Northern Busway - route discussion articles etc.

[ozbob]

http://www.translink.com.au/northern.php

Northern Busway

TransLink busway network map

TransLink busway network map

The Northern Busway connects communities in Brisbane's northern suburbs to Brisbane City, major shopping centres and workplaces.

When complete, the Northern Busway will be a vital link in the expanding busway network and will reduce travel times for people traveling to and from the following suburbs:

    * Windsor
    * Lutwyche
    * Kedron
    * Chermside
    * Aspley
    * Bracken Ridge.

http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Projects/Name/N/Northern-Busway-Kedron-to-Bracken-Ridge.aspx

Northern Busway: Kedron to Bracken Ridge

Overview:

    Planning for the development of the Northern Busway corridor between Kedron and Bracken Ridge is underway.
Location:

    Kedron to Bracken Ridge in Brisbane's northern suburbs.
Benefits:

    Planning will identify a public transport corridor to be preserved for future use. The planning will also consider how the busway can be delivered in stages, as well as interim measures that can allow fast, more reliable bus travel in the short term.

[ozbob]

From the Courier Mail click here!

Family lost their home to the Airport Link, now they face resumption for second time in three years

Family lost their home to the Airport Link, now they face resumption for second time in three years

    * Koren Helbig
    * From: The Courier-Mail
    * October 25, 2010 12:00AM

After having their Kedron property resumed, Brendan Nolan, wife Kim Dodwell and their kids, now of Chermside, are facing the prospect of theirnew home being resumed by proposed busway. Pic: Adam Smith Source: The Courier-Mail

THREE years ago Kim Dodwell watched the Government tear down her Kedron house to make way for a road project, and now she is fighting to save her second home from the jaws of progress.

In an unlucky coincidence, the Dodwell family's new house at Epping St in Chermside is one of dozens threatened by the planned Northern Busway extension.

The project will connect with the Windsor and Kedron section of the busway built as part of Airport Link  the project that swallowed Mrs Dodwell's first home at Park Tce in Kedron.

"I bought down there in 2001 and got knocked down for the first part of Airport Link, so we moved here  can you believe it?'' she said.

"It's affected us so dramatically and now this new project may not happen for 15 years.

"It means that our property has been significantly devalued, and because it's a preserved corridor, you can't sell.''

To add to the misfortune, the Dodwell family had only just finished renovating their Epping St house.

"We're devastated,'' she said.

About 100 residents yesterday rallied in protest at the nearby Bradbury Park sporting hub, part of which is also earmarked for possible resumption.

The $1.1 billion section of busway would link Kedron and Bracken Ridge by 2026, mainly running along Gympie Rd.

But residents are angry at a State Government proposal to build a detour along the busway around Lawley St to service the Prince Charles Hospital.

Mrs Dodwell said the 700m detour would cause heartache for businesses, residents and sporting groups, and believed an underground option or shuttle buses should instead be considered.

"It's a lot of money, a lot of effort, a lot of waste, and a lot of destruction for a driveway to a hospital when there are many more alternatives,'' she said.

Local councillor Fiona King said Brisbane City Council did not support the detour.

"The Gympie Rd corridor would have less impact on residents and shorter travel time for commuters,'' she said.

In a written statement, Transport Minister Rachel Nolan said the Government was collecting feedback on several route options.

"The whole purpose of the current community consultation process is to give people a chance to have their say, so I welcome them doing so,'' she said.

Ms Nolan said the busway extension was designed to cater for the thousands of people who travelled to the Prince Charles Hospital and Chermside shopping centre each day.

[#Metro]

No need for any resumption.
Take away lanes from Gympie Road- it is huge. Save money and save homes.
Run busway in the median or upgrade it to Light Rail with signal priority.
10 000 + pphd is possible on the street without grade separation.

[Golliwog]

Thats mostly what the BCC is saying. The family who are having problems in the article are complaining because of the deviation to the Prince Charles Hospital. I do agree that running in the Gympie Rd corridor would be faster, but I also see the point of the government in running via the hospital. If it was just on a spur then most buses (333, 330, etc) wouldn't stop there and they woulnd't get much bang for their buck or would have to creat an entire new route just to go 700m to the hospital.

[longboi]

Theres also a lot more walk-up patronage potential with the PCH routing - Theres very little along Gympie Rd between the shopping centre and Webster Rd.

[Jonno]

The route is fine it just needs to be put underground so as not to destroy local businesses along Gympie Road and surrounding housing.  Why promote the walkable city if such Transit projects wipe out local neighborhoods. 

[#Metro]

Disagree. Trams ran up and down Gympie Road, IMHO there is sufficient walk up for that, and you could get feeder buses working the cross streets too. It is interesting to contrast PAH with the PCH, because PCH violates the "be on the way" principle, PAH does not. Good PT is planned before development- once the road layout and major centres are in, the only thing that can be changed is the routing.

There is no clearer example of this basic principle:  Public transit's usefulness is determined by land use planning more than by transit planning.  Once you've arranged your major land use nodes to form a squiggle, you've pretty much prohibited efficient public transit. 

As a transit planner I constantly encounter situations where something has been built in a way that precludes quality transit, where I can see that if it had been built a little differently, transit would have been possible without compromising any of the development's other goals.  I've also dealt with situations where a transit-dependent institution -- say a social-service office catering to low-income people or an assisted living center for active seniors -- chose to locate in a place where the land was cheap because the transport options were terrible, and then blamed the transit agency for not running buses to their inaccessible site.  These cases are the result of a poor respect and understanding of transit as a background consideration in all urban development. 

A bad geography is one that indulges in cul-de-sacs on any scale: It sets destinations a little back from the line, so that transit must either bypass them or deviate to them, where deviating means delaying all the other passengers riding through this point.

http://www.humantransit.org/2009/04/be-on-the-way.html

[Golliwog]

PAH is only kind of on the way, and only if you're comign from the south. Coming from the CBD you can see the Ecoscience Precinct building which is next to Park Rd (just past the hospital) from the busway at Woolongabba. The eastern busway from UQ to the SE busway is one big squiggle, first north to the train station then south to the hospital then back north to the CBD.

Yes PCH isn't exactly on the way, but its hardly out of the way either.

[somebody]

I think I'd rather have the busway stick to the Gympie Rd alignment.  PCH could be served by a BUZ along the 325 route as far as Chermside. (325 route is INB, Kelvin Grove Rd, Webster Rd, Hamilton Rd, Chermside shops, then to Boondall)

[Golliwog]

Interesting idea. Although does the 325 bus stop on Webster Road actually link into the hospital, or is it just a stop on the road next to it?

[somebody]

Interesting idea. Although does the 325 bus stop on Webster Road actually link into the hospital, or is it just a stop on the road next to it?

I think on the road.  However, it could be re-routed to run inside the Hospital internal roads if that was required.

[O_128]

There was a great comment saying why bother everyone drives to the hospital anyway