Do you support a call for the resignation of the Minister for Transport & MR?

[ozbob]

In my view the Minister should resign.  The back down to BCC and not drive the much needed improvements through is a disastrous outcome.

I also feel strongly that TransLink staff have been treated in an appalling manner.

If there is enough member support I think we should call on the Minister to resign.

[nathandavid88]

Let's hold fire until we hear what the Lord Mayor has to say about this at 3:30pm. I'm thinking that Emerson might not be waving the white flag, but forcing BCC to put their money where their mouth is... We'll soon see what comes of it.

[somebody]

The proposals out of stage 3 certainly had me pretty flustered!

[ozbob]

The LM will attempt to sell himself as a saviour of the people, when in fact this move condemns them to longer term transport failure with massive costs. 

No, a gutless backdown in my opinion.

[ozbob]

The proposals out of stage 3 certainly had me pretty flustered!

Things would have been tweeked.

Back to square one now.  Farce ...

[somebody]

Things would have been tweeked.

That should have happened before they went public.

[ozbob]

TransLink should have done a number of things.

Briefed council properly, conducted a proper campaign to explain what was going on, supported by network coverage maps and so forth.  Briefing sessions and the like.

TransLink is now a largely useless organisation, clearly not supported by their Minister. 

[#Metro]

The minister has no spine. We all know who really runs the show, and it is brisbane city council. We should call for the privatisation of BT IMMEDIATELY. Quirk and emerson should announce whether the next fare increase is 7.5% or 37.5%.

Passengers should refuse to pay the next fare increase.

Meanwhile Auckland transport pushes along with wide support of its near identical bus review.

[Stillwater]

Translink had its testes removed when it was brought back into the department, which is directly answerable to the Minister.  Mr Emerson will do what is politically expedient and get lost in the process.  Not marketing the benefits of the bus review has allowed BCC to steal the march.  Agree with Ozbob that LM will portray himself as the defender of a system under attack from a slash and burn state government intent on cutting on the number of routes.  The game is SERVICE -- service improves considerably, more buses transporting people and a more efficient fleet with the real prospect of a better fare structure.

[minbrisbane]

100% behind that call Bob. 

This is perhaps the most ridiculous thing I've ever known to happen.  I'm actually quite angry. 

I agree TT.  Break out the green paint! 

[colinw]

I am stunned by this announcement.  It is the diametric opposite of what needs to happen, which is BCC removed from any responsibility for network planning or day-to-day operations.

[Mr X]

A great opportunity lost by a gutless politician. I agree, we need a new transport minister, someone who actually wants to make the system better.

[colinw]

Agreed.  Emerson must go.  He has lost all credibility and is a lame-duck Transport Minister.

[HappyTrainGuy]

On your bike Emerson!  :bi

Just totally gutless. The northside atleast looked to have a huge benefit with the new, frequent and secondary routes with the 2 railway lines available but now..... back to the pethetic joke of a public transport network. Some mods weren't perfect (Nudgee-Banyo with the 306, the Frequent route from the Ferny Grove line to Eatons Hill etc) but the review was still on going. Argh. Just useless!

[ozbob]

So will BCC be releasing a report too?

Possibly, it will probably read ...

" We have done our review, and 10 trip tickets are now available, also the 314 will be running on Saturday and Sundays.  We run the best bus network no other changes needed .. "

[HappyTrainGuy]

So will BCC be releasing a report too?

Possibly, it will probably read ...

" We have done our review, and 10 trip tickets are now available, also the 314 will be running on Saturday and Sundays.  We run the best bus network no other changes needed .. "

Yet the 326/327 users still get shafted with no Sunday services

Lol. Hopefully they dont stuff up everything.. i mean how much worse can it be than it is now?

Oh I could list a few ways. Ever had a look at the 338 timetable? 




If you want to work out the missing parts you need to use the 357/359 timetable and vice versa.


Be aware of the 5.45pm 359 from the city. I've seen it a couple times with Eatonvale on the desto. Only problem is that particular bus terminates at Albany Creek 

[Mr X]

LOL, I thought that was photoshopped until I looked at the actual 338 timetable XD what a shambles!

[Stillwater]

From what Mr Emerson said on TV tonight, is his next move to pull back Translink funding to the BCC for buses, thereby reducing the amount that the council has to play with in keeping its network operating?  Is he hoping that the council would then have no choice but to implement the recommended changes or face hiking up the rates to fund essentially what we have now?  What's clear is that we have a transport minister who, always, will forego what is appropriate from a transport perspective in favour of playing the politics.

[HappyTrainGuy]

LOL, I thought that was photoshopped until I looked at the actual 338 timetable XD what a shambles!

Its one of the few places where if you miss the bus or catch it at another time you don't actually get to your destination and you do your head in trying to figure out what bus you now need to change on to, does it even go past your intended stop or what school term it is. Good to see this little suprise potentially now still operating in the translink network. 

[#Metro]

Lapdog! LAPDOG!! 

[ozbob]

From what Mr Emerson said on TV tonight, is his next move to pull back Translink funding to the BCC for buses, thereby reducing the amount that the council has to play with in keeping its network operating?  Is he hoping that the council would then have no choice but to implement the recommended changes or face hiking up the rates to fund essentially what we have now?  What's clear is that we have a transport minister who, always, will forego what is appropriate from a transport perspective in favour of playing the politics.

No, doubt it.  Labor wards will lose services, this is why I think the self congratulations by the ALP on their 'victory' is very misguided.  A political outfit like BCC will favour their own, as we have seen with respect to Bulimba over the years. 

Queensland Rail should now be given back full timetable planning and all operations.  No point in having the layers in TransLink any more.

Keep a Go card section, rest goes ... this might be the real agenda anyway ...

[Stillwater]

With what has happened, you could have a point there, Ozbob.

[johnnigh]

I would expect the head and other top-level managers in Translink should also resign as they have also failed or had their positions made untenable by the LNP.
Thank God (who doesn't exist so it doesn't matter) that I don't use the bus and never in peak hour.

However, it is clear that the ancient animosity between bus and rail in Brisbane will have a resurgence. Back to the 1970s!

[Stillwater]

Remember at the time of the last election, the LNP promised us a Transport Plan?  It then announced that it would not go to the election with a Transport Plan.  It has failed to produce one since.  Perhaps before calling on Mr Emerson to resign, we should call on the Premier to release an overarching Transport Policy -- not just dribs and drabs of announcements.  What's the 5-year or 10-year plan?  That should be the initial focus.  Then, if Mr Emerson is not capable of producing one, with all the resources he has at his fingertips, it would be a fundamental failure that would require his resignation.

[johnnigh]

we should call on the Premier to release an overarching Transport Policy

I don't think the LNP is into planning. Something to do with thinking isn't it?

Try counting the number of initiatives the Newman govt has introduced. I suspect you only need one hand. Cutting things out is easy, planning for the future is difficult. Not something we expect of Newman's men.

[Jonno]

I am inclined to give anarchy a try. It can't be worse!!! What a gutless act.  PT will now decline and the tax and rate payers will foot the bill for increase car usage.  God Help the next politician to approach me.  They will get a good piece of my mind!

[ozbob]

Media release 22 March 2013

SEQ: Bus Review: Call for Transport Minister to resign


Image: Part of Auckland's Frequent Network; Auckland, NZ bus review reached the same conclusions that TransLink did.
http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af104/tramtrain/AKT_FN_zpsd92d963d.jpg

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport passengers calls for the Transport Minister to resign after effectively abolishing the functions of his own department yesterday. A snap poll of RAIL Back On Track Members' supports this call (see http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=9749.0).

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"Last year, TransLink and Auckland Transport, Auckland NZ were both given identical tasks - to fix up their bus systems. Both TransLink and Auckland Transport have reached near identical conclusions and recommendations - Redeploy service, make the system simpler, introduce connections and create a frequent network. The NZ bus review enjoys good public support. The same cannot be said for Brisbane."

"Commuters will ultimately lose. The return of 15% and 20 % fare rises or even greater for the same old system are coming now that inefficiencies cannot be reduced."

Losses:

Centenary Suburbs- Centenary high frequency BUZ service cancelled. Centenary residents will have to make do with choosing between 10 different low frequency and indirect bus routes. Western Suburbs commuters will lose access to express trains at Indooroopilly which only take 8 minutes to the CBD and are congestion-free.

Yeronga - Yeronga high frequency BUZ service cancelled. Yeronga residents will have to make do with the indirect hourly route 105.

Northwestern suburbs - Albany Creek high frequency BUZ service cancelled. Residents will have to make do with hourly services.

Bulimba - improvements to weekday and weekend frequency cancelled. Residents will have to make do with indirect, slow and infrequent services such as 232 Cannon Hill and large gaps on weekends and evenings.

Super stops - who hasn't waited for ever for this to happen?

All services from a region using same stop with best in/out CBD access. eg inner north/west buses into KGS rather than surface running.

Frequent, highly legible, better spaced, better routed, trunk routes.

Transfers to the train network for far outer routes to avoid congestion, reduce bus salaries, reduce competing modes, improve reliability

New frequent routes to areas that currently miss out.

Redesigned secondary routes with the promise of constant review and tweaking of such routes even after the review was implemented.

Cutting of air routes, freeing up resources for areas without decent services.

Better cross town routes.

Improving Cultural Centre Bus mess without super expensive concrete based solutions.

Splitting of the Great Circle line.


"The most damning statistic that was revealed was that the bus network, with it's 75% taxpayer subsidies and annual 20% and 15% fare rises, was that the bus network is transporting 50% air. Air!"

"The next fare rise must not be higher than inflation. Passengers will simply refuse to pay."

"The Minister for Transport should consider handing in his resignation over this scandal. Brisbane City Council clearly is a transport failure,  tells the regulator what to do ( i.e. TransLink), and can do whatever it likes with funds, route planning, timetabling, creating routes at will, while passengers pay more and more and more."

"The Transport Minister has totally, completely and spectacularly lost control of his own departmental responsibilities."

"What is going to occur in other regions of SEQ such as Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich,  Redlands, Moreton Bay?  Are these regions now to have ongoing mediocre services as a consequent of propping up BCC's failed bus network?"

"Queensland Rail now should be given back full control for SEQ rail in terms of planning and timetabling.  The Minister has made TransLink redundant.  Brisbane City Council sees rail as a competitor, not as part of an integrated public transport network.  What a perverse outcome the Minister has created."

"It is also clear that whatever network plans or costings TransLink does means absolutely nothing now. Brisbane City Council, has all the power and none of the responsibility or accountability as demonstrated with the Maroon CityGlider fiasco and our discovery of  'Paris Hilton' rocket bus services. The Lord Mayor, Graham Quirk summed it up nicely when it was reported:  'He said while ultimately it was TransLink's responsibility, they were pleased to be taking over the process.'"

References:

1. "Transferring" can be good for you, and good for your city http://www.humantransit.org/2009/04/why-transferring-is-good-for-you-and-good-for-your-city.html

2. Controversial changes to the bus network across Brisbane have been scrapped http://www.couriermail.com.au/questnews/central/controversial-changes-to-the-bus-network-across-brisbane-have-been-scrapped/story-fn8m0qb4-1226602783644

3. Paris Hilton Rocket 161 http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=9045.msg122020;topicseen#msg122020

Contact:

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

[Jonno]

How much influence did Campbell "Still a Lord Mayor" Newman have in this?  He always thought BCC could plan buses better when Lord Mayor!

[colinw]

De-amalgamate BCC and bring back the pre-1924 shires.  I'm sure even Emerson is capable of taking on Sandgate Town Council and winning.

[SurfRail]

De-amalgamate BCC and bring back the pre-1924 shires.  I'm sure even Emerson is capable of taking on Sandgate Town Council and winning.

No way.  Likely scenario is the Lord Mayor of Sandgate will insist that Route 314 is not broken and the Minister will be completely cowed into giving the consultation and planning job back to the Sandgate Council.

Think this sounds insane?  It's exactly what has just happened.

[colinw]

Precisely!

[SurfRail]

The people living on Oateson Skyline Drive can demand the Belmont Tramway back from Belmont Shire...

[Mr X]

I challenge Graham Quirk to sit at the Cultural Centre in peak hour and tell us all face to face that what he sees isn't a broken system 

[minbrisbane]

+1 ^^

[HappyTrainGuy]

Send him to bracken ridge to get to Sandgate on a Sunday....

[longboi]

There are political games at play here. The "no pressure on fares" condition hints at that.

My feeling is that BCC will do nothing, continue to run inefficiently and when the new bus contacts come about, there will be certain ways to "force" BCC into a revised network.

[ozbob]

Signs were there hey?

[ozbob]

Maybe they might listen next time ..