6 Feb 2023: Council of Mayors Sky Taxi Announcement - An Early April Fool Joke

[ozbob]

Council of Mayors Sky Taxi Announcement - An Early April Fool Joke

6th February 2023

The 'excited' Sky Taxi announcement by the SEQ Council of Mayors led by the Brisbane Lord Mayor has left RAIL Back On Track members, along with the many active and public transport advocacy groups in the region and ratepayers we are sure,  checking their calendars to confirm it wasn't in fact the 1st of April (1).

Choking congestion, spiralling cost of living, housing crisis, dozens of bus services cancelled every day, trains that only come every 30 minutes, many train stations not upgraded since the 1920s nor wheelchair accessible, all culminating in active and public transport levels at worst practice levels in SEQ. Yet here is Brisbane Lord Mayor and his merry band of Mayors spruiking Sky Taxi's that hold 4 people!

Over and over RAIL Back on Track has highlighted that the only cities to reduce congestion have prioritised active and public transport and built compact, mixed-use, diverse housing cities. Yet the Lord Mayor and his Council of Mayors continue to do the exact opposite ... and the tax and rate payers of SEQ get to foot the bill.  The joke is well and truly on the people of SEQ.

SEQ is in the middle of an active and public transport policy and leadership failure that costs each tax and rate payer dearly every day. The State Government can no longer sit on its hands and must immediately take over all public transport administration via a Public Transport Authority ( we suggest PTQ - Public Transport Queensland). BCC must be relegated to being an operator with all routes open to competitive tendering.

The Public Transport Authority must have sole responsibility for leading, planning and running services and the removal of any service planning or design by local Councils.
No limitations or restrictions to PTQ's ability to plan or run their services (e.g. services limited to Council boundaries) and consistent branding across rail, light rail, BRT, buses and ferries irrespective of service provider particularly BCC.

Further, the State Government must mandate changes to the SEQ City Plans to enforce walkable/transit oriented 15 minute neighbourhoods in all urban and commercial areas with liveable street,  e.g. #DensityDoneWell, #MissingMiddle and mixed-use development in local, district and regional centres, increased densities around all rail/busway stations and key transport interchanges/centres, and the removal of all car-parking minimums and setting of maximums in key commercial and employment.

The Brisbane Lord Mayor and SEQ Council of Mayors have wasted enough ratepayer funds and need to stop chasing pie in the sky ideas (pun totally intended) and focus on what has worked overseas. Cities like Vancouver, Paris, Copenhagen, Milan, Brussels, Vienna have upwards of 60% of trips by active and public transport.  What makes these cities similar is that they are multi-modal, compact, walkable, safe for cycling unlike SEQ.

There are MUCH more pressing matters in our public transport that need to be fixed before floating air taxi nonsense.

Some key deficiencies on the SEQ Council of Mayors marketing spin on 'air taxis' and why it is largely irrelevant:

- The capacity of a single route between two landing sites as 'estimated' at 120 passengers/hr/direction based on a 2 minute frequency.

- Note that this is extremely low, about 18 times lower than a car lane, so can't be a substitute for PT or mass transport.

- When the (high) fares are released, even less of a substitute for car and PT.

- Cannot be used to "reduce congestion" as it cannot scale for the reasons above.

- The absence of estimated patronage figures, a key omission.

- The absence of estimated fares or ticket prices, a key omission.

- The absence of insurance arrangements, a key omission.

- The absence of details of how  the service would work in the presence of multiple operators.

The Jetsons was a cartoon for kids not a Transport Vision (2). The report (1) relies heavily on company marketing material, and the SEQ Council of Mayors have failed in our view to properly consider the very pressing transport needs of SEQ.

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


1. Bringing Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) to Brisbane, South East Queensland (SEQ), Australia
https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/council-of-mayors.appspot.com/o/publications%2FCOMSEQWisk_BringingAAMtoAustralia_FINAL.pdf?alt=media&token=25451aee-7bb7-4558-a9ee-8d4c4c55bbe5

2. The Jetsons Season 1 Opening and Closing Credits and Theme Song

Code Select Expand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JQbeCAlF6s

[ozbob]

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