After seven visits to the Perth Stadium it has become very clear to me that Mrs FB49 and I are not the only ones riding to and fro on the 659 service via Canning Highway to Fremantle Station.
In fact, there appear to be shedloads of people using that service, and that obviously surprises the Transperth boffins a little, despite the fact that we have been attending Fremantle fixtures. But, as Mushroom has so rightly noticed, many of the transport staff have had clipboards to make a note of how many people are getting on the bus — I could have held a clipboard and waved it in the air to see that stands 1 to 3 (#659), and stands 4 and 5 (#658 to Hammihil) need extra home time capacity . On the other hand I have a very strong suspicion (no offence to those of you who live there) that the 654 to Ellenbrook Town Centre probably doesn't use up many vehicles from the bus fleet.
I can imagine (even less offence meant to those who live there) that after the fixtures of the OOFTITS, a lot of people use the 650 To Karrinyup Bus Station. I wonder how many Freo fans (by comparison with 658/659) use that service after our games. But we know too that many poor misguided 'South of the River' people were seduced by Eddie the Eagles and others flying high, so the Freo and Hammihill services are no doubt still busy after their games (from three-quarter time onwards).
Anyway, the long and short of this is that when I heard that the 661 city connection is now delivering only to the East Perth end of the 'Mark and Rita Bridge', I realised it would make a whole five bus stands available (18-22). Well, those bays are now allocated to route 650 to Karrinyup and I'm sure that they will be in heavy demand (not!) after a Dockers game.
On the new stand allocation map, Stands 7 and 8 (formerly the Karrinyup service) are now unallocated — so if you want to go nowhere (insert obvious sick joke here about barracking for the Dockers), rock up to 7/8.
Meanwhile, it might be time for the boffins to actually read the clipboards and provide extra departure stands for the Fremantle and Hammihil services.