31 Mar 2012: SEQ: Quit insanity on park and ride woes!

[ozbob]

Media release 31 March 2012

SEQ: Quit insanity on park and ride woes!

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport passengers says the continued expansion of park and ride will make our traffic problems worse.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"Governments of all levels are on a major reality avoidance mission - basic geometry suggests that when you have a limited space, whether that be a city or a station car park, if everyone tries to bring their cars into it, it is going to fill up quickly and then the space will run out. Basic economics - the law of demand and supply - suggest that if you give away something in demand for free, there will be excess demand for it and queues will form and it will be exhausted rapidly unless a charge is levied (1, 2, 3)."

"That's why we keep expanding park and ride, at a cost of around $30 000 to $40 000 per car space, billed straight to the taxpayer, the spaces keep filling up, cars enticed by the freebies spill over into suburban streets and the cycle starts all over again. That's a lot of money to spend that could be spent on decent public transport services rather than car storage space. You would have to spend approximately $40 million to fill up ONE 1000-person capacity Queensland Rail train using park and ride. Efficient? Good expenditure of cash? We didn't think so either!"

"A definition of insanity is 'doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.' This is the present car-parking paradigm, insanity."

"Let's face it. There is never going to be a solution until governments accept that park and ride is the highest cost, lowest capacity solution and that frequent, Toronto-style feeder buses are put on, connecting all-day train frequencies are boosted, and parking charges are levied. Perth, Western Australia has no issue charging $2 for car parks at high demand locations - you can even pay with their version of our GoCard (4). In Toronto, Canada, 98% of buses interchange with the subway system, using the buses to fill up the train system. Buses are brought right underneath or next to the station on dedicated bus ramps (5)."

"We understand that governments are reluctant to be seen to be introducing parking charges because it may offend some or look bad. Problem is, with the car park chaos and cars blocking residential streets and households and people being fined, they're looking bad anyway. Concession holders can be given a reduced rate (50% or 80% discount) to meet social welfare and equity objectives."

The solution is very simple:

1. Accept that park and ride is the highest cost, lowest capacity solution.

2. Put more feeder buses on and connecting train frequency all day.

3. Bite the bullet and charge for parking.

"Parking charges will raise money which can then be spent on improving cycling, walking and bus access to stations."

"It is time to quit the insanity on park and ride!"

References:

Supply and demand

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_price_system
3. http://www.investopedia.com/university/economics/economics3.asp#axzz1qY1mJjSc

TransPerth car parking

4. http://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/UsingTransperth/CarParking.aspx

TTC bus connection

5.

Contact:

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

[ozbob]

Discussion thread, Car parking solutions --> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=532.0

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

1st April 2012

Re: SEQ: Quit insanity on park and ride woes!

Greetings,

The car parking issue in south-east Queensland is out of control.  The simplistic solution is to build more park n' rides?  No it is not.  What needs to occur is to put in place better feeder bus options in conjunction with a measured park n' ride approach.  Brisbane City Council is touting a new bus route the so called ' Maroon City Glider '  whilst in the middle and outer suburbia citizens are being excluded from using public transport because they cannot park at the stations, and there is no bus they can use to get to and from the stations.  Where there are services the hours of operation are such that they services are useless for most commuters.  For example, Strathpine a major rail station the last bus leaves that station at 5.20pm.

Why is Brisbane City Council allowed to waste valuable service funds on duplicating already existing high frequency bus routes in public transport rich inner Brisbane?  Its mind boggling that there are so many potentially great feeder routes across the entire network but another duplicated inner city bus route makes its appearance first.  It is time that planning for public transport services was removed from Brisbane City Council.  They are not capable of supporting an integrated public transport network.  They waste massive amount of funds by operating bus routes in competition with rail rather than feeding a high frequency core network.

As Lord Mayor, now Premier Campbell Newman wanted the State Government to take over Brisbane Transport.  What a great move, now is the time for the Premier to act on this and match his past rhetoric.  Once TransLink has effective planning control over Brisbane Transport a much more efficient public transport network can be put in place.

Railway stations such as Dakabin and Gailes are acting as parking relief stations  to address the basic issues of the failure to provide effective bus feeder services.  The parking available is verge parking on the sides of roads.  Citizens are forced to drive to these locations as they don't have options as the so called transit hubs - parked out and mediocre bus services.  Frustrated citizens at Dakabin have started their own action group (see --> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=8020.msg93233#msg93233 ).

The new Government, Minister for Transport and Assistant Minister for Public Transport have an immediate task to begin to sort out this festering parking mess.  And simply wasting millions and millions of dollars on park n' rides is not the answer.

Are they up to it?

Best wishes
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

Media release 31 March 2012

SEQ: Quit insanity on park and ride woes!

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport passengers says the continued expansion of park and ride will make our traffic problems worse.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"Governments of all levels are on a major reality avoidance mission - basic geometry suggests that when you have a limited space, whether that be a city or a station car park, if everyone tries to bring their cars into it, it is going to fill up quickly and then the space will run out. Basic economics - the law of demand and supply - suggest that if you give away something in demand for free, there will be excess demand for it and queues will form and it will be exhausted rapidly unless a charge is levied (1, 2, 3)."

"That's why we keep expanding park and ride, at a cost of around $30 000 to $40 000 per car space, billed straight to the taxpayer, the spaces keep filling up, cars enticed by the freebies spill over into suburban streets and the cycle starts all over again. That's a lot of money to spend that could be spent on decent public transport services rather than car storage space. You would have to spend approximately $40 million to fill up ONE 1000-person capacity Queensland Rail train using park and ride. Efficient? Good expenditure of cash? We didn't think so either!"

"A definition of insanity is 'doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.' This is the present car-parking paradigm, insanity."

"Let's face it. There is never going to be a solution until governments accept that park and ride is the highest cost, lowest capacity solution and that frequent, Toronto-style feeder buses are put on, connecting all-day train frequencies are boosted, and parking charges are levied. Perth, Western Australia has no issue charging $2 for car parks at high demand locations - you can even pay with their version of our GoCard (4). In Toronto, Canada, 98% of buses interchange with the subway system, using the buses to fill up the train system. Buses are brought right underneath or next to the station on dedicated bus ramps (5)."

"We understand that governments are reluctant to be seen to be introducing parking charges because it may offend some or look bad. Problem is, with the car park chaos and cars blocking residential streets and households and people being fined, they're looking bad anyway. Concession holders can be given a reduced rate (50% or 80% discount) to meet social welfare and equity objectives."

The solution is very simple:

1. Accept that park and ride is the highest cost, lowest capacity solution.

2. Put more feeder buses on and connecting train frequency all day.

3. Bite the bullet and charge for parking.

"Parking charges will raise money which can then be spent on improving cycling, walking and bus access to stations."

"It is time to quit the insanity on park and ride!"

References:

Supply and demand

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_price_system
3. http://www.investopedia.com/university/economics/economics3.asp#axzz1qY1mJjSc

TransPerth car parking

4. http://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/UsingTransperth/CarParking.aspx

TTC bus connection

5.

Contact:

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

29th July 2012

The great parking failure

Greetings,

Here is a happy snap of the Klumpp Road Park n' ride, 2 Jul 2012, 10.43am.


http://ps4.tv/images/klumpp-rd-park-ride.jpg

Where are the cars?  It cost roughly $36,000 dollars per car parking space and it is not being used
(see http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=3899.msg27637#msg27637 )

As a RAIL Back On Track member has commented*:

" This is the typical view of the park and ride during weekdays due to the what i would call a fair hike to the nearest bus stop @ hibiscus and now the same distance (opposite direction) to the new stop at clairvaux mckillop college.

Call people petty for not wanting to walk the distance to the bus stops but this photo paints a 1000 words on what people think of the walk.Could also be the 120 deviation through griffith uni that turns people off this park and ride. Who knows. "

*http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=3899.msg105518#msg105518

A bus review is well overdue.  The parking mess also needs a review.  There are solutions, and simply wasting money on more acres of tar and cement is not the answer, is it?

Have a happy day and another week on the basket case that is the road and transport system in south-east Queensland.

Our public transport operators do a valiant job with the resources at their disposal.  Time the rhetoric was directed at the root cause of failure - mediocre Governments and their failing policy bureaucracies.

Best wishes
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

===========================



Media release 31 March 2012 re-released 29 July 2012

SEQ: Quit insanity on park and ride woes!

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport passengers says the continued expansion of park and ride will make our traffic problems worse.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"Governments of all levels are on a major reality avoidance mission - basic geometry suggests that when you have a limited space, whether that be a city or a station car park, if everyone tries to bring their cars into it, it is going to fill up quickly and then the space will run out. Basic economics - the law of demand and supply - suggest that if you give away something in demand for free, there will be excess demand for it and queues will form and it will be exhausted rapidly unless a charge is levied (1, 2, 3)."

"That's why we keep expanding park and ride, at a cost of around $30 000 to $40 000 per car space, billed straight to the taxpayer, the spaces keep filling up, cars enticed by the freebies spill over into suburban streets and the cycle starts all over again. That's a lot of money to spend that could be spent on decent public transport services rather than car storage space. You would have to spend approximately $40 million to fill up ONE 1000-person capacity Queensland Rail train using park and ride. Efficient? Good expenditure of cash? We didn't think so either!"

"A definition of insanity is 'doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.' This is the present car-parking paradigm, insanity."

"Let's face it. There is never going to be a solution until governments accept that park and ride is the highest cost, lowest capacity solution and that frequent, Toronto-style feeder buses are put on, connecting all-day train frequencies are boosted, and parking charges are levied. Perth, Western Australia has no issue charging $2 for car parks at high demand locations - you can even pay with their version of our GoCard (4). In Toronto, Canada, 98% of buses interchange with the subway system, using the buses to fill up the train system. Buses are brought right underneath or next to the station on dedicated bus ramps (5)."

"We understand that governments are reluctant to be seen to be introducing parking charges because it may offend some or look bad. Problem is, with the car park chaos and cars blocking residential streets and households and people being fined, they're looking bad anyway. Concession holders can be given a reduced rate (50% or 80% discount) to meet social welfare and equity objectives."

The solution is very simple:

1. Accept that park and ride is the highest cost, lowest capacity solution.

2. Put more feeder buses on and connecting train frequency all day.

3. Bite the bullet and charge for parking.

"Parking charges will raise money which can then be spent on improving cycling, walking and bus access to stations."

"It is time to quit the insanity on park and ride!"

References:

Supply and demand

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_price_system
3. http://www.investopedia.com/university/economics/economics3.asp#axzz1qY1mJjSc

TransPerth car parking

4. http://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/UsingTransperth/CarParking.aspx

TTC bus connection

5.

Contact:

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org