Proposed improvements to Macgregor (Garden City) Park and Ride

[timh]

I was speaking to my local Councilor (Steven Huang, councilor for Macgregor ward) at a community planning session he was running on the weekend. He brought up proposed plans by council to improve the Park and Ride facilities at the Macgregor park and ride which services Upper Mount Gravatt busway station and the Garden City Bus interchange.

For reference: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Macgregor+Park+and+Ride/@-27.5625219,153.0769146,18.5z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x6b9144ccc375c95b:0xe197916aa27f1b67!8m2!3d-27.5624929!4d153.0774873

Currently commuter parking is an issue at Garden City. There are very limited spots and there are often many cars parked illegally inside the Park and Ride.

From documentation I have read regarding improvements to busway infrastructure the State government doesn't want to improve Park and Ride facilities at UMG busway station because UMG is considered a principal activity centre. However I can't see a reason not to do it considering the current demand (aside from cost)

This is where Councilor Huang's proposal comes in. His plans are for a multi-storey carpark built on the existing land, with the first two floors leased out as retail. His plan is that this would effectively help pay for the Park and Ride over time.

I mentioned this group and Councilor Huang was aware of Robert and RailBOT's activities. I was hoping this could be something the group could get behind to help lobby support to the State Government, who currently have no interest in the project.

Robert: Councilor Huang was interested in speaking to you directly about this. Is there a best way to contact you?

Regards,

Tim H

[ozbob]

In the first instance just email at admin@backontrack.org

[techblitz]

Currently commuter parking is an issue at Garden City. There are very limited spots and there are often many cars parked illegally inside the Park and Ride.

that would mean the capacity of the park and ride isn't the issue but the capacity of the westfield shopping centre and/or its paid parking.....the whole area is a shitstorm of cars......its not even worth the effort trying to expand free car parking......it will fill up just as quick and we are back at square one..
There needs to be a more concerted effort to send commuters to the klummp rd park and ride where there is 10 minute peak 186 frequency where it also matches the busway routes on trip time to the city cbd.

To me this p&r extension @ macgregor would be just catering to people who 'want it all'...

1. Close access to a busway
2. Close access to a major shopping precinct
3. Close access back to their car >> whereby they can then help clog the kessels rd/logan rd intersection when they enter/exit the park and ride...

Further delaying buses trying to enter/leave garden city......even as little as 2 cars at traffic lights can make the difference between a 120 buz losing an extra 2 minutes as it gets hit with another set of light rotations...

Car needs to be reduced so as to help reduce inefficiency of the buses....more cars will just increase the inefficiency...

[SurfRail]

I doubt you will get much enthusiasm for more park and ride from most of us (certainly not me).

It's an appropriate treatment for places like Jimboomba on the urban periphery where there is no viable way to get meaningful public transport close to people's homes.  For somewhere as well connected as UMG it would be counter-productive. 

Spend the money on something more useful like extra services or bus stop upgrades.

[timh]

Currently commuter parking is an issue at Garden City. There are very limited spots and there are often many cars parked illegally inside the Park and Ride.

that would mean the capacity of the park and ride isn't the issue but the capacity of the westfield shopping centre and/or its paid parking.....the whole area is a shitstorm of cars......its not even worth the effort trying to expand free car parking......it will fill up just as quick and we are back at square one..
There needs to be a more concerted effort to send commuters to the klummp rd park and ride where there is 10 minute peak 186 frequency where it also matches the busway routes on trip time to the city cbd.

Agree that garden city and the paid parking is part of the problem, I guess this was just part of the solution.
For the record also this was just one solution proposed by the Councilor. His other proposal was additional suburban feeder style bus routes to be added coinciding with Brisbane Metro and the additional bus stock that would become available, so that rather than people using the Park and Ride, they could use the suburban feeder buses to get to UMG station. This is obviously the more ideal scenario, but to me, anything that encourages people to use public transport more is a good step.

Additionally, I was talking to the Councilor about having a higher frequecy "Upper Mt Gravatt loop" style service, like the City Gliders, in the medium to long term, which originate back at UMG station, to cater for when development there reaches the "mini CBD" levels they are hoping over the next 25 or so years.

I doubt you will get much enthusiasm for more park and ride from most of us (certainly not me).

It's an appropriate treatment for places like Jimboomba on the urban periphery where there is no viable way to get meaningful public transport close to people's homes.  For somewhere as well connected as UMG it would be counter-productive. 

Spend the money on something more useful like extra services or bus stop upgrades.

Fair enough if you guys aren't interested, that's understandable. I just thought I'd ask! Any improvements to infrastructure are better than none in my mind, although you're right that since State Gov money is so tight there are other parts of the network that definitely need to be prioritised.

[James]

Send Cr Huang a link to #Metro's New Bus Network - the number of people park n riding at Macgregor is probably due to the poor state of the network off the BUZ network in this area. In particular, the Logan Road corridor and the not-quite BUZ 174/175 arrangement.

See: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1wpo1rDYVfD9xbEQcLnZiy4RvroQ&ll=-27.434489139326896%2C153.00722300000007&z=10

I don't think you'll get gliders moving around Upper Mount Gravatt anytime soon, but this is a start.