Time to turn the SE Freeway Busway into Light Rail

[SteelPan]

I say, it's time to Light Rail it, and put the Light Rail through the CBD, down toward the new look New Farm/Albion region, maybe even take it on round to the upgraded Bretts Wharf/Racecourse Rd?

[dancingmongoose]

While I don't object to converting the entire busway system to light rail, in fact quite the opposite it should be light rail, I feel there are more pressing issues that need to be addressed first, such as CRR/BaT, and if the current GCLR Stage 2 funding dilemmas are anything to go by it's an issue we can do without for the moment.

Long term, absolutely. For now, no. Lets first sort out the fact that the Merrivale Bridge is at capacity and our rollingstock is stretched to the limit

[SurfRail]

It's long past the point where conversion to LRT would be cost-effective or even a significant increase in capacity.

The idea of converting it to a rubber-tired metro eventually heading north towards Chermside is probably the way to go and BaT at least allows for this, albeit getting it from Greenslopes/Buranda into the tunnel would take some more work.

First priority for LRT should be the Cityglider route going via the Gasworks in both directions.  It will take a much less staid and much more competent clowncil to agree to this though.

[aldonius]

By the time BaT is ready for rubber tyre metrofication the Buranda North T-junction will be overloaded anyway.

Also, surface running light rail through the Brisbane CBD is going to be an absolutely crazy implementation no matter what happens.

It essentially has to go down Adelaide St and onto what I'm going to call the Adelaide Bridge. Then it either has to go down Peel St (missing CC & South Bris stations) or somehow squeeze through/beside CC and down Melbourne St. To make that work while keeping buses and trams segregated, we might be able to get away with keeping car access on Victoria Bridge, but we won't be able to have car access through CC down to Hope St.

Further, coming out of CC the buses will need to be where the cars currently are, so in order for them to even make that turn the entire portal needs to be reconfigured, which probably means reworking the entire rail bridge.

Speaking of portal reconfigurations, how does the turning radius on the Melbourne St portal compare to what the GC trams are capable of?

Finally from a capacity perspective, a GC tram will have a 309 (80 seat, 229 standing) maximum capacity. Assuming we could run them at 2 minute headways (GC will go at 7.5) that's still only 9270 people per hour per direction, which is what matters for Brisbane radial lines. To match that we need a full bus every 24 seconds, which I believe the Busway is plenty capable of.

[SurfRail]

But the Cityglider route certainly isn't capable of those volumes at present.  The busway is only capable of those volumes by aggregating nearly all of the south-side and east-side CBD routes together in the Mater Hill stretch, and it isn't sustainable other than right in the CBD frame.  Anywhere beyond Buranda and it goes right back to lower-than-GoldlinQ volumes.  Getting capacity up in the inner city will become increasingly important as a means of moving people around, which the buses are not going to cope with very well once the Valley starts filling up.

Light rail will creep back onto the agenda for Brisbane, I've no doubt of it whatsoever.  Only a question of when.

The inner part of the busway network should remain as a busway to act as a collector.

[HappyTrainGuy]

If LR does go through buses need to terminate at the busway entrances/stations/interchanges ie no more express 133/140 GUBS-CCBS........ DON'T CUT MY SERVICE! 

[Gazza]

I still reckon the best approach is for a rubber tyre metro to run from 8MP to Greenslopes, then dive into a tunnel under Annerley to hook into the BaT.

The rest of the busway north of this point (Eg Mater Hill) would remain to service UQ lakes and the Eastern Busway.

[#Metro]

I no longer support LRT on the SE Busway for both cost, capacity and lack of automation reasons. The automation is required for safety reasons (eliminates human error) as well as breaking the link between labour costs and high frequency. (see Vancouver Skytrain)

I support busway conversion over the long term to an SE Subway, 100% automatic with no staff on board, no exceptions. This will get most of the buses out of the Brisbane CBD and allow a TTC-Toronto style feeder network to be established, with massive operational savings, and thus money to put more high frequency across Brisbane.

That BaT alignment is ideal for this. I disagree with Mr Albanese's criticism on the grounds that buses are not a good idea - so long as the busway tunnel can be upgraded to a subway tunnel, his grounds are unconvincing.

I am not concerned about the lack of through running to northside destinations, passengers can change at Roma Street and go up a flight of stairs to connect, so I doubt it is an issue at all. When Kippa Ring opens, 15 minute trains all the way up to Petrie, so no problems there.