Creating Liveable Cities in Australia - RMIT Report

[ozbob]

RMIT's Centre for Urban Research, Creating Liveable Cities in Australia

> http://cur.org.au/cms/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/brisbane-city-score-cards.pdf

Brisbanetimes --> Brisbane has Australia's worst capital city public transport

Only 12 per cent of Brisbane homes have access to a bus or train stop with services running at least every half hour - the worst of all Australian capital cities.

Compounding the problem, only 61 per cent of Brisbane homes have a public transport stop within 400 metres - far below the 90 per cent state target.

By contrast, more than 30 per cent of Sydney and Melbourne homes are close to a stop with half-hourly services.

Brisbane is also falling behind in developing walkable communities, particularly in outer suburban areas.

The city's public transport challenges are detailed in a new report from RMIT's Centre for Urban Research, Creating Liveable Cities in Australia.

Report lead author Dr Lucy Gunn said Brisbane's transport infrastructure was lagging behind.

"Public transport is a facilitator to opportunity. It opens up people's lives to employment, education and recreational activities like going to the rugby or the arts centre," Dr Gunn said.

"Brisbane's public transport infrastructure is not connected well to people's everyday needs and activities.

"This means most people don't have a 'turn up and go' service, where you don't need a timetable to plan your journey."

Only 5 per cent of Brisbane's working population walked or cycled to work - and only 14 per cent used public transport.

A liveable city was defined as a safe, attractive, socially cohesive place with affordable housing linked to cultural centres, shops and work by public transport, walking and cycling infrastructure.

The report measured the state government's policies for making Brisbane a liveable city, finding some measures were improving but others were falling.

Almost the entire Brisbane population lives within 2.5 kilometres of a public open space larger than five hectares - but only 65 per cent of homes are within 400 metres of a park larger than half a hectare, below the 90 per cent target.

The report recommended Brisbane be future-proofed through "integrated, evidence-informed" transport, land use and infrastructure planning.

The report also recommended creating walkable neighbourhoods "as the foundation of a liveable city".

Housing affordability has also worsened over five years as 37 per cent of Brisbane households are now considered to be in housing stress.

The authors recommended the state government set "ambitious" targets in liveability sectors, paying particular attention to minimum housing densities in urban and suburban neighbourhoods.

In suburbs, housing density should be 25 dwellings per hectare, increasing that target around public transport centres and community centres, and a minimum of at least 30 dwellings per hectare in urban neighbourhoods.

Larger open public spaces and infrastructure encouraging more walking and cycling were both recommended.

"If Australia's population is going to potentially spill into cities like Brisbane, now is the time to start future-proofing to support population growth and avoid problems such as heavy transport and traffic congestion that bigger cities like Melbourne and Sydney are currently facing," Dr Gunn said.

[ozbob]

#qldpol
" Frequency is freedom ... " https://t.co/g7oWH1zfYZ

— RAIL_BoT_Forum (@railbotforum) November 29, 2018

[Stillwater]

The two most important sentences in the newspaper article re the RMIT Centre for Urban Research study:

1.   Brisbane's public transport infrastructure is not connected well to people's everyday needs and activities.
2.   The report recommended Brisbane be future-proofed through "integrated, evidence-informed" transport, land use and infrastructure planning.

I mean, these reports are becoming frequent and more blunt in their language. 

The writing style and the words used are the literary equivalent of the authors marching into Minister Bailey's office, grabbing a fistful of shirt and suit, hauling him to his feet, putting their faces five centimetres from his and shouting the above words through a red face, snarling teeth and projectile spittle.

Will Mr Bailey do anything in response? No.

[#Metro]

Just let's get bus reform please. Four years since the new bus network proposal, it just needs to get done.

[ozbob]

Facebook ..

[#Metro]

We have to be careful here.

How was 'Brisbane' defined? Was is the statistical area that includes Logan and Redcliffe/Pine rivers or is it just the BCC area??

[ozbob]

We have to be careful here.

How was 'Brisbane' defined? Was is the statistical area that includes Logan and Redcliffe/Pine rivers or is it just the BCC area??

If you have a look at the map on page 5 ( http://cur.org.au/cms/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/brisbane-city-score-cards.pdf ) it shows the wider area including Logan, Ipswich etc.

[verbatim9]

We have to be careful here.

How was 'Brisbane' defined? Was is the statistical area that includes Logan and Redcliffe/Pine rivers or is it just the BCC area??

If you have a look at the map on page 5 ( http://cur.org.au/cms/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/brisbane-city-score-cards.pdf ) it shows the wider area including Logan, Ipswich etc.

This report reinforces the need for new line extensions as well as off-peak timetable improvements to 20mins or better, 7 days including weekends and public holidays. The Gold Coast line to OOL, Toowoomba Line, Ripley Line loop back to Ipswich Central and Caloundra line with duplication to Landsborough should be built and operational by 2026!?

Light rail should be investigated on the Sunshine Coast Toowoomba and Cairns.

Rebranding of High Frequency bus services statewide to make it easier and simpler to understand and catch. e.g. "Go! Rapid" There could be other catchy marketing names as well.

Later bus  services in both directions to trains stations, especially from Bribie and areas of the Sunshine Coast. 6pm and 7pm very early finishes.

Extend the Airport line operations until 2330 7days.

Driver Only train operations should be in the planning stage now to cut across by the early 2020s with full Driver Only operations by mid 2020s

Gas Hybrid or Electric Articulated buses should be introduced to regional areas such as Sunshine Coast and Cairns

Full time Airport services to Cairns Airport

River Hills Centenary HF services should also terminate at Darra station when the Sumners Road upgrade is finished. That will be a huge improvement.

[#Metro]

If it is "statistical Brisbane" then I don't think much can be said.

I think of Brisbane as the BCC area. Only statisticians are interested in "statistical Brisbane ".

People living in Logan, Ipswich, Redcliffe, consider themselves as living in Logan, Ipswich and Redcliffe.

[ozbob]

Couriermail Quest --> Brisbane has worst public transport compared to Melbourne, Sydney and Perth says report

BRISBANE has the worst public transport access of Australia's four major capitals says an interstate report that puts Kilcoy and Boonah on the same level as West End and New Farm.

Scorecard and priority recommendations for Brisbane examined liveability indicators in Greater Brisbane, as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

That means it included usual suspects Brisbane, Logan, Ipswich and the Redlands and all or part of rural and regional areas Somerset, Lockyer Valley, and the Scenic Rim.

It stated only 12 per cent of residences in this vast area have access to a nearby public transport stop with a service at least every 30 minutes.

It's lower than Melbourne at 36 per cent, Sydney at 35 per cent and Perth at 18 per cent.

However, 61 per cent of 'Brisbane' residences are within 400m of a public transport stop with a less frequent service.

Greater Brisbane takes up about 1,584,196ha and has a population of 2,413,457 while Greater Sydney takes up less space at 1,236,819.3ha but has a population of 5,132,355.

Lead report author Dr Lucy Gunn from the Healthy Liveable Cities Group at the RMIT Centre for Urban Research said greater Brisbane's public transport was "not connected well to people's everyday needs and activities".

Dr Gunn said the scorecard results showed only 13 per cent of Brisbane suburbs had 15 dwellings or more per hectare and only 2 per cent had 30 dwellings or more.

"Our research shows 25 dwellings per hectare or higher is necessary to support active behaviours, such as walking and cycling, and public transport," she said.

The report recommended the State and local governments "increase and fully implement" a minimum housing density of 25 dwellings per hectare in suburban neighbourhoods and 30 dwellings per hectare in urban neighbourhoods.

Minister for Transport and Main Roads Mark Bailey said Brisbane was spread over an area

about 3000 sqkm larger than Sydney but with less than half of Sydney's population.

"So that decentralisation presents huge budgetary and logistical challenges to providing accessible public transport for every resident," he said.

Mr Bailey said the Palaszczuk Government would deliver Cross River Rail in Brisbane City and was in early planning stages of the Sunshine Coast Rail Duplication.

He said the government had already delivered the $420 million Gold Coast Light Rail Stage Two, $163 million duplication of the Helensvale to Coomera rail line and the $1 billion Redcliffe-Peninsula rail line.

Only 12 per cent of residents across Greater Brisbane live within 400m of a public transport stop with high frequency services.

A Brisbane City Council spokesman stressed the report included other cities, including Logan and the Redlands, and the State Government was responsible for public transport planning.

He said "nearly all" residents in Brisbane City proper live within 400m of a bus stop, providing easy access to the high-frequency public transport network.

He did not respond to Dr Gunn's comments about increasing housing density.

The report was a joint effort between RMIT, Australian Catholic University and University of Western Australia.

[#Metro]

A Brisbane City Council spokesman stressed the report included other cities, including Logan and the Redlands, and the State Government was responsible for public transport planning.

He said "nearly all" residents in Brisbane City proper live within 400m of a bus stop, providing easy access to the high-frequency public transport network.

Bus reform please!

Also see Brisbane City Council claim 'responsibility of convenience' in that statement above. The test for control, which was the 2013 bus review, clearly shows BCC controls bus route planning within BCC boundaries.

[achiruel]

So basically what Bailey is saying is that a succession of Governments (mostly Labor) over the past thirty years have allowed urban sprawl to continue unabated, without any kind of planning, and as a result they now can't provide proper public transport. Fair summary?

[verbatim9]

So basically what Bailey is saying is that a succession of Governments (mostly Labor) over the past thirty years have allowed urban sprawl to continue unabated, without any kind of planning, and as a result they now can't provide proper public transport. Fair summary?

Sounds like it