Courier Mail Editorial: Tugun party doesn't hide failure

[ozbob]

From Courier Mail click here!


Tugun party doesn't hide failure

Tugun party doesn't hide failure
Article from: The Courier-Mail

May 31, 2008 12:00am

NO doubt the planning and preparation for tomorrow's opening of the Tugun bypass started months ago.

Given the State Government's addiction to spin over substance, getting ready for the opening probably demanded almost as much application and effort as the building of the road itself. For this is surely the most celebrated 7km of bitumen the Main Roads department has ever produced.

Whenever it has sought to deflect attention from its sorry record on planning and building road infrastructure ? and that is often ? the Government has dispatched a minister, usually the expansive Paul Lucas, to boast about the economic riches that will accrue to Queensland with the building of the Tugun bypass.

Not to be outdone, Premier Anna Bligh actually blew her stunt-happy deputy out of the water this month by stamping her feet and declaring her Government would not pay a $235,000 land tax bill related to the project that the NSW Government said it was going to waive anyway.

Meanwhile, back in Brisbane and along the coast not 5km from the bypass, congestion on the roads continues. At Tugun tomorrow, no one in the Government is likely to mention the gridlock that motorists have had to endure this week as single mishaps turned the state capital's major arterials into car parks.

And there will be a less-than-enthusiastic response to any questions about the future snarls created by the plethora of road construction projects made urgent by the Government's lack of proper transport planning.

This failure to plan for the medium to long term has meant the Government is constantly forced to make transport decisions that paper over some or other flaw ? or temporarily resolve a political problem ? but are bound to cause problems later on.

Witness the knots in which it has tied itself over the Brisbane Airport roundabout, one of southeast Queensland's most frustrating road junctions. Not to mention the on-again, off-again saga of the Petrie to Kippa-Ring rail line ? currently off again (sort of) while the Government decides whether it wants the transport corridor to be a road, a busway or a rail line.

Then there was the decades of delay and uncertainty surrounding the proposed western bypass, now scrapped by the Bligh Government in favour of a number of other "options" but whose fate, according to Mr Lucas, is "subject to further analysis of traffic volumes, engineering and environmental considerations, costing and public consultation".

Sadly for Mr Lucas, about the only thing about him that impresses at the moment is the inventiveness of his language in explaining why he has done nothing to truly fix these problems.

Combine all this with the botched introduction of its public transport smartcard and we wonder how anyone in the Government would have reason to boast tomorrow.

Despite the largely positive story of the Tugun bypass, it remains that every image of a minister in a hard hat in recent months has told southeast Queensland motorists one thing ? they are paying an increasingly high price for the policy failings and mistakes of their political representatives.

[ozbob]

There is an interesting collection of letters to the Editor in today's Courier Mail (May 31st) again highlighting that members of the good public are alert to the major transport and infrastructure failings.

There are solutions.  Will they (Government) listen?

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Media Release 30 May 2008

SEQ:  More trains are urgently needed!

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport users has called for a commitment to the acquisition of a further 50 three car urban/interurban trains. The money should be redirected from the flawed road and road tunnel projects that will only compound the public transport crisis in south-east Queensland as oil shortages and fuel prices impact severely.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

?RAIL Back On Track has consistently highlighted the need to put in place sustainable mass transit and freight transport solutions.?

?It is clear that there is a massive shift under way in the major cities of Australia to public transport.  This is being driven by the relentless price rise of oil which will only continue as this commodity becomes exhausted.?

?The failure to pro-actively put in place sustainable mass transit options in south-east Queensland is now obvious to all. Come for a ride on the 6.44am QR urban service from Oxley to the CBD next Monday morning and see for yourself!  Ask the stranded commuters at bus stops as full buses pass them by!?

?Queensland is not unique in terms of this public transport myopia. A report in the Sydney Morning Herald today has highlighted the same basic problem of not enough public transport resources in Sydney for example (1).  Melbourne is also desperately trying to cope with an overloaded public transport system due to years of inadequate resourcing and the perverse outcomes of the privatisation of public transport.?

?There are global signs too. For example, in the USA there has been the fall in vehicle miles travelled for the first time since 1979 (2).?

?The huge bias to road funding is now completely misplaced.  We need more rail infrastructure, urban, interurban and national.?

?QR needs another 50 three car trains additional to the 44 presently being rolled out as soon as possible.  This will give some of the capacity that is so desperately needed now let alone for future demands.?

?The present 44 three car trains being progressively introduced are the first new trains on the system in seven years. During that time passenger numbers have increased by at least 40%.  The new 44 three car trains only give an increase in capacity of 30%.  The 44 new trains don?t even cover the increases in recent passenger loadings let alone future demands.?

?Some of the Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) trains are approaching 30 years of continuous operation. Apart from the time in servicing and refurbishment works, these trains run daily our rail network.  A sterling effort, but these units will eventually need replacement too.  This makes the timely forecast and placement of new rolling stock even more critical.  Rail is an investment for the future.?

?The Queensland Sustainability Minister McNamara recently warned of looming oil shortages and the need to prepare now. The nation and the state are wasting billions of dollars on roads, bridges and tunnels which will become useless as peak oil shortages hit.?

?We need to act pro-actively. Build the railway line from Petrie to Kippa Ring whilst we still can. The line from Darra to Richlands has started, stop messing around and push it through to Springfield now rather than wait till 2015.?

"Rather than build road tunnels, a heavy rail underground loop extension is needed to provide the capacity to service the inner city areas with high frequency, high capacity services."

?The main western line needs capacity, a quadruplication project from Darra to Ipswich will give that capacity.?

?Translink (and government) are transfixed on buses.  It isn?t working now and won't work when the fuel escalates greatly in costs either.  A 30% increase in passenger numbers across the system in the last three years is a harbinger of future shock. QR had a 9% increase in passengers in just a single year, 2006-2007.?

?The high capacity bus routes will need to be converted to electric light rail to have any hope of coping with the huge passenger demands that will be made on the system. Buses will not cope.  To pretend buses will is absolute folly. The Gold Coast Rapid Transit system should be light rail to be sustainable and be able to handle the passenger loading demands.?

?Rail ? light and heavy, is the sustainable bulk people mover.  By ramping up the QR urban and interurban system to a high capacity frequent service this will take the pressure off the radial bus network. More lateral bus routes and feeder services will complement the high frequency rail commuter services.?

?Time that we act and look to a sustainable transport future!?

References:

1.  http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/petrol-crisis-fuels-crush/2008/05/29/1211654221491.html

2.  http://www.dot.gov/affairs/fhwa1108.htm

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org