BCC: Massive spend on public transport

[ozbob]

http://www.campbellnewman.com.au/articles/massive-spend-on-public-transport.html

Massive spend on public transport

Written on the 17th of June 2009

A new rapid transit bus service to rival light rail will be launched in Brisbane?s CBD next year as part of Lord Mayor Campbell Newman?s massive $164 million public transport investment in 2009/10.

Dubbed the ?City Glider?, the service will link West End, South Brisbane, the CBD, Fortitude Valley and Newstead, helping reduce vehicle congestion in the inner-city.

The glider, which will be formally launched next year, is part of a massive $100 million-plus investment in all forms of public and active transport, such as buses, hire bikes and ferries.

Highlights include:

? 125 new buses - $59 million
? Two new bus depots (north and south) - $49 million
? New cycleways - $33 million
? Two new CityCat ferries to bring the fleet size to 16 CityCats - $6 million
? New bike hire scheme for Brisbane - $1.6 million

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said the City Glider route would initially be serviced by distinctively painted existing rigid and articulated buses, before those vehicles were replaced by large tram-like buses.

The service would initially cost $4.5 million and be introduced around the time of the opening of the CLEM7 tunnel, from Woolloongabba to Bowen Hills.

?Our study found that we could provide these City Glider tram-like vehicles at a fraction of the cost of light rail,? Cr Newman said. ?Our aim is to move people quickly and safely.?

The record bus funding was in response to a jump in bus patronage from 48 million a year at the 2004 election, to 78 million in 2009 ? largely due to Council?s policy of providing brand-new, airconditioned, environmentally friendly buses.

During 13 years of Labor, bus patronage increased from 44 million to 48 million.

The Lord Mayor said the CityCat fleet would have doubled in size to 16 ferries in six years.

The CityCycle bike hire scheme would open in 2010, and eventually grow to 150 bike stations between Newstead and the University of Queensland.

Council would to spend $5 million to improve cycle safety, such as cyclist priority ?jumps? at traffic signals, bicycle awareness zones and cycle lanes.

?The CityCycle bike hire scheme will eventually add 2000 bikes to our inner-city roads so we need to make sure the city is ready for them,? the Lord Mayor said.

?We?ve already reduced the speed limit in the CBD to 40km/h. The additional record public transport funding should get a great deal of cars off the road.?

Over $14.5 million would be spent connecting and expanding the bikeway network this year.

A vital 300m missing link in the RiverWalk at Cutters Landing would cost $2.6 million.

More end-of-trip facilities, including bicycle racks and parking shelters, will be rolled out across the city while $1.2 million will be spent over four years to improve bikeway safety signage, including distance markers.

And for the first time ever, Brisbane City Council will have a $2 million Cycling and Pedestrian Blackspots Program.

?This will help us address problems as they arise to make the network safer,? he said.

The popular Active School Travel program has been extended, involving 47 schools.

The Lord Mayor said the program had prompted a record 25 per cent decrease in sole family car travel to and from school, saving over 2 million kilometres of vehicle travel and preventing 550 tonnes of emissions being spewed into the atmosphere.

There was a 19 per cent increase in children walking to school.

?This is about encouraging healthy behaviours at a young age and it?s great to see how successful the program has been so far,? Cr Newman said.

[Ends] June 17, 2009

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

New City Glider bus service for Brisbane

New City Glider bus service for Brisbane
Tony Moore
June 17, 2009 - 11:02AM

A $4.5 million mass transit bus service will run through Brisbane's city heart every 10 minutes from next year, linking the Cultural Centre, with South Brisbane, the CBD, Fortitude Valley and Newstead.

This is a key feature of Brisbane City Council's $3.45 billion 2009-10 Budget, which includes $1.53 billion roads, transport and other capital works projects.

The new mass transit bus service - dubbed the City Glider - will launch around the same time as the Clem 7 tunnel in mid-2010.

Ratepayers will also be offered the choice of having a new "green waste" bin for a one-off $55 fee, and a second yellow-top recycling bin, also for $55, but not until July 2010.

These bins will be optional and also collected fortnightly, but will not include an extra collection fee, Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said during his sixth Budget this morning.

"This will stop overflowing recycling bins at homes or recycling material being put straight into the general waste bin and going straight to landfill," Cr Newman said.

As reported earlier, rates for home owners rise 6.45 per cent - described by Cr Newman as a "modest" increase in a "workmanlike" budget.

"It has been a difficult and challenging budget to develop over the last two or three months with the various impacts from the global economic crisis," he said.

Council confirmed it would borrow $897 million to allow infrastructure projects to proceed - including $450 million for the Clem 7 tunnel and $155 million for the Hale Street bridge.

This means $445 million will be stored in Council's reserves, which includes $216 million for further TransApex projects and $177 million for infrastructure projects, attracting interest of $440.2 million in 2009-10.

More than $30.5 million will be spent this year on the redevelopment of Brisbane's City Hall, this week ignored in this week's State Budget.

Of this $30 million, $10 million comes from the Federal Government, while $18 million will come from Brisbane City Council.

Finance Committee chair Cr Adrian Schrinner said he hoped to raise $2.5 million from public fundraising in 2009-10.

Other highlights from this morning's budget include:

* 125 new buses: $125 million;

* CBD bike hire scheme: $33 million;

* The raising of $3 million in interest in the past 12 months by the $123 million City of Brisbane Investment Scheme;

* Two new City Cats;

* $190 million for green projects, including a major eco-park at Karawatha in Brisbane's southern suburbs; and

* SES workers will receive up to $500 a year as an incentive to stay in the service.

Cr Newman said the council had sidestepped a $45 million hit from the global economic downturn by saving an extra $50 million in savings by cutting council travel, employee courses, 10 per cent cuts to some community grants and the water tank rebate.