Article: Council pushes out transit lane decision to 2014

[ozbob]

From the Couriermail Quest click here!

Council pushes out transit lane decision to 2014

Council pushes out transit lane decision to 2014

    by: Vanessa Croll, Westside News
    From: Quest Newspapers
    May 22, 2012 9:04AM

A Brisbane City Council promise to reinstate transit lanes on Coronation Drive after the Go Between Bridge was finished is still unfulfilled almost two years down the track.

In 2008, then-deputy mayor Graham Quirk told ABC News a T2 lane would be put in place on Coronation Drive once the Hale St bridge was completed. It was finished in July 2010.

"The T2 operation will provide faster bus travel and also will provide for up to 20 per cent of motorists to utilise that lane," Cr Quirk was quoted as saying.

Current Deputy Mayor and Infrastructure chairman Adrian Schrinner said no decision would be made on T2 lanes until after the completion of the Legacy Way tunnel at the end of 2014.

"Legacy Way is expected to reduce congestion on Coronation Drive by about 10 per cent on opening," Cr Schrinner said.

But public transport lobby group Rail Back on Track spokesman Robert Dow said there was no evidence there would be a major reduction in Coronation Drive traffic once the tunnel opened.

[ozbob]

More spin and bull by BCC .... hopeless ...

[somebody]

Yeah, but even there was a transit or bus lane on Coronation Drive Translink refused to properly utilise it, running buses along Milton Rd I/B rather than accessing the bus/transit lane via Sylvan Rd.

[Stillwater]

It has become part of the normal business of government at local and state levels in Queensland to consistently make, and then break, public policy pronouncements on public transport.  It does not happen in other states.

It is almost as though councillors and MPs believe that the promise to do something, even if the promise is not met, is not a breach of faith, but a sign of good intentions.  The politician involved becomes indignant when called to account for the promise, or undertaking, because they believe their personal standing is under attack.  They argue they have every intention of completing the promise, or that circumstances have changed.  Or they make the undertaking for delivery 10 or 20 years hence, most probably when they would have left public life and have no influence over the eventual fulfillment of the promise.

This practice has found it ways into policy and strategy statements (Connecting SEQ 2021, 2031, ..... 2045 etc).  The public, quite rightly, has come to the point of view that the promises are disingenuous.  The politician argues that circumstances have changed since first making the promise.  They say:  Oh, but now we have an $85 million debt, we can't achieve this or that.

Those kind of statements reveal the extent to which the councillor or MP did not bother to inform thenselves properly at the time the promise was made to ensure they could keep it.

Whether what we are seeing is a failure of personal responsibility or a failure of government to get all the information together first so that a sound undertaking can be made and the means established to do it, is up for debate.

[ozbob]

BCC has a habit of telling bull.  For example the great Legacy Way bus con ...  --> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=7886.msg90944#msg90944

And now the bull re Coronation Drive.  Little wonder transport is grinding to a halt in Brisbane.  And road tunnels won't help much ... 

Public transport and transport planning should be removed from BCC, they are incompetent IMHO.

[somebody]

It has become part of the normal business of government at local and state levels in Queensland to consistently make, and then break, public policy pronouncements on public transport.  It does not happen in other states.

*cough* NSW *cough*

It's a bit different there though.  A number of misguided promises were made, and continue to be made.  And the breaking of the promises managed to see a couple of Premiers removed.  Bob Carr was somehow removed from that though, with his Redfern to Chatswood tunnel promise of 15 years or so ago.  Perhaps that was just a proposal.

Here you get promises being made that they never had any intention of following through on.  Arguably, the example above falls into that category.

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

23 May 2012

Bus bull

Greetings,

Our road system is breaking down into a mess of trauma and congestion.   Brisbane City Council and the former State Government have both contributed to this failure.

One of the great failings is the the lack of a patent bus connection between Legacy Way and the Inner Northern Busway.  Legacy Way was suggested by the former Lord Mayor of Brisbane in 2010 as being able to be utilised by '2000 express buses daily'.

A nonsense.  See --> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=7886.msg90944#msg90944  It is incredible to consider that public funds are being wasted on more car-centric-congestion-chaos without consideration of real solutions.

BCC has now back pedalled on their previous committment to reinstate T2 lanes on Coronation Drive " deputy mayor Graham Quirk told ABC News a T2 lane would be put in place on Coronation Drive once the Hale St bridge was completed. It was finished in July 2010 " see --> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=8375.msg98274#msg98274

The Sir Fred Schonell Drive congestion also needs rapid attention and T2 lanes.  See -->  http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=8291.0

It is clear that BCC is not able to properly handle public transport integration and planning.  One bus removes 50 cars off the road.  Time to get with it and sort this mess.

Best wishes
Robert

Robert Dow
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