Surfside Buslines

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Surfside Buslines
Operator Overview
Service Region	Gold Coast
Hub/s	Australia Fair,Pacific Fair & Tweed Heads
Depot/s	Ernest, Tweed Heads
TransLink zone/s	8-19, 39-49/52-55 for Tweed
Total number of bus routes	40 for Gold Coast, 8 for Tweed
Route Number allocation	3-21, 567, 700-769, TX1/2/5 for Gold Coast, 601-608 for Tweed
Train transfer	yes, at most Gold Coast Line stations
10 Trip Tickets	no
NightLink/Late night Service	yes* - Route 700
Wheelchair Access	yes, most routes

Surfside Buslines is the principal provider of public transportation on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. It operates bus routes under the TransLink scheme in southeast Queensland.

Contents 1 Service area 2 Routes 2.1 Queensland (TransLink) services 2.1.1 Future Surfside Buslines services 2.1.1.1 Short Term (to 2007) 2.1.1.2 Medium Term (2008-2010) 2.1.1.3 Long Term (2011-2014) 2.2 New South Wales services 3 Interchanges 4 Fleet 5 Depots 6 Livery 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] Service area

Surfside operates from Dreamworld in the north of the Gold Coast as far south as Murwillumbah in northern New South Wales (NSW). It is a unique operation as it encompasses both Queensland and NSW state government contracts for Gold Coast City Council and Tweed Shire Council respectively. The area with the best service coverage is the coastal strip, particularly between Southport and Burleigh Heads.

[edit] Routes

For accurate travel information, see the TransLink website linked below.

[edit] Queensland (TransLink) services

See the Gold Coast section of the TransLink services page.

Surfside Buslines run a series of routes which run up and down the Gold Coast Highway spine as a line-haul. This includes route 700, running from Southport to Tweed Heads bypassing Pacific Fair Shopping Centre every 30 minutes, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. This route has being touted as Australia's best all-night bus service. [1]

All Gold Coast Highway services, routes in the southern areas of the Gold Coast, all new routes and recently improved routes have been converted to TransLink's system of unique three digit numbering for all South East Queensland buses. With these changes, all routes will be improved to TransLink's defined minimum service standards.

The remaining old routes are planned to be renumbered, and improved if need be, by the end of 2006.

Plans to extend CityTrain's Gold Coast Line south of Robina station to the Gold Coast Airport will see local bus routes rearranged to provide new feeder services for the new stations, as dictated in the Draft TransLink Network Plan.

A Carrara Markets Special is chartered by the markets, operating a $1.00 return service from Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach and Pacific Fair direct to the Markets.

[edit] Future Surfside Buslines services

The Draft TransLink Network Plan dictates plans for future improvements to Surfside's bus service. This incorporates new routes to better service the Gold Coast's growing population and urban sprawl.

[edit] Short Term (to 2007)

• Review, restructure and possibly improve all routes to increase service frequency, and make services more reliable to meet minimum standards for service coverage
• Trial flexible-route services in developing suburbs and canal estates
• New route 727 running to Pacific Pines
• New route 743 running from Carrara to Griffith University via Nerang

[edit] Medium Term (2008-2010)

• Progressively implement a Gold Coast Rapid Transit System either bus rapid transit or light rail between Griffith University and Broadbeach and restructure bus network accordingly, with surplus buses formerly used on the Gold Coast Highway then used to improve services elsewhere
• New feeder route running from Runaway Bay to Coomera Station via Hope Island
• New route running from Varsity Lakes and Robina to Griffith University
• New route running from Southport to Broadbeach via Ferry Road and Bundall Road

[edit] Long Term (2011-2014)

• Extend bus rapid transit or light rail to Coolangatta
• New direct route running from Southport to Coomera via Runaway Bay, Boykambil and currently proposed Intra-regional Transport Corridor
• New routes linking western communities as demand permits

[edit] New South Wales services

Recently Surfside conducted a public consultation and restructured services in Tweed Shire area.

	Route	Termini	Major Ports of Call	Days of operation	Operator
	601	Kingscliff TAFE - Bilambil Heights All Stops	Kingscliff, Chinderah, South Tweed, Tweed Heads, Coolangatta and West Tweed	Every day	Surfside Buslines
	602	Tweed Heads - Banora Point All Stops	Tweed Hospital and Tweed City	Every day	Surfside Buslines
	603	Tweed Heads - Pottsville All Stops	Tweed City, Chinderah, Cudgen, Kingscliff, Salt, Casuarina, Bogangar - Cabarita and Hastings Point	Every day	Surfside Buslines
	604	Tweed Heads - Hillcrest All Stops	Tweed Hospital, Tweed City, Dry Rock Road and Vintage Lakes	Every day	Surfside Buslines
	605	Tweed Heads - Murwillumbah All Stops	Tweed City, Terranora, Tumbulgum and Condong	Every day	Surfside Buslines
	606	Tweed Heads - Fingal All Stops	Banora Point, Oyster Point, Oxley Cove and Heritage Caravan Park	Monday - Saturday	Surfside Buslines
	607	Tweed City - Terranora All Stops	Banora Point and Flame Tree Park	Monday - Friday	Surfside Buslines
	608	Kingscliff - Seabreeze Estate Community Service	Salt, Casuarina, Bogangar, Koala Beach, Hasting Point and Pottsville	Monday - Friday	Surfside Buslines

Surfside also provides many school services in the Gold Coast region. Although route buses no longer run to the Gold Coast Airport, Surfside maintains a connection between the airport and the nearest bus stop at Golden Four Drive, Kirra, operated by Toyota Coasters.

[edit] Interchanges

The main interchanges are:

• Australia Fair (Southport))
• Pacific Fair (Broadbeach)
• Tweed Heads
• Helensvale Station
• Nerang Station
• Robina Station
• Surfers Paradise Main Stops (50 Cavill Ave southbound; Appel Park northbound)
• Burleigh Heads Stop 42
• The Pines
• Runaway Bay Shopping village
• Harbour Town Shopping Centre

[edit] Fleet

Surfside operates a varied fleet of approximately 350 buses and coaches, notably including:

• Hino - RG197K, RG230
• Leyland - Leyland Tiger
• MAN - SL202
• MCA - integral coaches (ex-Coachtrans)
• Mercedes-Benz - O400, O405, O405NH, O500LE, 811D, LO812, LO814, O814D and O185D minibuses
• Toyota - Coaster
• Volvo Buses - B7R/RLE, B10M/ML/R, B12BLE, B58/B59

Bodies include: Bustech, Custom Coaches, MCA & PMC

Bustech is a sister company of Surfside, which was established in 1998 to provide bodies initially for the Gold Coast operator, Surfside Buslines. It now produces bodies on many chassis, for operators all around Australia. Its main product today is the VST low-floor model, which Surfside have large amounts operating for them.

Surfside also operates the Gold Coast Tourist Shuttle, a coach service for tourists connecting hotels, attractions and the airport, among other things.

[edit] Depots

• Ernest (Southport)
• Tweed Heads

[edit] Livery

Surfside's livery is a yellow and white pattern. Some more recently introduced/refurbished buses have a corporate emblem displayed at the sides and rear consisting of the words "Surfside Buslines" accompanied either by just a wave and sun design or also by palm trees and surfboards, whereas other buses merely depict a stylised "Surfside Buslines" in blue flowing script.

[edit] See also

• TransLink (South East Queensland)
• CityTrain

[edit] External links

• Surfside Buslines Homepage
• TransLink
• Surfside Photo Gallery (past and present)