Rapid. Also there are plans for a intertown service to the future Casey Group Centre, so by extending the Red Rapid to Casey GC this would solve that problem.

But what I would like to see is that the peak extensions of the 51, 52 & 59 services added to the 100 series of numbers. This way passengers can identify that this bus only comes in the flow of peak traffic. With even a few extra Red Rapid services between Gungahlin & City in the flow of peak traffic. But this would be more effective once that Northbound Avenue bus lane is constructed


Buzz Killington

Quote from: Bus 400 on November 26, 2010, 11:35:24 PM
But what I would like to see is that the peak extensions of the 51, 52 & 59 services added to the 100 series of numbers.

Agreed. There's a number of peak extensions around the place that don't have a 1 or 2 added to the front of the regular route number. No idea why, perhaps someone can enlighten us why some routes so and others don't?

smitho

In the past, what seems to have determined whether an extension route was given a 100 series designation, or 200 series designation, was whether they incorporated one of the intertown 'link' routes.

The 100 series routes were based around the core intertown '100 Link' from Woden to Civic and vice versa (as still operated by the 170) while the '200 Link' routes incorporated a standard route between Woden and PBR (Parkes-Barton-Russell) and vice versa, as still operated by the 225, 226 and 227.

With the creation of the Route 200, the references to the 200 Link (and also the 100 Link) have gone from the November 2010 version of the drivers' Lefts and Rights...one reason being (I suppose) that the Route 200 does not follow the standard 200 Link routing through PBR, so the original common foundation of the 200 series routes has gone.

So I guess that opens the option of applying 1 or 2 prefixes to any extension routes - but it could become all be a bit feral and potentially confusing to punters and drivers alike who are familiar with the original logic of the 100, 200 and 300 Links.

(The Route 111 is another example of a route which isn't entirely consistent with '100 Link' in that it enters Civic via University Ave and not the standard intertown route). 


Buzz Killington

Surely with all the changes it would be easiest to classify and promote as follows

- Add a 1 to the front of the number of suburban routes that have a peak extension to the city.

- Add a 2 to the front of routes that travel via Russell/Barton/Parkes

- Add a 3 to the front of routes that travel to all stations (obviously already the case but included here to give the full list, although not all services travel to all stations)

smitho

Yes, that would be a sensible approach.

As you say, it'd need a promotion / education program to make it clear to all that the '1' and '2' prefixes now mean different things from what was the case in the past.

743

This extract from the User Guide of 18 January 1999 sums it up quite nicely I think:



Personally I don't agree with having different route numbers for different lengths of what is in essence the same route. There are plenty of examples of services in other cities that operate with the one route number, it is up to the passenger to double check the destination board of the bus before they board to confirm its terminating point. There are a few ACTION services like this anyway - the 10 has a few destinations on trips from Belconnen, similarly the 5 of pre Network '10 operated a number of combinations.

So in my mind, the 51, 52 and 59 for example are fine the way they are; peak extensions of the 11, 25, 26, 27, 65, 67 etc should keep the two-digit number (like the 28 and 63 do); Blue Rapid services should retain the 300 number to signify their 'importance' but the local services between Belconnen/Tuggeranong and the suburbs should still show the 300 number even if it doesn't go the whole way.

But that's just me  :P *Ducks for cover*

Buzz Killington

Saw an artic operating a city-bound 200 around 1130 this morning.

King of Buses

On Friday, 147 (Not sure about new desto) was on a 200 going through the Railway Station and later 704 departed Gungahlin on a 200 to DFO.

smitho

We must be near to the 2nd anniversary to the start-up of Redex.

Interesting to see that most (if not all)  of the original Redex fleet still lack the usual ACTION logo etc on the rear due to this area having been originally fitted out with Redex signage.


PS: I couldn't locate all our old Redex posts, Ryan. Where do you put such dated stuff?

Buzz Killington

#39
Quote from: smitho on December 07, 2011, 12:15:27 AM
PS: I couldn't locate all our old Redex posts, Buzz. Where do you put such dated stuff?

Old threads just drop down to the bottom of the forums they are in and do not get deleted or archived. Will do some digging.. Using the search function in the top right is best, although be sure to do it from the 'main' forum page (actbus.net/forum) because if you're in a particular subforum (such as Routes and Timetables), it will only search within that subforum.

Here's the old Redex thread: http://actbus.net/forum/index.php?topic=1281.0

smitho


smitho

Have done several Route 200s in past month or so.

One one occasion my bus was fitted with an operational "sound and light show",  just like in Redex days, complete with Sonya's announcements, but modified to take in the extension of the route from the Station to DFO.

Wondered how common it is to have the sound and light set up operation on "red rapids"?

manhinli

Quote from: smitho on July 19, 2013, 08:42:34 PM
Wondered how common it is to have the sound and light set up operation on "red rapids"?
Not as common as it used to be in my experience - most of the ones I've seen recently have been on a slideshow of MyWay stuff.

As to the announcements for the remaining operating ones - I'm pretty sure ACTION haven't bothered to update it for Network 2012 changes.

The Love Guru

They all work if they have the older desto file in them. The new desto file obviously doesn't link to the tv unit with the current program. Also it was not updated for the 2012 network update

manhinli

By chance I was on a bus with the working announcements today: Bus 495, on a southbound 200.

Barry Drive

Intermediate timetable adjustment to occur next Monday. New timetable will be posted to ACTION's website on Saturday. No change to departure times, but intermediate timing points may vary.


The Love Guru

Good to see some proactive time tabling going on. Well mean a cut in running time in the next network which will be closet to the true time taken.