Greens Transport Plan

[Jonno]

The Greens candidate for Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Andrew Bartlett, says his party's transport plans for Brisbane would alleviate congestion and provide more travel choices for residents.

The Greens propose a range of transport measures, including connecting cycleways, more public transport, supporting car sharing, more buslanes and transit lanes, safer bikelanes on roads, more pedestrian/bicycle bridges and more facilities at public transport nodes.

Mr Bartlett said "The Greens recognise there is now a large hole in the City Council's budget due to the long-standing debt created by the current administration's spending on tunnels and bridges that encourage more car travel, which has robbed Brisbane of vital services and programs, including genuine transport alternatives."

"The Greens believe we can still achieve significant advances in transport options and congestion reduction within the existing infrastructure budget by getting a better balance between spending that encourages private car travel and spending that helps reduce traffic."

"There have been some welcome announcements from the other parties during the campaign on issues such as cycleways and public transport, but they still reveal a piecemeal approach which prioritises car travel which eats away at our public spaces, disrupts our suburbs, pumps more pollution into our air, white-ants our city and its budget."

"We need public transport that is frequent, affordable, reliable and safe.  Studies continue to show that the biggest hurdle to the public taking up regular public transport use is having a reliable service.  Recent breakdowns in the rail system; regular problems with crowded buses leaving passengers stranded, and ever increasing public transport costs are making more people continue to choose car travel, exacerbating our existing traffic problems instead of alleviating them."

The slow take-up rates of the CityCycle program illustrate the problems with Brisbane's cycling infrastructure, making an important stepping stone for potential cyclists at best a slow-burning innovation.

"Until cyclists feel they can safely complete their journey through dedicated and connected bikeways, adequate and properly safeguarded cycle lanes on roads and adequate parking and changing facilities, cycling will remain the poor alternative. Telling cyclists they can almost reach their destination without being forced to share the roads with cars and trucks, is like saying their route from A to B is mostly not on fire."

"Car-sharing initiatives and transit lane programs would also drastically improve traffic conditions, lessen parking problems in the city and reduce costs for motorists.  Unfortunately, the BCC's past reticence in aiding the establishment of similar schemes has left Brisbane's residents behind some of our interstate neighbours."

A background paper exanding on the Greens' transport vision is available
http://qld.greens.org.au/system/files/private/Transport%20Backgrounder.pdf

Good policy.

[aldonius]

Link to what I presume is the background paper.

http://qld.greens.org.au/system/files/private/Transport%20Backgrounder.pdf

Human Transit reference...

[Mr X]

Good stuff.

Definitely way too late in the game to attract any good media coverage.