Article: New Redcliffe State Member slams $4 million Kippa-Ring bus station plan

[ozbob]

From the Couriermail Quest click here!

New Redcliffe State Member slams $4 million Kippa-Ring bus station plan

New Redcliffe State Member slams $4 million Kippa-Ring bus station plans

    by: Kay Picton, Redcliffe & Bayside Herald
    From: Quest Newspapers
    May 15, 2012 12:00AM

The future of a planned $4 million bus station at Peninsula Fair Shopping Centre is up in the air, after State Member for Redcliffe Scott Driscoll slammed the current plan and said it was a `monumental disaster' in its current form.

Former State Member for Redcliffe Lillian van Litsenburg told the Herald last year the station would be built about June, but construction has not begun.

"The Kippa Ring Bus Interchange... was doomed to not only fail in its current form, but worsen the traffic, pedestrian and bus movements in its immediate vicinity,'' Mr Driscoll said following briefings with Translink.

"I have been advised (the site) is several hundred car parks short already, of obligations under Development Application (DA) requirements.''

Mr Driscoll said he could not say when construction would start or if the project would definitely go ahead in the current location.

"With suitable car parks at a premium for local shoppers already at this shopping centre, I am determined to work towards a better site and/or model,'' he said.

Mr Driscoll said the project was in the preliminary stages of assessment and he would be working closely with the relevant government agencies.

"My other area of concern... is the possible threat it would pose to inflicting paid parking on Redcliffe shoppers down the track at a site already hundreds of car parks short of what's required and with a piece of infrastructure that would have wiped out a further 47 car parks,'' he said.

In December, Peninsula Fair centre management ruled out the introduction of paid parking.

If there is a decent bus network people won't have to park ...

Spend the $4 million elsewhere on the network instead, stick to your cars Mr Driscoll.

[SurfRail]

Yawn.  47 car parks = about 2 lightly loaded buses, of which there are several per hour already.

[HappyTrainGuy]

I don't really see what the major issue is. By itself it might be a pain in the short term but for the future it would pay off big time once the railway line opens up just down the road. If anyone has to drive there they would ideally park at the train station instead of walking a few hundred metres to the shopping complex or waiting for the bus to get there. Redcliffe already has pretty good coverage for the surrounding areas. It just needs a few routes reworked here and there and a frequency/running hours boost once the rail line is up otherwise its just another Chermside/Aspley/Geebung/Strathpine-Petrie repeat all over again.

[ozbob]

Media release 16 May 2012

SEQ: Kippa-Ring and the high cost of 'free' parking

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport passengers says the continued expansion of park and ride will make our traffic problems worse.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"RAIL Back On Track notes recent comments in the media by State Member for Redcliffe Scott Driscoll regarding car parking at Kippa-Ring (1). While there is some place for measured park and ride, the facts are that, due to the high cost of land acquisition, it is not surprising that calls for more park and ride have not been met."

"The fact is land costs money, so that cost has to be recovered somehow - recouped through shopping centre rents which ultimately are paid by all shoppers (even the ones that rode a bicycle or caught a bus there) or recouped through state funds (in the case of commuter park and ride). Indeed, there is no such thing as free parking (2). Just because the cost is hidden or obscured doesn't mean that we aren't all somehow paying for it."

"Car parks can easily cost $40,000 each. That's more than many brand new family cars cost at a car dealership! To fill ONE 65-seat bus using park and ride, you are looking at $2.6 million. For that amount of money you could buy two buses and employ two drivers and still have cash to spare. To fill ONE 1000-person capacity 6-carriage train using park and ride, you'd need to spend an astronomical $40 MILLION DOLLARS. Got money for that? We didn't think so either!"

"This is why you can't build your way out of car park capacity constraints. It is impossible to do."

"What is needed are decent bus services - frequent, fast and with a decent span of hours, 7-days a week. Where decent bus services exist and demand exceeds supply, charges for car parking should also be considered. Over in Perth, Western Australia, they already do this."

"The fiesta of concrete must stop, and money must go into decent around-the-clock services (3)."

"Free car parking for everyone is a myth and a fantasy. There is no such thing."

References:

1.  http://www.couriermail.com.au/questnews/moreton/new-redcliffe-state-member-slams-4-million-kippa-ring-bus-station-plans/story-fn8m0yu3-1226355214814

2.  How free is your parking? http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=l_O6dR7YfvM#!

3.  31 Mar 2012: SEQ: Quit insanity on park and ride woes! http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=8024

Contact:

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