[lca-announce] Transport Arrangements for LCA 2011

Sat Jan 22 18:26:00 EST 2011

This email tries to cover everything you need to know about transport
for LCA 2011.  It only over covers stuff the LCA team has arranged.  If
you are organising your alternatives such as taxi or private car, this
isn't for you.

It has been summarised here: http://conf.linux.org.au/wiki/Transport
Beware you have to log into http://conf.linux.org.au before you can see
it.

Before the flood, the our plan was everything would be within walking
distance of our Venue, bar St Leos.  Now, nothing is.  We hopped for a
while public transport would handle getting to and from our new venue,
but calls to the man at the council with the patronage figures revealed
public transport can handle only 200 people per 1/2 hour, which isn't
enough.

So we need shuttle buses.  This is an unexpected expense joining a long
list of other unexpected expenses, so to keep costs down we have only
hired enough buses to handle the overflow from public transport.  So the
first message is: plan to use public transport.  Buy a go-card. [1]

On Wednesday and Thursday nights, the shuttle buses will only be going
to the planned events on those nights (PDNS & Penguin Dinner).  If you
aren't going to those events you will have to use public transport to
return to the city.

Public Transport Bus Stops (timetables [2]):

    South Bank Busway (near Urbanest, PDNS):
    http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=-27.481174,153.02224&ll=-27.481174,153.02224&z=20
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Bank_Busway_Station,_Brisbane
    Routes: 66

    Cultural Centre (near Speakers Dinner, Penguin Dinner):
    http://maps.google.com.au/?q=-27.473673,153.018815&ll=-27.473673,153.018815&z=19
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Centre_Busway_Station,_Brisbane
    Routes: 66, 330, 333, 340, 363

    King George Square (City, under ground):
    http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=-27.481174,153.02224&ll=-27.468424,153.024141&z=19
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_George_Square_busway_station
    Routes: 66, 330, 333, 340

    Roma Street (City, in Transit Centre):
    http://maps.google.com.au/?q=-27.466184,153.018171&ll=-27.466184,153.018171&z=19
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roma_Street_busway_station
    Routes: 66, 330, 333, 340

    Kelvin Grove Busway (our Venue):
    http://maps.google.com.au/?q=-27.451702,153.018242&ll=-27.451702,153.018242&z=20
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QUT_Kelvin_Grove_busway_station
    Routes: 66, 330, 333, 340, 363

People staying at St Leos will have to change buses at one of the above
stops.  This won't cost anything.

The second is of course we have some shuttle buses for returning to the
city.  They are free to use.  But they won't be any running on Sunday
the 23th of Jan, nor on Wednesday (26th) or Thursday Night (27th).
Currently we have none planned for Open Day (the 29th), but that may
change.

  Sign on bus:
    "LCA 2011"

  Morning Pickup Times:
    7:45 AM to 8:30 AM.

  Afternoon Pickup Times:
    5:30pm - 6:00pm.

  Bus Stops:

    For: City Hotels
    5 Albert St, City, at Alice St corner, outside of Royal on the Park Hotel.
    http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=-27.47327,153.028859&ll=-27.47327,153.028859&z=20

    For: City Hotels
    184 George St, City, outside of the Treasury Casino.
    http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=-27.471193,153.023687&ll=-27.471193,153.023687&z=21

    For: Urbanest, St Leos interchange
    14 Glenlg St, South Brisbane, near Merivale St corner,
    outside of the Brisbane Exhibition and Convention Centre.
    http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=-27.477991,153.019583&ll=-27.477991,153.019583&z=20

    For: Venue
    114 Musk Av, Kelvin Grove, at Victoria St intersection.
    http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=-27.45193,153.015526&ll=-27.45193,153.015526&z=21

There are dedicated buses for those going to the following events in the
evening.  You don't need to catch public transport, although you
certainly can still do so if you wish:

  Speakers Dinner, BCEC, Tue 25th Jan, 6:30 PM:
  http://maps.google.com.au/?q=-27.47774,153.019434&&ll=-27.47774,153.019434&z=17

  Professional Delegates Networking Session Maritime Museum, Wed 26th Jan, 7:30 PM:
  http://maps.google.com.au/?q=-27.481827,153.025624&&ll=-27.481827,153.025624&z=21

  Penguin Dinner, BCEC, Thu 27 Jan, 6:30 PM:
  http://maps.google.com.au/?q=-27.477478,153.019059&ll=-27.477478,153.019059&z=18

Although I said I would not be dealing with other forms of transport, I
make a liar of myself and mention them briefly.

- Use the Air Train to get to and from the Airport.  Macro has already
  arranged a 50% discount [3], but as Jeremy points out [4] but you
  *must* have your printed letter on you.

- Taxi fares calculators are available:
  http://www.yellowcab.com.au/
  http://www.blackandwhitecabs.com.au/cms/pages/TAXI_MENU/Estimate/!/display.html

[1] Go-cards: http://www.translink.com.au/tickets-and-fares/go-card/

    - Minim purchase price is $10.  This consists of a $5 deposit plus
      the minimum $5 starting balance.

    - Fares $2.65 (1 zone) one way for everyone bar St Leos, $3.66
      (2 zones) for St Leos, 50% discount if more than 10 trips
      taken between Monday and Sunday.

    - Go cards can be purchased at retailers and some ticket vending
      machines.  There are retailers at the airport, 58 of them within
      the city including the train stations, and at the St Lucia
      newsagent.

    - You can get a refund for the deposit and any unused balance by
      surrendering the card to a retailer that supports it.  Not many
      do.  The ticket offices at the major train stations are your best
      bet.  This means purchasing you go-card at a City Train Station
      and surrendering it on departure from the city will be the best
      arrangement for most people.

    - Go cards can be topped up using a variety of methods including
      over the web, but debit/credit card payments won't be refunded
      unless made at a retailer.

    - A Go card is a contact less smart card.  You must tap-on your
      go-card when at the start of your journey and tap-off at the
      end.  For people staying at St Leos this may well mean you tap-on
      on one bus and tap-off on another.

[2] Bus timetables.  Warning: Wednesday 26th is a public holiday and
    will be running a Sunday timetable, meaning there are reduced
    services.  Route 66 will not be running at all.
     66 - http://translink.com.au/resources/travel-information/services-and-timetables/timetables/100726_66.pdf
    330 - http://translink.com.au/resources/travel-information/services-and-timetables/timetables/100510_330,N330,P331.pdf
    333 - http://translink.com.au/resources/travel-information/services-and-timetables/timetables/100726_N330,P332,333.pdf
    340 - http://translink.com.au/resources/travel-information/services-and-timetables/timetables/100510_340,P341,P344.pdf
    363 - http://translink.com.au/resources/travel-information/services-and-timetables/timetables/100830_360,361,363,364.pdf

[3] Macro's Air-Train Discount (you must log onto conf.linux.org.au
    to see this):  http://conf.linux.org.au/wiki/AirtrainDiscount

[4] Jeremy's warning:
    http://lists.followtheflow.org/pipermail/chat/2011-January/000752.html

--
Regards,
Russell Stuart