Articles: CBD mass transit study

[ozbob]

From Courier Mail click here!

CBD mass transit study

CBD mass transit study
Article from: The Courier-Mail

By Steven Wardill

June 05, 2008 10:40am

A FULL-SCALE feasibility study will be undertaken into a mass transit system to link Newstead with West End.
Premier Anna Bligh this morning announced in Parliament plans to investigate using light rail, trams or buses between the inner-city suburbs.

The $2 million study will be co-funded by the State Government and the Brisbane City Council with plans for a route to be identified by 2011.

"This exciting project has the potential to tackle inner city urban congestion head-on,'' Ms Bligh said.

"It will get people out of their cars and on to fast, reliable public transport in and around our city.

"It will benefit the environment and reduce urban congestion.''

Ms Bligh also announced the final route of the 18km Eastern Busway, which will link Buranda to Capalaba when it is completed over the next 20 years.

The Government plans to built the initial section between Buranda and Main Avenue Coorparoo by 2012.

About $468 million has been committed to the route next financial year, including $123 million for property resumptions with the remainder for a section of the construction.

Almost 100 properties will be resumed to make way for the busway, with 21 of these already purchased by the Government.

Ms Bligh said the section of the busway would bypass four sets of traffic lights and the roundabout at Buranda.

"It will shave up to eight minutes off bus trips through the most congested section of the Old Cleveland Road and will save regular commuters from Coorparoo to the city nearly 1.5 hours in travel time per week,'' she said.

[ozbob]

Electric modern light rail/tram will provide the capacity and the sustainability.  Quiet, efficient and pleasant to ride in.
Go Queensland!!

[ozbob]

Is there politics at work?  What happens to the 'City Glider' plans?

See -->  http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=195.msg4236#msg4236 for background on 'City gliders'

[ozbob]

From Brisbanetimes click here!

Trams, light rail or giant buses?

Trams, light rail or giant buses?
Georgina Robinson | June 5, 2008 - 11:22AM

A $2 million mass transit study will decide whether inner-Brisbane gets a network of trams, light rail or giant buses.

Premier Anna Bligh and Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman today separately announced a full scale feasibility study into setting up a rapid transit network to service a route between West End and Newstead.

Cr Newman said he favoured the giant buses option, which was outlined in an options paper a Liberal councillor undertook last year.

"The conclusion from the options paper was that a bus rapid transit system could be implemented quite quickly, that it could be done for under $100 million, as opposed to $600 million for light rail," Cr Newman said.

The study, funded equally by council and the state government, was expected to take between nine months and a year, Cr Newman said.

Also today, the Lord Mayor christened the 12th and latest City Cat to hit the Brisbane River, which will add nine new services to the network each day.

"This craft today will carry 162 people, it does 27 knots it will add another nine services to each City Cat location," he said.

One more City Cat will arrive in August or September and a new council contract will guarantee delivery of at least six more vessels over the next four years, he said.

There was no update on hull testing on the eight first-generation City Cats, which were due for retirement in 2012.

Labor councillor and former public transport chair, Victoria Newton, said the prospect of their retirement was worrying.

"At the moment the City Cat system is already leaving people behind," Cr Newton said.

"We need to increase the fleet to meet demand, we've got the Lord Mayor talking about increasing densities along the river so it's going to vital to make sure that the net number of City Cats on our river is increased not decreased."

But Cr Newman said council would make sure there was no shortfall.

"The bottom line is we've made a commitment to have a fleet and we will have a fleet of a certain size and it's a minimum of 19, as I said during the election campaign, and we're not walking away from that at all," Cr Newman said.

[ozbob]

Quick update on light rail --> http://www.pteg.net/PolicyCentre/LightRail/

Nice photographs Global Tram Revival --> http://www.pteg.net/TakeaTour/4_Modern_Trams/International_comparisons.htm

[ozbob]

From Courier Mail click here!

$2 million study into mass-transit solution for inner Brisbane

$2 million study into mass-transit solution for inner Brisbane
Article from: The Courier-Mail

Rosemary Odgers and Alison Sandy

June 06, 2008 12:00am

BRISBANE'S inner-city residents could finally get a mass-transit system linking Newstead to West End.

The State Government and the Brisbane City Council will jointly fund a $2 million feasibility study into mass-transit solutions for the popular inner-city suburbs.

Premier Anna Bligh said the study would consider whether light rail, trams or buses could link Newstead, Fortitude Valley, the CBD, South Bank and West End in a bid to tackle inner-city congestion.

If feasible, a final route would be identified by 2010.

"This is one of the most heavily travelled routes in the CBD area," Ms Bligh said.

"It will help to get people out of their cars and on to fast, reliable public transport in and around the CBD. It will not only reduce congestion but also be a significant benefit to the environment."

State Opposition transport spokesman Tim Nicholls said a study by the BCC last year found light rail would not be a cost-effective option.

"This is another study, it's not a solution," he said.

The BCC has already spent $150,000 on a study of inner-city mass transit, but Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said this study would provide more detail.

"The premier and myself are determined to work in partnership to actually a deliver a public transport solution to move people around the inner part of Brisbane in accordance to the CBD masterplan handed down by myself a few years ago," he said.

"The conclusion was from the options paper that a bus rapid transport system could be implemented quite quickly and could be done for under $100 million as opposed to $600 million for light rail."

He said the study would take about 12 months.

Town planner Justin Wells, of consultancy firm Sustainable Brisbane, has suggested that any light rail system be extended to the University of Queensland St Lucia campus to ensure that it has a real purpose.

A dozen CityCats are now operating on Brisbane River, with Cr Newman yesterday adding another one to the fleet - the $2.7 million Wilwinpa.

Twenty-year wait for busway plan

RESIDENTS in Brisbane's east will have to wait another decade for a "congestion-busting" busway to be fully rolled out.

News of a blow-out in the schedule of the Eastern Busway came as Premier Anna Bligh confirmed the next section linking Buranda to Coorparoo would begin next year and be completed by 2012.

Almost 100 homes and businesses will be resumed to make way for the 2.7km road and cut and cover tunnel.

But Ms Bligh also revealed the full 18km of busway, stretching from Buranda to Capalaba, would be built over the next 20 years ? much longer than expected. The Government's infrastructure plan released this week confirms construction on the Eastern Busway to Capalaba will not be completed until 2025-2026, a blow-out on the previous timeframe of between 2011 and 2015.

Opposition transport spokesman Tim Nicholls said the people of Redlands had been "short-changed".

Ms Bligh said confirmation of the entire route would give certainty to 256 property owners along the path ? including 96 affected in the next stage ? who will be forced to give up some or all of their land.

Construction on the first stage between the Princess Alexandra Hospital and the South East Busway at Buranda is due to be completed by late next year. The second stage announced yesterday, continuing to Mains Ave, Coorparoo, will cost $465.7 million.

Tracy Cunningham and her husband have run their business from their Greenslopes home for 14 years. She said they bought the house next door four years ago with no warning about the busway and now face losing two blocks of prime real estate, as well as their business with a 10,000-customer base.

My blog comment:

Modern light rail/tram is a world success story.

Unfortunately, constrained thinking by BCC has a pre-determined bus agenda.  Now is the time to move into sustainable, efficient, quiet, safe accessible transit systems that can carry many times the passenger loadings of buses.  If you do mass transit on the cheap we will need to undo the damage down the track as it melts down.

Electric rail, light and heavy is the solution. Buses have an important role to play but they are not capable of the transporting the large numbers of passengers that light rail/tram can do. Buses in Brisbane have already reached virtual saturation. Light rail for the high density routes, will free up buses for their correct feeder and short haul transport role.

A properly integrated public transport system is what is needed. This includes rail, light and heavy, buses and our important river transport asset.