SEQ's public transport pressure revealed

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> City's living and working pressures laid bare

Latest data from three million train and bus trips stored on Go Card "smart cards" shows SEQ's "north-south" public transport system is not keeping pace with the widening distance between where people live and where they have to travel to work.

The data - analysed for the first time - calculates "workplaces" and "residences" and shows south-east Queensland's "north-south" rail system funnels commuters at an "escalating rate" into the Brisbane CBD.

However it has little "east-west" flexibility to get to jobs outside the city's CBD.

Most of Greater Brisbane's "east-west" flexibility is handled by buses, which are regularly running late, with only 84 per cent running on time according to Translink, well below Translink's performance requirements.

The implications of this latest Go Card smart card research will be debated at Tuesday's Australian Institute's Jobs Summit at Queensland's Parliament House in Brisbane, where deputy premier Jackie Trad and Treasurer Curtis Pitt will be keynote speakers.

Traditionally transport data was gathered by surveys, or travel diaries, until experts in London (2011) and Shenzen (2012) analysed "smart card" data to show future work travel trends emerging.

The "smart card" research is factored into future jobs planning in London and in Shenzen in China in trying to locate future jobs closer to residential areas.

In Greater Brisbane, the Go Card research analysis by the University of Queensland's School of Geography, shows the top six destinations for commuters as:

    1 - Brisbane's CBD,
    2 - The University of Queensland (UQ),
    3 - South Brisbane,
    4 - Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
    5 - Kelvin Grove campus and
    6 – Mt Gravatt's Garden City shopping centre

It shows the seven significant "residential areas" where commuters leave from or return to - are:

    1 - Bald Hills station,
    2 - Ferny Grove station,
    3 - Northgate station,
    4 - Darra station,
    5 - Goodna station,
    6 - Garden City
    7 - Eight Miles Plains.

However areas on the outer fringes of Brisbane City are the fastest growing population belts, while jobs are still concentrated in urban CBDs.

While rail is the main form of public transport, there is limited flexibility in Greater Brisbane, the research by Ming Wei, Yan Liu and Thomas Sigler found.

"There is a linear high intensity commuting pattern running from north to the south of Brisbane via the CBD, reflecting the large number of commuters travelling by rail along fixed routes," their paper finds.

"The highlighted train corridor shows that rail service plays a more important role than other transport modes such as bus or ferry in residents' daily commuting, and the distribution of rail commuters amongst all train stations is relatively balanced."

"But there is also a lack of east-west connectivity.

"Griffith University station, Sunnybank and Eight Miles Plain are important transit locations for public transport passengers, contributing to the centrality of Garden City to a more influential sub-centre in Brisbane.

"However, the connection between Garden City and Sunnybank is quite weak, indicating a weak connection of public transport between the two locations."

The research analysed 3.1 million bus, train and ferry trips over five days between March 4 and March 8 2013.
What the research found

    Mount Gravatt's Garden City Shopping Centre is increasing under pressure as a transport hub for the fast-growing southern edge of Brisbane and Logan;
    Rail is the major "north-south" public transport mode to get commuters to and from work; and
    Buses are struggling to keep pace in the "east-west" connections.

The new Moreton Bay Rail Link – running "east-west" from Kippa Ring to Petrie – will bring 600 trains to Redcliffe by late July or August 2016.

Tuesday's jobs summit predicts future jobs growth from five industries.

    Health care and social assistance
    Professional, scientific and technical services
    Education and training;
    Accommodation and food services (closely linked to tourism); and
    Construction.

Economist Saul Eslake, who will also speak at Tuesday' summit, said new jobs would come from Queensland's services sector.

"The mining construction boom is over forever, and jobs growth in Queensland will overwhelmingly come from the services sector from now on."

Meanwhile a ReachTEL poll of 1200 Queenslanders shows voters think the government should try to stimulate the manufacturing sector to create future jobs (27.2 per cent), but that health (19.5 per cent) and agriculture (22.8 per cent) had the best prospects for future jobs.

[ozbob]

Just goes to show our arguments for bus network reform are spot on.

Take a bow  Goodna --  don't have to make stuff up do we?

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

26th April 2016

Time to sort it!

Good Morning,

More evidence of the failure that is public transport in SEQ.

Brisbanetimes --> City's living and working pressures laid bare

It is not rocket science.

The overall strategy for sorting out public transport in SEQ and Brisbane is simple.

First: Steps must now be taken to sort out the Brisbane bus network. Turn Victoria Bridge into a green bridge, fix up the Cultural Centre Bus station, start reforming the bus network so that the number of near empty buses in the CBD can be reduced and buses deployed to the suburbs where they can actually service our community. Roll out frequent feeder buses to key bus and rail stations. Implement new cross suburban bus connecters.

Second: Fare review, time this was completed. Continuing to delay this essential reform is not acceptable.

Third: Advance Cross River Rail - this will enable the needed capacity on the rail network in SEQ, and importantly also deliver significant mass transit capacity into and out of Brisbane CBD.  Cross River Rail is equivalent to a 30 lane highway in terms of increased passenger mobility.

The recent Brisbane Council election highlighted the idiocy of public transport policy in Brisbane . It is clear what needs to occur from here. Brisbane City Council must either move forward with integrated public transport network reform or give all network planning over to the competent authority TransLink.

Best wishes
Robert

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

Reference:

1. 7 News  --> Brisbane outer suburbs losing on Translink incentives

[red dragin]

The rest make sense but Bald Hills as a significant residential area?

It's an interesting result. Is this a sign of people getting off the highway and "transferring" (and meaning that Murrumba Downs might actually work)?

[ozbob]

The rest make sense but Bald Hills as a significant residential area?

It's an interesting result. Is this a sign of people getting off the highway and "transferring" (and meaning that Murrumba Downs might actually work)?

" residential areas "  note the quotes in the article. 

They are actually implying not really residential areas absolutely but major interchange points  ...

[James]

It's an interesting result. Is this a sign of people getting off the highway and "transferring" (and meaning that Murrumba Downs might actually work)?

Yes. Bald Hills is only 34 minutes from the CBD by train, versus 24 minutes driving in no congestion. Realistically that figure would be closer to 30 minutes in the interpeak and 40-50 minutes in peak.

Murrumba Downs may work. The downside being that that part of the M1 is still relatively fast compared to going from Murrumba to Bald Hills - the worst part is the choke point leading up to the Murrumba Downs exit around North Lakes. The proof will be in the pudding though, P&R at Bald Hills is not big, perhaps the large one at Murrumba Downs may be enough incentive to get off the M1 that bit earlier.

[DayboroStation]

Brisbanetimes --> City's living and working pressures laid bare

Latest data from three million train and bus trips stored on Go Card "smart cards" shows SEQ's "north-south" public transport system is not keeping pace with the widening distance between where people live and where they have to travel to work.


It shows the seven significant "residential areas" where commuters leave from or return to - are:

    1 - Bald Hills station,
    2 - Ferny Grove station,
    3 - Northgate station,
    4 - Darra station,
    5 - Goodna station,
    6 - Garden City
    7 - Eight Miles Plains.

Would be interesting to see where Caboolture, Petrie, Strathpine, Carseldine, and Zillmere came in this list, as I would have thought they would have all had higher commuter activity than Bald Hills.

[Stillwater]

Surprised that one of either Petrie, Caboolture and Landsborough didn't rate high on the list.

[ozbob]

It is becoming very clear Mr Stillwater how flawed the the network structure actually is though.

For that we must be grateful.  Eventually, even incompetent governments will have to act, as it all collapses into a stinking pile of sh%t!

[Old Northern Road]

The rest make sense but Bald Hills as a significant residential area?

It's an interesting result. Is this a sign of people getting off the highway and "transferring" (and meaning that Murrumba Downs might actually work)?

Most likely people from North Lakes, Mango Hill, Griffin and Murrumba Downs using Bald Hills. Probably been an increase due to the mess going on at Petrie. I can't see why anyone north of Anzac Ave would use Murrumba Downs as they are coming from Narangba-Caboolture which have stations with full-time express trains.

[Stillwater]

"Public transport use has been increasing in all capital cities since 2004. Currently, one in six people in the capital cities uses mass transit for daily commuting.  To 2030, the public transport task will grow by 30 per cent — primarily through population growth rather than a significant shift in the proportion of people using public transport."

-   From BITRE Report

We're in a deep hole that's getting bigger ....

[Old Northern Road]

It's an interesting result. Is this a sign of people getting off the highway and "transferring" (and meaning that Murrumba Downs might actually work)?

Yes. Bald Hills is only 34 minutes from the CBD by train, versus 24 minutes driving in no congestion. Realistically that figure would be closer to 30 minutes in the interpeak and 40-50 minutes in peak.

Murrumba Downs may work. The downside being that that part of the M1 is still relatively fast compared to going from Murrumba to Bald Hills - the worst part is the choke point leading up to the Murrumba Downs exit around North Lakes. The proof will be in the pudding though, P&R at Bald Hills is not big, perhaps the large one at Murrumba Downs may be enough incentive to get off the M1 that bit earlier.

29min inbound, 26min outbound in the new timetable.

Due to congested on the Bruce Hwy between Anzac Ave and the Gateway MWY I can't see too many people using Bald Hills once MBRL opens. Off-peak though it will be quite an attractive option (assuming that there are still car parks available)

[red dragin]

I'll be able to report first hand. No longer working in the CBD so now one of the horseless carriage drivers between North Lakes and Carseldine.

PT could never get me to my new work, plus I need my car to drive to different locations throughout the day.