Private Member Statement Queensland Parliament: Public Transport

[ozbob]

From the Queensland Parliament Hansard  9th June 2010

Private Members' Statements

Public Transport

Mr KILBURN (Chatsworth—ALP) (11.56 am): The people of Chatsworth are strong supporters of public transport. Since the introduction of the go card many people throughout my electorate have purchased go cards to benefit from the lower costs of travel as well as the convenience of using the go card. From the time that I was elected I have lobbied hard to increase public transport throughout the electorate. I am pleased that this government has been listening. We have increased services to Camp Hill, Carina and Carindale and I have seen the development of the park and ride service at the Sleeman Centre which has improved access to bus services for people living in the Gumdale, Belmont and Wakerley areas.

This government is also delivering on the South East Busway: a commitment of over $456 million. This busway is moving towards my electorate and will provide significant improvements in comfort and reliability to the many Chatsworth residents who travel to the city each day. Not only that, I am sure that it will be welcomed by the drivers who work in the Carina area. It is time that the federal government matched this government's commitment to the busway. I have joined with the members for Bulimba, Greenslopes and Capalaba in lobbying our federal counterparts to commit to provide funding for this important job. The south-east suburbs of Brisbane are growing rapidly and we need to ensure that the public transport infrastructure matches this growth.

I have mentioned that the number of go card users is increasing and growing and we need to ensure that we make it easy for them to purchase and top up go cards. I understand that any new system will take time to fully implement. However, it is important that go card top-up facilities are available in areas that suit the user. In my electorate, Carina News at Carina and Burstall News in Belmont have been waiting for a number of months for TransLink to provide the equipment to allow them to top up go cards. I have recently written to the minister to ask her department to develop options for delivering the equipment needed to provide go card top-up facilities more quickly. Due to the significant number of public transport users in the Camp Hill, Carina, Carina Heights area, I ask that these top-up facilities be provided to Carina as a matter of priority.

[ozbob]

My local newsagent has taken to compiling a petition in yet another attempt in gaining go card top up facilities ..

Interesting that an ALP local member would raise this issue directly in parliament ...  must be a lot of negative feedback.