Article: Smarter and faster public transport: ex-chief's proposal

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Smarter and faster public transport: ex-chief's proposal

Smarter and faster public transport: ex-chief's proposal
Tony Moore
December 23, 2011 - 3:00AM

Translink needs a smart phone app to make public transport smarter, faster and more convenient, former Queensland Rail chief executive Paul Scurrah believes.

Mr Scurrah - who takes up his new job with QR National on January 4 - said this was one issue that Queensland Rail and Translink had not resolved before he left.

"What I would like to see is a smart phone application for Translink," Mr Scurrah said.

"I am a massive believer in convergence where everything is melting into one and I think the phone is the one thing you never leave home without."

Mr Scurrah said the smart phone was the crucial part of people's lives.

"It will fast become our wallet and it will fast become our car keys," he said.

"The quicker there is a smart car app for Translink or a credit card, or anything like that, the better."

Translink does now have a mobile phone site but a Translink spokesman said they did not have immediate plans for a smart phone application.

Mr Scurrah, who resigned as Queensland Rail's chief executive in November to take on the role of QR National's executive vice-president of sales and marketing, said a "Translink app" was unfinished business.

It would have been Queensland Rail's next request for Translink.

"That would be my suggestions to them," he said.

There is already a phone app called 'Go Brisbane', which provides public transport data for the city, though Translink has a rich data set to use in any "mobile phone app".

In a wide-ranging interview with brisbanetimes.com.au, Mr Scurrah said he believed Queensland Rail did have contingency plans to handle the rail commuter pressure when the 2016 deadline for an extra rail bridge passed.

The 2008 Inner City Rail Capacity Study identified "uncomfortable congestion" on Brisbane's rail lines if a second rail crossing of the Brisbane River was not found by 2016.

Brisbane's underground rail project - the $8 billion Cross River Rail project - is the state government's answer to this problem.

But even if Federal Government funding is promised tomorrow, the four-year project cannot start until 2015, meaning no solution until three years after the problem begins.

Mr Scurrah was "very confident that Queensland Rail and Translink can manage the last few years before Cross River Rail".

"There has been a lot of planning around handling a number of different scenarios and all I can say to customers is that they can be confident that passenger comfort will be at the forefront of those plans," he said.

That is at odds with the results from a Translink Tracker report last week that showed an increasing number of trains on the Gold Coast/Beenleigh line were becoming crowded.

When asked what if Cross River Rail failed to get the necessary funding, Mr Scurrah responded: "I really would be speculating and it is a lot of money".

"But finding the money is a challenge for whomever is in government," he said.

"My view is that it has to be treated as the priority that we saw it as, and it will be fantastic project for this city."

Mr Scurrah, who became a popular figure on talkback radio and with journalists because of his approach to personally answering questions, agreed that public transport had become a "talking point" in the community in recent years.

"It's a good thing. Public transport is making somewhat of a comeback globally for various reasons.," he said.

"Town planning is supporting density around public transport nodes and spinal developments.

"You have the cost of petrol which keeps going up and you have the cost of living as well and you have people who want to be environmentally friendly.

"All of those add up to a great demand on public transport and every time there is something that is popular it gets talked about.

"I am pleased to see it is on the agenda regularly and if there is a forum, then there is healthy debate."

Mr Scurrah was recently named Customer Service Institute of Australia's CEO of the Year.

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/smarter-and-faster-public-transport-exchiefs-proposal-20111222-1p6eo.html