Article: Decentralisation no easy task

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Decentralisation no easy task

Decentralisation no easy task
TONY MOORE
December 17, 2009 - 5:33AM

The Queensland Government has yet to decide which 1200 public servants would be shifted to Ipswich, nor where they would be housed, by a self-imposed 2012 deadline.

A prominent leasing agent in the Ipswich area said decisions would need to be made within "six to eight months" if the State Government planned to meet its 2012 target.

"While there is a commitment to make that happen, I would be very circumspect in terms of the timeframes," he said.

"What it means is that some pretty significant decisions need to be made in the next six to eight months."

The agent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the new office building that had recently been finished in central Ipswich - Tower Central behind Ipswich Post Office and the George Thorn Centre - were only soaking up public servants who already worked in the area.

Tower Central will house public servants from the Department of Natural Resources, while the George Thorn Centre has Disability Services staff.

The agent said he had begun to doubt whether the Government would meet its time frames.

"We have already lost about 18 months since around July 2008, so those dates are starting to look a little rubbery," the agent said.

There were also doubts the State Government will go ahead with plans to move public servants from the Brisbane CBD to other areas, including Mt Gravatt, Logan and Beenleigh to the south, which were announced by Premier Anna Bligh in July last year.

Then, Ms Bligh promised to "decentralise" 5600 public servants, or about 20 per cent of the total public sector office space in Brisbane's CBD, which would save almost $200 million by 2017.

Last night, a spokesman for Public Works Minister Rob Schwarten would only say: "The Government is still committed to proceeding with decentralisation to the north", with no mention of southside options.

But Queensland Property Council chief executive Steve Greenwood said the "looser" vacancy rates in Brisbane's CBD took the financial pressure off the State Government to decentralise quickly.

"The office vacancy rate around 18 months ago was down to overall around one per cent - it was very, very tight and prices were very,very high," Mr Greenwood said.

"Now it would be around 11 per cent. It is a massive, massive change.

"So with the cost of that, city accommodation has dropped dramatically too."

Mr Greenwood said the capital value of Brisbane City buildings had dropped "20 to 25 percent" in the past 18 months.

However, he said the move to shift public servants to Ipswich was a positive step for Government.

"The Ipswich one is a very sensible move," Mr Greenwood said.

"There is already infrastructure there. It is a city centre, the council is very keen, there is solid rail facilities, there will be sold road facilities. It is a very smart decision."

Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale - still the city's best salesman - said he was confident Ipswich CBD could house the extra public servants.

He said the new Riverlink Shopping Centre - on the city's north side opposite the old CBD - would be the catalyst.

"We have created 1600 jobs for our young people and stopped $200 million drifting away," Cr Pisasale said.

"Now within another six months occupancy rates on both both sides of of the river will be 100 per cent," he said

"If I had not built Riverlink, this side of the river would have been dead."

[ozbob]

Further update ..

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Which public servants are going to Ipswich?

Which public servants are going to Ipswich?
TONY MOORE
December 17, 2009 - 9:02AM

he Queensland Government remains determined to move 1200 Brisbane-based public servants to Ipswich by 2012 but still has not decided who will go nor where they will be housed.

With Brisbane CBD vacancy rates skyrocketing in the past year, the urgent need to relocate staff has disappeared, but the government remains focused on decentralisation.

Last week, they announced that an extra 400 Queensland Rail staff would be moved to Ipswich, a move which angered the rail union.

They have yet to reveal which departments will join the rail workers in moving to Ipswich.

A prominent local leasing agent yesterday told brisbanetimes.com.au decisions would need to be made within "six to eight months" if the State Government planned to meet its 2012 target.

"While there is a commitment to make that happen, I would be very circumspect in terms of the timeframes," he said.

"We have already lost about 18 months since around July 2008, so those dates are starting to look a little rubbery.

"What it means is that some pretty significant decisions need to be made in the next six to eight months."

The agent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said a new office building in central Ipswich, Tower Central, and the George Thorn Centre were only soaking up public servants who already worked in the area.

Tower Central will house public servants from the Department of Natural Resources, while the George Thorn Centre has Disability Services staff.

Queensland Property Council chief executive Steve Greenwood said "looser" vacancy rates in Brisbane's CBD took the financial pressure off the State Government to decentralise quickly.

"The office vacancy rate around 18 months ago was down to overall around one per cent - it was very, very tight and prices were very,very high," Mr Greenwood said.

"Now it would be around 11 per cent. It is a massive, massive change.

"So with the cost of that, city accommodation has dropped dramatically too."

Mr Greenwood said the capital value of Brisbane City buildings had dropped "20 to 25 per cent" in the past 18 months.

However, he said the move to shift public servants to Ipswich was a positive step for Government.

"The Ipswich one is a very sensible move," Mr Greenwood said.

"There is already infrastructure there. It is a city centre, the council is very keen, there is solid rail facilities, there will be sold road facilities. It is a very smart decision."

Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale - still the city's best salesman - said he was confident Ipswich CBD could house the extra public servants.

He said the new Riverlink Shopping Centre - on the city's north side opposite the old CBD - would be the catalyst.

"We have created 1600 jobs for our young people and stopped $200 million drifting away," Cr Pisasale said.

"Now within another six months occupancy rates on both both sides of of the river will be 100 per cent," he said

"If I had not built Riverlink, this side of the river would have been dead."

Doubts have emerged the State Government will go ahead with plans to move public servants from the Brisbane CBD to other areas, including Mt Gravatt, Logan and Beenleigh to the south, which were announced by Premier Anna Bligh in July last year.

Then, Ms Bligh promised to "decentralise" 5600 public servants, or about 20 per cent of the total public sector office space in Brisbane's CBD, which would save almost $200 million by 2017.

Last night, a spokesman for Public Works Minister Rob Schwarten would only say: "The Government is still committed to proceeding with decentralisation to the north", with no mention of southside options.

[Jon Bryant]

Decentralisation is going to always be hard until out public transport network is no focused soley on moving people into the CBD.  See the following post by Jarret Walker on his Human Transit site (which I know many RBOT members contribute to).  The point I want to highlight is not the bus vs raiul debate but his commentary around CBD vs decentralised networks. http://www.humantransit.org/2009/12/bus-vs-rail-an-oversimplified-comparison.html

Jarret Walker - Human Transit

A CBD-oriented system (more commonly called a radial system) is one that views downtown as the sole destination of importance.  In such a system, people who aren't going downtown usually have to go via downtown, whether or not this is on the way.  A multi-destinational system is one that tries to serve trips to many destinations all over the city.  If you live in Los Angeles or Manhattan or Paris or Berlin, this distinction will seem silly to you, because your city has been multi-destinational for decades if not centuries and your transit system adapted to that reality long ago.  But most American (and Australasian) cities had a period, generally ending around 1945, when they had a single extremely concentrated downtown -- fueled, in many cases, by streetcar/tram networks that converged on it.  And at one time, it made perfect sense that this downtown would be the sole focal point of the transit network.

Since 1945, most cities have been becoming more multi-destinational, with more important destinations (employment, retail, leisure, etc) scattered all over the city.  Transit agencies were generally slow to adjust, especially since downtown tended to be where they were most appreciated and where the pre-car development pattern made it easy for pedestrians to get to them.  But over time, it's been necessary to adjust to a multi-destinational pattern in order to remain relevant to the life of the city as it is now.  The paper suggests that of the four cities studied, Atlanta and San Diego are relatively far along on that path, Pittsburgh least so.  (This seems to match Alan Hoffman's observation (here, page 67) that despite the introduction of busways, the Pittsburgh network has changed relatively little for a long time.)  

Note that the important distinction here is not that the network infrastructure is more or less CBD-oriented, but that the thinking of the transit agency is.  All four of the cities studied have CBD-oriented transit infrastructure that suits their CBD-oriented history, but they have thought about their networks in different ways.  

By comparing the experience of these four cities, the authors find that the most effective system is not the CBD-oriented but the multi-destinational.  Needless to say, your mileage may vary; it depends on how CBD-oriented your city still is, but even a city as CBD-oriented as Portland had great success with a multi-destinational network.  Most of the major network redesigns I've done have been about helping CBD-oriented systems still meet their CBD need while also being relevant to a wider range of destinations.

It is this multi-destinational network planning that will allow decentralisation to occur as not everybody has to go through the CBD to get to work (a fact supported by 80% of our trips being around the Brisbane CBD).

Jarret also has a great post around "why isn't through-routing more common?" http://www.humantransit.org/2009/08/why-isnt-throughrouting-more-common.html which is interesting reading especially for me who has to wait 20 minutes at Roma Street to go one station to Milton of an morning.

[skippy]

Need to be careful with decentalisation as public transport mode share likely to suffer. I know some people at the ATO who stopped using public transport as soon as they relocated from the CBD to Upper Mt Gravatt. The SE busway enticed a few back to public transport however most were lost forever. Parking is considerably cheaper and traffic less away from the CBD, and the reality is public transport in SEQ is unlikely to service the suburbs as well as the CBD.

I support decentalisation well away from the CBD especially if well serviced by rail or buses. e.g. Ipswich, Varsity Lakes, Nambour, Maroochydore, Toowoomba.

[#Metro]

Perhaps they should look a bit closer to home?

Indooroopilly
Toowong
Milton
Buranda/Stones Corner
Carindale
8 Mile Plains
Chermside
Brookfield
Wynnum CBD

[ozbob]

From the Queensland Times click here!

New-look QR seeks base in Ipswich

New-look QR seeks base in Ipswich

Zane Jackson | 1st July 2010

QUEENSLAND Rail's new passenger arm is still looking for an Ipswich base but expects to have a temporary office set up by the end of the year.

As of today, Queensland Rail has been split in two, with the government set to retain all aspects of its passenger services, including the trains and tracks, which will still be called Queensland Rail.

All aspects of the current commercial operations including coal and freight services will be renamed QR National and will be privatised at the end of the year.

In December last year, Premier Anna Bligh said QR's new passenger arm would move its headquarters and 400 jobs from Brisbane to Ipswich.

Transport Minister and Ipswich MP Rachel Nolan said the government was still looking to find a place for the headquarters, but expected up to 40 positions to be moved to a temporary office before 2011.

"It will essentially be a two-stage move, the first will happen by the end of the year. I expect that will initially be an office of 30-40 people; in the first instance that will be people who are volunteers," she said.

While negotiations are continuing, she said it was likely the headquarters would be a foundation tenant in the new Ipswich City Square development, which is not expected to be completed for several years.

"That works for government because we want to move public service jobs to Ipswich. It also works for council and their private sector partner because the State Government is a good long-term tenant who will pay," she said.

She said QR workers, such as staff at the Rollingstock and Component Services (RACS) workshops at Redbank, would not notice any difference when the company split today.

The passenger arm of QR is expected to launch a new-look logo today.

[longboi]

Perhaps they should look a bit closer to home?

Brookfield

Do you mean Brookside?

[somebody]

The bizarre one is the Ecosciences Precinct.  It's really centralisation by putting that right on Park Rd station.  Oh well, it is spilt milk now.

[#Metro]

Their previous home was long pocket IIRC. Nobody wants to catch 417, that's one of those suburban air parcel services along with 104.
Relocation to Park Road has much better PT access.

[somebody]

Their previous home was long pocket IIRC. Nobody wants to catch 417, that's one of those suburban air parcel services along with 104.
Relocation to Park Road has much better PT access.

The stupid part is running out of service towards Long Pocket before 7:50am and vice versa after 6pm.  It would have made far more sense being somewhere like Darra or maybe Richlands than Park Rd.

[Golliwog]

I belive some of the people moving into the Ecosciences precinct also came from the DPI site at Yeerongpilly which had the trains but no easy way to get across the main road there. Where they are now building the big overpass (or will be soon anyway) to give access to the land for when they build the TOD on it.

[#Metro]

417 frequency a real shocker: http://download.translink.com.au/timetables/080519_417.pdf

417 has about 1 service per hour.  A train on the beenleigh line (yeerongpilly) is not much better either, with 2 services per hour.
This is stone age frequencies. 

Park Road, with Gold Coast trains (2 per hour), Cleveland (2 per hour) and Beenleigh trains (2 per hour) = 6tph or every 10 minutes
plus busway access is far, far better.

[somebody]

It's not really every 10 minutes at Park Rd as the Gold Coast trains are hot on the heels of the Beenleigh trains heading north and vice versa heading south.

I couldn't see an upgrade to the frequency of the 417 at current patronage.  Besides, it's only a half hour walk to Indooroopilly train station.  Could be worse.

[Golliwog]

Yeerongpilly did used to have the GC trains too before they changed the station it stops at after Park Rd to Coopers Plains. Which was actually useful as the DPI people did used to have people visit from interstate or international who could just hop on the train at the airport and didn't have to workout which train to change to, just wait till the right station. However, only half of them have moved to Park Rd, the other half from the Yeerongpilly site have moved to somewhere at Coopers Plains, nowhere near the station.