Queensland Transport Strategy

[verbatim9]

• Make public transport faster and more reliable. This is the most important factor in getting people to switch to public transport. The current travel times for cross-city trips are too slow, and people are often frustrated by the unreliability of public transport. The government needs to invest in improving the infrastructure and services of public transport so that it is a more attractive option for people.
• Make public transport more affordable. The cost of public transport is often seen as a barrier to people using it. The government needs to make public transport more affordable, especially for low-income earners. This could be done by introducing a fare cap or by subsidising fares for certain groups of people.
• Make public transport more convenient. Public transport needs to be more convenient for people to use. This means making it easier to find and use public transport, and providing more frequent services. The government could do this by installing more public transport shelters, improving signage, and increasing the frequency of services.
• Make public transport safer.  Public transport needs to be seen as a safe option for people, especially women and children. The government needs to take steps to improve security on public transport, such as installing CCTV cameras and increasing the number of security guards.
• Promote public transport. The government needs to promote public transport to the public. This could be done through advertising campaigns, public education programs, and by making public transport more visible in the community

In addition to these suggestions, the government could also consider the following:

• Invest in faster rail to Coolangatta, Toowoomba, and Maroochydore. This would make it easier for people to travel to these destinations by public transport, and would encourage more people to use public transport instead of driving.
• Transition to electric trams, buses, and trains. This would make public transport more environmentally friendly and would also reduce the cost of operating public transport.
• Extend the busway from UQ to Indooroopilly. This would improve connectivity from east to west and make it easier for people to travel, as well as reduce overall travel times using public transport.
• Adopt Daylight Saving. Daylight Saving would extend the amount of daylight hours in the evening, which could encourage more people to use public transport. This is because people are more likely to feel safe and comfortable using public transport in well-lit areas. Additionally, Daylight Saving could lead to increased foot traffic around stations and stops, which could make public transport seem more appealing to people.

By taking these steps, the government can help to improve public transport mode share in SEQ and make public transport a more attractive option for people.

[verbatim9]

Some of these steps are being implemented, but as Bob said the targets are too low, so there is no incentive from the Government.

The Government needs to fast track the recommendations above if they want to reach higher targets.

A target of 20% would be a good goal, essentially doubling Public Transport uptake by 2032.

[ozbob]

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[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1652820533074096128

[ozbob]

Mastodon

[Jonno]

Agree 20% PT with 15% walking/cycling each (50% active/public transport) would be a great outcome by 2032.

This gets a long way closer to leading practice (I know someone hates this graph)

Leading Cities

[RowBro]

I strongly believe that there should be a toll to enter the city, similar to many European cities (even London!). This has two benefits. Firstly, it would make the cost of driving compared to catching PT larger which incentivizes more people who have access to PT to take it, and secondly, the toll collected from this could be put directly towards decreasing PT fares to make it even more accessible or putting it towards improving frequencies. The people working in the city and driving into the city (especially) are amongst the wealthiest people in the state. If they drive to work, even though they have the option to catch PT or use AT, they should be paying more.

[verbatim9]

50% is an unrealistic target, especially when active transport mode share is 2% right now.

Aiming for an overall 20% target would be a great outcome for 2032, 16% Public Transport and 4 % Active Transport.

[verbatim9]

I strongly believe that there should be a toll to enter the city, similar to many European cities (even London!). This has two benefits. Firstly, it would make the cost of driving compared to catching PT larger which incentivizes more people who have access to PT to take it, and secondly, the toll collected from this could be put directly towards decreasing PT fares to make it even more accessible or putting it towards improving frequencies. The people working in the city and driving into the city (especially) are amongst the wealthiest people in the state. If they drive to work, even though they have the option to catch PT or use AT, they should be paying more.

That's a good idea. The city centre shouldn't be utilised an arterial route from North to South either. Those people should be using the tunnels and bypasses.

[RowBro]

I strongly believe that there should be a toll to enter the city, similar to many European cities (even London!). This has two benefits. Firstly, it would make the cost of driving compared to catching PT larger which incentivizes more people who have access to PT to take it, and secondly, the toll collected from this could be put directly towards decreasing PT fares to make it even more accessible or putting it towards improving frequencies. The people working in the city and driving into the city (especially) are amongst the wealthiest people in the state. If they drive to work, even though they have the option to catch PT or use AT, they should be paying more.

That's a good idea. The city centre shouldn't be utilised an arterial route from North to South either. Those people should be using the tunnels and bypasses.

Yes, they really should. The problem is the only North to South connections east of Indooroopilly that aren't tolled right now are the Gateway and the Inner-city bypass which doesn't leave that many options if you make the Gateway tolled (which it essentially would be if you make the city tolled). Therefore, for it to work well, you'd probably have to drastically decrease or even remove the toll on either the Clem 7 or the Gateway bridge.

[Jonno]

50% is an unrealistic target, especially when active transport mode share is 2% right now.

Aiming for an overall 20% target would be a great outcome for 2032. 16% Public Transport and 4 % Active Transport.

Active Transport is waking/cycling is 12%.

https://planning.dsdmip.qld.gov.au/mtm?theme=connect

Walking is 10% and cycling 2%.  I think tripling that would be super easy especially in the cycling side. Best bang for the investment dollar.

[#Metro]

This gets a long way closer to leading practice (I know someone hates this graph)

Well. The graph has its limits. We have our own circumstances that need proper consideration. Like it's ~200 km between Gympie and Coolangatta, and our city centres are not primarily residential like the given examples are. (Gold Coast being an important exception)

It's also not clear (a) how the city boundary was drawn and (b) implies that what works for them will be appropriate for us.

It's like parading 10 supermodels on a stage and then suggesting that if we eat the same breakfast cereal that they do, we'll look like them too.

There are also less visible policies as well such as road tolling in Stockholm and high car tax in Denmark.

The only cities in Australia that graph would be valid for comparison for IMHO is Sydney and Melbourne. Brisbane needs something different that will work on a dispersed regional level.

A regional rapid transit model based around fast rail will be much more appropriate for us. I also think the CBDs for Ipswich, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast are really underdeveloped compared to Brisbane.

[verbatim9]

50% is an unrealistic target, especially when active transport mode share is 2% right now.

Aiming for an overall 20% target would be a great outcome for 2032. 16% Public Transport and 4 % Active Transport.

Active Transport is waking/cycling is 12%.

https://planning.dsdmip.qld.gov.au/mtm?theme=connect

Walking is 10% and cycling 2%.  I think tripling that would be super easy especially in the cycling side. Best bang for the investment dollar.

From my observations, I  really don't think that walking is 10%. They may have included people walking from the car parks to the offices as well as from the bus station to the offices. They could of included office workers walking to the cafes at lunchtime as well as people walking in shopping centres to get that figure.

If walking really was 10% of mode share, you would see thousands of people on the footpaths throughout SEQ everyday. That's just not the case.

[#Metro]

Verbatim9 on a suburb level analysis I believe Aldonius did a little while ago it's CBD workers and visitors walking to and from work and on their lunch break.

[verbatim9]

Census 2021 Data states

On Census Day 2021 in Australia, 56.6% of people travelled to work in a private car, 4.5% took public transport and 3.2% rode a bike or walked. 21.0% worked at home.

This was also during Covid where people were encouraged to go out for walks as they avoided indoor spaces like gyms.

[verbatim9]

Verbatim9 on a suburb level analysis I believe Aldonius did a little while ago it's CBD workers and visitors walking to and from work and on their lunch break.

Yes,  just around the CBD to and from cafes, and at the beginning and end of each work day to and from King George Sq Station and Central station. A few walk via QUT to Southbank station to get their exercise. It's unlikely to be 10% mode share though. One would have to be pretty naive to think that.

[Jonno]

Irrespective of whether the number is 0% or 10% it sh%thouse on anyone's scale.  The 80% is getting worse and there are no plans to change. 

[ozbob]

ABC --> Private vehicle usage must be halved to cut emissions, Climate Council says

[#Metro]

Transport expert Matthew Burke said Australia does not have the network available for such an increase in public transport.

"We haven't got a snowflake's hope in hell of tripling public transport use," he said.

"Most of the trips that people do in suburbia are simply not supported by the current public transport networks that we have."

I don't really see much potential for growth during the peak time for PT. During the peak times there already is a lot of service, there are bus rockets galore, and door-to-door journey times on both cars and PT tend to equalise. In essence, roads become congested until catching PT becomes viable.

Following this logic, it suggests that the rest of the day - the off-peak- is where the money is at.

We also have good reasons to believe that this is the case. We can see the massive patronage increases during a step-change when the BUZ network was introduced from 2003/2004. Patronage was doubling or more, and most of these increases happened outside of peak hours. See https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/6058?show=full

Given that the following is true: No. buses during peak > No. buses during off-peak, it also means that the number of buses on hand is already sufficient to run boosted services in the off-peak. The missing ingredient is labour to fund drivers to drive the buses, and a simplified and condensed bus network that allows buses to serve more train stations.

Turning to trains, the main issues here are (a) access time to the station, (b) waiting 15-30 minutes for the actual service to turn up, and (c) slow average train speeds (35-40 km/hr generally). Each of these can be addressed by making the trains more frequent, and making the average speed much faster to compensate for the wait time and the station access time.

 

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

Climate Council Says Cut Private Car use to Cut Emissions - boost public and active transport

23rd May 2023

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) has welcomed calls by the Climate Council to cut private vehicle usage to reduce emissions.

The Climate Council has said that private vehicle usage must be halved to cut emissions. We agree. The Climate Council suggests a 49% public transport mode share and a 15% active transport mode share. In our view, to reach a 50% public transport mode share for public transport, public transport options would have to be as competitive as car trips in the off-peak, time and cost factors all considered. This is a high bar. However, we can pursue this target with a Regional Rapid Rail network, more frequent trains, and a rationalised Brisbane City Council bus network that feeds rather than starves the train network.

So what needs to happen? Basic train frequency to all suburban train stations on the Queensland Rail network needs to be brought to a contemporary standard of services every 15 minutes all day. All day express trains need to be introduced to the Ipswich line. And infrastructure works should be considered to raise the average speeds of trains on the Gold Coast and Caboolture/Sunshine Coast lines to support 160-200 km/hr train running.

These potential speed increases on the train network take advantage of some simple facts:
- Cars are  limited to travel at 100-110 km/hr
- Cars travel at much slower speeds during peak hour traffic
- Cars offer a very low maximum capacity of just 1800 vehicles/hr/direction per additional lane (about 2160 passengers/hr/direction)

In our view, motorway projects therefore represent high cost, low capacity value propositions when judged against a genuinely world-class regional commuter railway network.

It may surprise many to know that Perth runs more frequent trains to more stations than we do. Perth achieves this with a lower population and a lower density than we do, which speaks to just how normalised poor all day train frequency has become to the Transport and Main Roads Department and the Queensland Government. If a motorist would not wait 30 minutes for a red light to turn green, why would a public transport user wait 30 minutes or longer, for a train or bus to turn up?

Once again, we thank the Climate Council for their call to reduce car use and emissions. And as we all know and need to be reminded, there really is no planet B.

References:

Private vehicle usage must be halved to cut emissions, Climate Council says
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-22/climate-council-transport-report-more-public-active-transport/102374038

Transperth versus Translink (SEQ): RAIL Back On Track reveals extent of poor train service in Greater Brisbane
https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=14732.0


image:  https://backontrack.org/docs/metro15/metro_15min_1c.png

Has the Palaszczuk Government thrown in the 'public transport towel'?
https://railbotforum.org/yourls/5p (FB)
1st May 2023

====

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

[ozbob]

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Climate Council Says Cut Private Car use to Cut Emissions - boost public and active transport 23rd May 2023 RAIL Back...

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[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1660755607954292750

[Jonno]

Be like Vancouver

https://twitter.com/yfreemark/status/1683858671741050883?

[#Metro]

Vancouver
—2.6 m metro area residents
—1.1 m daily transit riders in Q1 2023 (TransLink)
—720k daily bus riders

Interesting.   This is enough information to pull out a all-day mode share PT=X% figure.

We will need to assume an average trip generation rate, which I would put as 3.3 trips per day (the SEQ value).

2.6 million residents x 3.3 daily trip generation rate = 8.58 million trips (all modes)

1.1 million trips on transit / 8.58 million trips gives PT= 12.8% mode share across the catchment.

This is a lot lower than the figures that appear elsewhere.