23 Mar 2016: Why the Quirk Metro will never happen

[ozbob]

Media release 23rd March 2016

Why the Quirk Metro will never happen

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 has said the Quirk Metro will never happen because it does not deliver the capacity required to replace the inner busway network.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"During the recent Council Election campaign it was touted by Team Quirk that their Metro plan would carry up to 30,000 passengers per hour.  Using Team Quirk's own figures we show that this claim is a falsehood."

"In their response to a series of questions we asked Team Quirk concerning the Metro during the campaign, one related to passenger capacity of the trains:

2. What passenger capacity (pax) would the trains have?

It is expected that a nominal load for a metro train with three carriages would be approximately 220
passengers. During peak periods, it would be expected that a full load could expand to approximately 300 passengers (1).

"The best then that can be achieved with non-automated metro system would be a train every 2 minutes.  This then gives a maximum passenger capacity of 300 x 30 = 9000 passengers per hour per direction. The busways in Brisbane presently transport between 12,000-15,000 passengers per hour per direction (2).  "

"The Quirk Metro will not be able to cope with the passenger demands. There would be massive crowds waiting for transport at interchange points! Clearly the plan is not workable. This is the fundamental flaw in the proposed Metro and exposes absolutely the failed nature of the proposal."

"There are a myriad of other issues with the Metro as proposed (3), but basically why would the State allow the Brisbane bus network to be ruined for a sub-optimal solution? Why would they allow billions of taxpayers/ratepayers dollars to be wasted on something that causes chaos and public transport dysfunction?"

"They won't."

References:

1. http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=11952.msg170890#msg170890

2. Busway Turns Ten

"Busways can carry more than 12,000 passengers per hour in each direction."
http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=5884.msg54344#msg54344

3. http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=11952.msg171274#msg171274

Contact:

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

[ozbob]

Discussion >> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=11952.msg171364#msg171364