18 Jun 2012: SEQ: Northern Busway missing promised bus lanes

[ozbob]

Media release 18 June 2012

SEQ: Northern Busway missing promised bus lanes

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 calls for transit lanes on Lutwyche Rd to be reinstated.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"A QUT study several years ago (1) found that the T3 lane on Lutwyche Rd was well justified.  It is not entirely clear why it was removed, but it seems to be a policy which favours those living the most unsustainable lifestyles against those living more sustainable lifestyles by using car pooling and public transport.  Lack of bus priority increases the cost of operating the bus services."

"It has been claimed that removing the bus/transit lanes might speed up bus services because of the so called 'created congestion'. This argument is absurd in our opinion and has been shown to be false by even the RACQ's own research (2)."

"Bus services have significantly increased market share since both the RACQ and QUT's research (3)."

"For the foreseeable future, public transport along Lutwyche Rd will mean bus services.  There are no proposals for a heavy rail line and a light rail investment is unlikely with the current budget position.  Bus lanes were a promise of the Northern Busway, and are still included in Translink documents (4)."

"With the latest stage of the Northern Busway opening today, why are the bus lanes that are detailed on the publicly available project drawings have not yet been installed? Are these to be installed at some date in the future, or not at all? Could the authorities please explain why this is the case?

"It is disappointing that Brisbane City Council squanders public transport funding by removing and not supporting proper bus priority on the road network. Massive public investment in the Northern Busway is now stranded in part."

References:

1. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/2731/1/2731.pdf

2. http://www.racq.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/51243/Transit_Lane_Survey-_1996.pdf

3. http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=8503.msg100955#msg100955

4. http://translink.com.au/resources/about-translink/what-we-do/infrastructure-projects/northern-busway/100217-alignment.jpg

Contact:

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

[ozbob]

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