12 July 2010: SEQ: Network planning and co-ordination ...

[ozbob]

Media Release 12 July 2010

SEQ: Network planning and co-ordination - the second and third silver bullets to a world class 'metro-style' rail system Brisbane

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport commuters has called for rail to become the back bone and mass transit spine for South East Queensland.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"The rail and bus system in Brisbane needs proper integration to take advantage of the best features of both modes of transport and fight increasing car congestion. Currently buses are wastefully competing with rail for both passengers and capital funding. This is unaffordable, highly inefficient and it's unnecessary to run services this way.

"The fact that buses carry more passengers than trains should be a cause for serious concern, not celebration. A properly integrated network competes against the car, not itself.

"A properly integrated and coordinated network has buses collect dispersed passengers and concentrate them. Then they terminate at the nearest rail station to allow passengers to connect to trains in a coordinated manner.

"This keeps bus running costs down, improves cross-suburban travel and supports rail patronage. It is not good enough for the bus merely to pass the station on the way.

"Why is this 'Collect, Terminate and Transfer' philosophy is not happening in Brisbane? (1) Bus passengers are unnecessarily languishing in peak hour traffic on the Captain Cook Bridge, Coronation Drive and other congested roads in Brisbane.

"The interaction with mixed road traffic also damages bus service reliability, which will only worsen with time. Buses are also woefully overcrowded because they simply don't have the capacity. Integration is especially important for the Western suburbs, as it has no busway and no bus priority lanes on Coronation Drive.

"The solution is to get commuters off the road and on to rail."

The rail network provides:

* The highest level of safety
* The highest level of passenger comfort
* The highest level of reliability
* The highest level of speed
* The highest level of traffic priority
* The highest level of capacity (even more with the new Cross River Rail tunnel)
* The highest level of cost efficiency when fed by buses, rather than competing with buses
* The highest level of labour productivity, with 2 staff per 800 passengers
* The highest environmental benefits, and zero local exhaust fumes
* The greatest reach and coverage spanning all of South East Queensland, from Varsity lakes to Gympie North.

"The benefits of rail go far beyond that ever achievable with just buses on roads, even at high frequency.

"Many trains are brand new or recently refurbished. This safe, high-comfort, high speed and car traffic-free service has been starved of patronage due to wasteful bus competition. It is underutilised during  off-peak because of low service frequency, indeed rail frequencies off-peak are the worst in Australia!

"This situation must be fixed by boosting rail frequency to every 20 minutes off peak on all major lines, with the aim of making this every 15 minutes.  The immediate wholesale and systematic re-organisation of bus routes to feed, and critically, terminate at railway stations with effective coordination and timing of buses to make transfers effortless as possible is required."

Reference:

1.  http://www3.ttc.ca/Routes/Buses.jsp

Contact:

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org

[ozbob]

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