1 Jan 2023: Urgent Action on Failed City & Transport Planning for 2023 ....

[ozbob]

Urgent Action on Failed City & Transport Planning for 2023, Target 400 is achievable!

1st January 2023

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) highlights that there is more congestion today than ever with little to no change in the share of trips by motor vehicle over the last 30 years. Leaving active and public transport languishing at worst practice levels.

All the strategies, plans and "big ticket" projects have made no difference to the share of trips by active and public transport.

Cities like Vancouver, Paris, Copenhagen, Milan, Brussels, Vienna have upwards of 60% of trips by active and public transport.  What makes these cities similar is that they are multi-modal, compact, walkable, safe for cycling unlike SEQ.

Engineers Australia (1) recognises the need to change highlighting "Increasing capacity for urban road networks induces demand and is a major reason for increased traffic on the network ..." and "There is little evidence to demonstrate increasing road capacity to reduce traffic congestion improves economic performance in cities."

Even the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) calls for a reversal of the car-dependent planning (2), like we have in SEQ, to a multi-modal approach!

Leading city planners note that 'Successful multimodal cities aren't just about what your city starts doing — i.e., funding transit — it's what you stop doing — i.e., widening roads.'

RAIL Back On Track as part if its Target 400 Campaign (3) calls for the urgent implementation of:

A dedicated public transport authority (Public Transport Queensland PTQ) with:
- sole responsibility for leading, planning and running services and the removal of any service planning or design by local Councils,
- no limitations or restrictions to PTQ's ability to plan or run their services (e.g. services limited to Council boundaries),
- consistent branding across rail, light rail, BRT, buses and ferries irrespective of service provider.
The prioritisation of active/public transport in transport budgets (i.e. more budget for active/public transport than for adding road capacity), and
the development of a future-state SEQ Public Transport system (targeting greater than 60% of trips by active and public transport) consisting of:
- clear and legible labelling of major high-frequent routes (e.g. T1-x for Trains, L1-x for Light Rail, B1-x for BRT and M1-x for Metro/Subway),
- BRT (bus rapid transit)-based bus network operating in dedicate lanes with 'superstops' - think Gold Coast Light Rail but using buses instead of trams,
- highly integrated design with the ability to transfer quickly between services and minimal competition/duplication,
- 10-15 minute (or better) frequencies on all rail and BRT lines/stations from 6am to 9pm 7 days a week including the Airport Line,
- 20-30 minute (or better) frequencies on all rail and BRT lines/stations outside of 6am to 9pm 7 days a week,
a review of all Council initiated/driven public transport projects/planning particularly BCC's "It's Not a Metro".

Updates to City Plans to enforce:
-    walkable/transit oriented 15min Neighbourhoods in all urban and commercial areas with liveable street, #DensityDoneWell, #MissingMiddle and mixed-use development in local, district and regional centres,
-    increased densities around all rail/busway stations and key transport interchanges/centres, and
-    the removal of all car-parking minimums and setting of maximums in key commercial and employment; and
a public education program outlining the need to change the way we plan and build our city.

We need to turn around the failure transport paradigm in 2023!  Time is fleeting.
Are you up to the task Queensland?

Best wishes,
Robert

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


References:

1. Urban Transport Systems A Transport Australia Society Discussion Paper
https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/sites/default/files/2022-01/Urban-Transport-Systems-TAS-Discussion-Paper-December-2021-revised.pdf

2. The well-being lens applied to transport - OECD

Code Select Expand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkNmv6LHVrI
3. Target 400 ! A campaign to get 400 million passenger trips on SEQ PT by 2032
https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=13648.0

[ozbob]

Discussion --> https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?msg=266342