7 Aug 2013: Brisbane: Bulimba CityCat shutdown

[ozbob]

Media release 7th August 2013



Brisbane: Bulimba CityCat shutdown

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 calls for BUZification of the Bulimba 230 bus during the Bulimba CityCat Terminal shutdown.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"The Bulimba CityCat terminal will be shut down for at least six months in coming months. Brisbane City Council's plan to bus passengers to Hawthorne and then get them to change to a CityCat is an inferior proposal (1). The Lord Mayor himself doesn't like public transport transfers, so we think that for these six months, the 230 bus service should be upgraded to full BUZ standard rather than this second rate, inferior proposal."

From the BCC website:

"For safety reasons, it will be necessary to close the Bulimba ferry terminal completely when construction starts. CityCat and CityFerry services at this terminal will cease for up to six months.

During the closure, Council will provide additional bus services between Bulimba and Hawthorne to provide passengers with the option of connecting with regular CityCat services at the Hawthorne ferry terminal."

"An alternative would be to divert Maroon CityGliders into Bulimba during this period. Our observations suggest that the southern part of the Maroon CityGlider isn't performing well, as we predicted."

"It concerns us that Bulimba does not have a BUZ despite comparable inner city suburbs of New Farm, Paddington, West end and Milton having access to BUZ services. We suspect that the sole reason why a BUZ service has not been introduced is because the local councillor is of the wrong political stripe. We also note in the BCC bus review that service cuts largely fell in ALP and Independent wards."

"The sooner Brisbane City Council is stripped of all public transport functions and the bus operations removed from BCC, the better. Only then will a decent integrated public transport network will be rolled out for Brisbane (2). TransLink had done the right thing with bus review but weak political leadership has left public transport in Brisbane floundering, as recent pictures of 'air' buses demonstrate (3)."

References:

1.  Bulimba ferry terminal upgrade http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/traffic-transport/public-transport/citycat-ferry-services/bulimba-ferry-terminal-upgrade/index.htm

2.  Lord Mayor and BCC can no longer be trusted to run city's buses http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=9895.0

3.  http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=9045.msg129858#msg129858

Contact:

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

[ozbob]

Discussion --> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=9045.msg129878#msg129878

[ozbob]

Some feedback received, thanks ..

I, for one, drive to the bulimba ferry terminal and park in the street. Has council considered that Apollo Rd terminal will get a lot more cars in the streets surrounding? Have they considered negotiating with the army base to set up a temporary secured commuter car park?