The Committee for Brisbane Liveability Survey 2018

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Thousands of residents have their say on what Brisbane should have

Thousands of Brisbane residents have said what they want to see in their city, with hundreds in support of trams, light rail and better public transport in general, while some residents just want a clean river, canals in the suburbs and happy people.

Brisbane Times and BDA: The Committee for Brisbane Liveability Survey has now closed, but more than 2200 residents completed the survey to tell us what they love and loathe about Brisbane.

The survey made it overwhelmingly clear Brisbane residents want better and cheaper public transport.

Hundreds of respondents called for trams, light rail or an underground to be introduced in Brisbane.

"A real mass transit solution that properly integrates heavy rail, light rail and bus, with better cross-city options," said one respondent.

Another respondent also called for a tram or light rail system to be implemented on the city streets.

"Brisbane seems to be one of the only major urban centres in Australia not seriously considering the opportunities a light rail network could offer in terms of renewing our streetscapes, enhancing civic amenity and improving access to public transport," they said.

Brisbane City Council ran trams between 1885 and 1969, running out to Toowong, along Ipswich Road towards Annerley and to Woolloongabba.

Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and the Gold Coast currently run trams in Australia.

Some residents who responded to the survey went to the extreme, suggesting free public transport while others simply wanted to be able to take their dogs on city ferries.

There was also a push for more green space, trees and better bikeways.

One respondent said they wanted leafier streets and a cleaner river as it was currently too brown.

"I've noticed a predisposition to gardens that are just a slab of lawn surrounded by a cyclone wire fence," they said.

"This is a much rarer sight in other cities. Improved landscaping and fencing requirements will gradually see this improved.

"Redesigning some public parks, such as the flood zone area in Greenslopes and Stones Corner, and the Oxley Creek area will be welcome improvements, bringing Brisbane into line with other cities."

Some residents had more unusual requests for what they wanted in Brisbane, including one resident who wanted to be able to freely ride their segway, another who wanted "happy people" in Brisbane and one resident simply wanted a Haigh's chocolate shop.

Other suggestions made:

    Congestion charge put in place when entering into the Brisbane CBD
    A dress code for Uber drivers
    Fewer bogans
    Another theatre
    Daylight savings
    More fountains
    More free activities
    No helmet laws
    River taxis
    water bottle refill stations

The Liveability Survey results and the planning implications will be further explored with lord mayor Graham Quirk during his State of the City address at a BDAC4B event on Tuesday.

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

25th June 2018

Brisbane Liveability Survey - comments

Greetings,

RAIL Back on Track welcomes the results of the Committee for Brisbane Liveability Survey as reported by the Brisbane Times (1). It is really not a surprise to us that improved Public Transport came out on the top of the list.

RAIL Back on Track acknowledges that people want trams or an underground subway to be introduced into Brisbane. However, we think more attention should be paid to infrastructure-free solutions such as bus network planning to improve public transport services in the short term.

"A key perception at a political and community level is that transport is seen entirely as an engineering problem. Network planning doesn't even rate a mention." said Robert Dow, administrator of RAIL Back on Track.

"So if a road is congested or bus service is not great in a particular area, the knee-jerk reaction is to consider high-cost infrastructure-only solutions such as light rail or subways."

"We call this approach 'pouring concrete on a problem'."

"When people suggest Light Rail or Subways they are really expressing their desire for fast, frequent turn up and go service associated with these modes of transport, not the vehicle itself."

"RAIL Back on Track supports major infrastructure works such as Cross River Rail and the Brisbane Metro, however, we have another idea."

"We call on Brisbane City Council and the Queensland Government to establish a joint commission that will review and reorganise Brisbane's entire bus network."

"Bus reform of the Brisbane City Council Bus network is the fastest way to supply cheap and abundant public transport to all parts of Brisbane."

"The beauty of bus reform is that it could be virtually cost neutral and completed within around 18 months with almost no new heavy infrastructure required."

"RAIL Back on Track has already developed a New Bus Network Proposal (2). It is already published on the internet."

"Under bus reform existing bus routes would be amalgamated to create new CityGliders extending to the Centenary suburbs and Bulimba."

"We think Brisbane City Council needs to have explicit conversation with the residents of Brisbane about what proportion of bus service should be dedicated to predictably low ridership social service bus routes, and what proportion of bus service should be dedicated to high ridership high frequency bus services like CityGliders and high-frequency BUZ bus services."

"Answering that question is not something that engineers can do. It is a values question that only the community can answer. It is something that Brisbane City Councillors from both sides of the council chamber need to think about."

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

References:

1. Thousands of residents have their say on what Brisbane should have
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/thousands-of-residents-have-their-say-on-what-brisbane-should-have-20180624-p4znfb.html

2. RAIL Back on Track New Bus Network Proposal
http://tiny.cc/newnetwork

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/1010921539368247296

[verbatim9]

I am glad Trams and Daylight Saving made the list. I agree if Trams were to make a return a segregated path would be essential. Underground in built up areas where Trams can run 80kph. I think trams would be good on some streets in the Suburbs like Hamilton Kingsford Smith Drive (outside lanes) shared with traffic and Nudgee road and the Doomben line converted into a tramway from the Eagle Junction diversion to Doomben.

Re Clean River - Weren't there plans to dump lime into the river upstream to help settle sediment?

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Matthew Condon: These are the things Brisbane really needs

TODAY our fearless leader, the Lord Mayor of Brisbane Graham Quirk, will offer his annual State of the City address.

This event, to be held at the Royal International Convention Centre at the Brisbane Showgrounds in Bowen Hills, will see Lord Mayor Quirk offer his vision for Brisbane over the next 12 months.

Clocks will stop around town and the CBD will fall silent as the populace tremulously awaits the mayor's predictions for the River City at a shindig not necessarily aimed at we common folk – tickets range from $150 to a table of 10 for $1850.

Still, every city deserves healthy debate about its future, as was reflected in a recent Brisbane Development Association: The Committee for Brisbane Liveability Survey. It asked residents what they wanted to see in their city and the results ranged from predictable to the outright bizarre.

Many wanted a light rail network, harking back to the glory days of Brisbane's trams, snuffed out by mayor Clem Jones in 1969.

Others wanted leafier streets.

Several survey respondents also complained that the Brisbane River was too brown.

Hear, hear! Let's hope mayor Quirk addresses this vexing issue in his oration.

It should be noted though, that there was no money allocated for changing the colour of the Brisbane River in the recent Brisbane City Council's $3.1 billion budget.

(Given the soaring price of our council rates, why shouldn't we demand a pink or orange river if we want it?)

Others surveyed said they wanted "a dress code for Uber drivers", water bottle refill stations and more fountains. One person said they wanted more "happy people" in the city. And another reportedly wanted a Haigh's chocolate shop.

Why won't Lord Mayor Quirk tackle these crucial, though complex, issues on behalf of his citizens?

Surely, with a multibillion-dollar budget to play with, he could shoehorn a few thousand "happy people" into the populace for the sake of our collective mental health.

Where do you find "happy people" to import? Who knows, but as our elected official it is Mayor Quirk's job to find out.

According to the World Happiness Report, the happiest country in the world is Norway.

What would it take for Quirk to make a quick phone call to Erna Solberg, the Prime Minister of Norway, and try and work something out?

Norwegians may eat a lot of boiled mutton, seagull eggs, whole sheep heads and cod's liver, but surely we could make these jolly new residents feel at home in the River City.

And what about Haigh's?

How can Quirk even approach the rostrum today and address the future of Brisbane knowing full well that there are seven Haigh's chocolate shops in Victoria, six in South Australia, and three in NSW?

There's even a Haigh's in Canberra, for crying out loud.

The recent survey was a continuation of an age-old debate in Brisbane. Who are we? How do we stack up against other capitals?

Newspaper archives stretching back a century are littered with reports of international visitors attesting that Brisbane was the "best city" in Australia and that it was guaranteed a bright future.

One respondent declared that they wanted "fewer bogans" in Brisbane. Could we swap them for Norwegians?

Lord Mayor Quirk, over to you.

Yes, Brisbane used to have its very own light-rail system. This is Queen Street in the heart of the CBD in 1914. Picture: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

[ozbob]

Brisbantimes --> New Brisbane River crossings unlikely unless for pedestrians

New bridges for vehicles to cross the Brisbane River are unlikely to be built, with lord mayor Graham Quirk saying pedestrian and public transport projects were the focus of the future.

Cr Quirk revealed that building river crossings was becoming more difficult in his State of the City address at a BDA: The Committee for Brisbane event on Tuesday.

"We're going to see a potential for more green crossings, but I don't think we're going to see too many more traffic crossings, to be honest," he said.

"I think there could be an opportunity around the University (of Queensland). West End and the university."

In 2017, peak motoring body RACQ revealed the responses to its Bridging Brisbane survey which showed the 12 bridges and tunnels residents wanted.

The response to the survey showed a majority of respondents wanted the proposed bridges to be for walking, cycling and general lanes of traffic.

RACQ head of public policy Rebecca Michael said traffic going into cities was becoming more congested and so the capacity of how many vehicles that could be brought into the city was being reached.

"It's important to build capacity for the future, but we have to be smart about it and where we're putting that," she said.

"We understand why they are envisioning a future where we can't keep building river crossings into the city."

Ms Michael said it was pleasing to see the council had the link between West End and St Lucia on its list for consideration.

Cr Quirk said the council would focus on public transport projects in the future.

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Residents want trams, but Graham Quirk says no

Old tram tracks and stops can still be found around Brisbane, but the return of the once-popular transport system is unlikely.

Brisbane lord mayor Graham Quirk said while there was a "romance" around trams, streets would have to be closed to accommodate tracks and stations.

The recent Brisbane Times and BDA: The Committee for Brisbane Liveability Survey revealed there was a strong push for trams as the one feature of another city that respondents wanted in Brisbane.

Brisbane City Council ran trams between 1885 and 1969, running out to Toowong, along Ipswich Road towards Annerley and to Woolloongabba.
Selection of survey responses:

    "Trams rather than stinking polluting buses"
    "As in Melbourne, bring back Brisbane trams"
    "We have a map of what we used to have with the trams – just re-build it. It works"
    "Trams like Melbourne just so able to move around the city more easily"
    "Trams linking north and southside"
    "Trams – a reliable cheap way to travel"
    "Trams/ light rail – someone have the courage to make it happen!!"
    "Trams – always sorry we got rid of them"
    "The trams being put back in place up and running"
    "Trams – they had them when I was a kid growing up in Brisbane in the 60s"
    "Trams running in a circle around the city"
    "Melbourne tram without getting your heels stuck in the tracks!"
    "Trams. Bring them back. They need to be as widespread as buses, and connected to train stations"

Cr Quirk said he was aware of the push for the return for trams following the survey but said the transport system was "limiting".

"The reality is, to do light rail you need a width of 7.5 metres for the tracks (and) you need a width of 14 metres for the stations – that's both Gold Coast and Sydney light rail dimensions," he said.

"That would close streets.

"For example, if you wanted to run one up Ann Street outside of City Hall it would completely close the street because you haven't got that width.

"That applies to most of our inner-city streets where you would naturally want them to go."

Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and the Gold Coast presently run trams in Australia.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/1012353242624241664

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/1012354720084574208

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/1012356792305647617

===================

Trying to do trams /  light rail in Brisbane is really the problem that Sydney hit in George St, it is untangling the massive mess of underground utilities etc.  This was also a major cost factor with the GC Light Rail through the built up areas.

The busways are not designed for light rail, which is a popular myth.  The only bus station that was done for light rail was Mater Hill, and after that they quickly abandoned any notion of light rail in all further busway construction.

Be happy with your bi-artics Brisbane, that is all you are going to get ..   

[#Metro]

The old tram network was mainly Priority C Row.
I don't think that can be built now as standards have moved on.

There may be limited routes for LRT in Brisbane, but everything we already have needs a lot of work.

[James]

Trams in Class C ROW deliver little additional benefit for significant capital cost - the trams still get stuck in traffic and require significant infrastructure (tracks, wires, substations etc). This isn't helped by a lot of our inner city streets being quite narrow, windy and with vision issues.

Better off with peak hour bus lanes where there's space.