Article: Commuters face long haul

[ozbob]

From the Caloundra Journal click here!

Commuters face long haul

Commuters face long haul

11 Feb 11 @ 04:29am by Staff Writers

GET set for the great train race.

That's what Coast commuters are facing as rail timetable changes threaten to turn their working lives upside down.

The changes mean that commuters who finish work in Brisbane City at 5pm have only four minutes to make their train home or face a long delay for the next one.

In the morning the new timetable gives commuters just two minutes to get from Central Station to their places of work for the usual starting time of 8.30 or they will need to leave much earlier from the Coast.

Many say their working day will now be intolerably long, leaving little time for families at the end of the long slog.

It is feared many will resort to driving on the already clogged Bruce Highway.

Palmwoods resident Jeff Addison has commuted by train to Brisbane CBD for the past 10 years and is angered by the proposed timetable.

"I currently get on at 6.37am and off at Central by 8.16am and then on the way home I get on at Central station at 5.16pm and off at Palmwoods at 6.52pm,'' he said.

"The new timetable will see both of these routes changed. I will now have the choice of getting on at 6.40am and off at 8.28am at Central, which makes it hard to be at work by 8.30am (just two minutes later).

"Or I could get on nearly half an hour earlier at 6.17am and get off at Central at 8.02am to make sure I'm at work on time.

"On the way home the new timetable will have a Nambour-bound train leaving Central at 5.04pm (instead of the current 5.16pm departure). Who can leave work at 5pm, get to the station, find the platform and be on the train within four minutes?

"So we'll have no option but to take the 5.47pm train," he said. "The new timetable has not thought of Coast commuters whatsoever.''

Mr Addison said the proposed changes would see him paying $8840 a year ($17 a day, return) to commute to and from work by 2014.

TransLink held a community information session about the proposed changes in December last year in Nambour.

Angry Coast commuters made their concerns heard and now TransLink has promised to take the feedback on board.

Ross Richards of Landsborough is another commuter hoping TransLink listens to feedback.

"You tell me who can get to Central from more than 300 metres away by the time you get down the elevators and what not,'' he said.

"It might be all right for the people who work at QR right above Central Station, but for the rest of us there's no chance.''

A TransLink spokesperson said this would be the first major timetable change since 1997 and the additional revenue would be reinvested into improving public transport and adding another 305,000 weekly public transport seats to the network this financial year.

The changes are said to be to provide ``new services, new trains and new stations to give customers more regular and more reliable services.''

However, Member for Glass House Andrew Powell was not convinced and said he had been approached by more than a hundred angry commuters seeking his support to stop the changes.

"It's the timetable that has me (and commuters) most frustrated," he said.

"Before being elected I did the four-hour round-trip commute from Palmwoods to Central every day.

"I know how important it is to arrive at Central, and depart from Central, at a time that allows you to be in the place of work before the hour or half-hour, and leave on the hour or half-hour.

"To change arrival and departure times by 10 minutes, while not seeming much, will add up to an hour more of travel for commuters.

"That's a slap in the face to commuters.  It is unreasonable yet easily rectified."

Mr Powell is encouraging Coast residents to sign the e-petition  http://ow.ly/3j97k ,  write to Minister for Transport Rachel Nolan and keep contacting their local members of parliament for support.

[Fares_Fair]

Please note that the e-petition mentioned at the end of this story closed on 7th February, 2011.
The story was written last Friday 4th February when the e-petition was still open.

Further the cost of travel in January 2014 for the commuter mentioned, will actually be $34.00 return per day ($17 each way).

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[Stillwater]

Maybe people would be interested in the Sunshine Coast Regional Council's Sustainable Transport Strategy:
http://www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/addfiles/documents/opof/transport/sc_sustainable_tpt_strategy_1131.pdf

[#Metro]

Wow, this is great. Core Frequent Network, straight up on the first page:

To address these drivers, the Strategy sets out travel demand management strategies including the outline of a high frequency public transport network.

[Stillwater]

Not only that, TT, but the council also has endorsed the following Active Transport strategy.  Enjoy:

http://www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/addfiles/documents/opof/transport/sc_active_transport_plan_1113.pdf

Projects and a year on year budget will be developed consistent with these strategies.  And there will be an Annual Report published to measure progress.

One can't help but compare the approach of these documents to the inadequacies of the state government's Connecting SEQ 2031.