Article: Battlelines drawn over bus upgrade

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Battlelines drawn over bus upgrade

Battlelines drawn over bus upgrade
Tony Moore
October 25, 2010 - 8:45AM

Brisbane City Council is refusing to spend $8 million to modernise the Queen Street bus station as part of a deal to hand management of the facility to the state government.

Transport Minister Rachel Nolan has said the council must pay for fire and disability access upgrades before the government would accept responsibility for the station.

"It is quite an old piece of infrastructure and it really needs to be bought up to modern standards," she said.
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However, Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said a deal struck with then-premier Peter Beattie five years ago should preclude the council from paying the government.

In return for support to build the Inner Northern Busway in 2005, Cr Newman said the council would not receive compensation for losing 300 car parks at King George Square.

He also said the bus station, located under the Myer Centre, had cost the council $2 million a year in addition to about $1.5 million in annual lost revenue from the car parks.

"Three hundred car parks easily generate $6000 a day, each weekday for the ratepayers. So that is $6000 a day ... for the life of the car park," Cr Newman said.

The Queensland government offered to take over the bus station on October 12 after Minister Nolan sent a letter to Cr Newman.

Most Brisbane busways and stations are the responsibility of Translink. However, the council has run the Queen Street bus station since it opened in 1988.

Minister Nolan said yesterday she was not aware of any agreement between the council and former premier Peter Beattie.

"Does that mean that the most significant contribution that Brisbane City Council has made to the extensive busway network is 300 lost car parks?" she said.

Ms Nolan said the transfer of the bus station be done similarly to when the City Reach Boardwalk went from the state government to the council.

Brisbane City Council received $6.5 million plus potential revenue of $3.36 million a year.

Ms Nolan said the State should receive the money in the Queen Street bus station example.

Cr Newman said the boardwalk example "clouded the issue."

[Golliwog]

BCC and the government seem to be getting some practice at opposing each other at every turn. Really quite stupid and counter productive.

[colinw]

I am starting to get really fed up with this nonsense.

The Council seems to want to play dumb politics with public transport, the whole time pushing its agenda of a network of toll tunnels that are going to be redundant once peak oil really hits.  We are living in a brief hiatus of stable oil prices before the real resource crunch hits.

See how smart all these road projects look in 10 years time.  Does Campbell want his legacy to be a giant white elephant that bankrupted Brisbane and held back sustainable public transport development for years?

[Stillwater]

Politicians debase themselves in the eyes of the public when they engage in these spats.  Minister Nolan really should not allow herself to be goaded by Mayor Newman's antics.  However, she has a point.  If this facility fails to meet fire safety standards, it must be shut down immediately.  Perhaps Minister Nolan could get her revenge by picking up the phone to the Emergency Services Minister and have him send an inspection team round to Queen Street.  I wonder what would be the value to the council of a bus station that fails to meet basic safety standards or, worse, can't be used until essential work is carried out?  The inspection team could present the council with a bill for being completely compliant with fire safety and disability standards.  Then Mayor Newman could do the sums ... an expensive upgrade at council expense or offload the bus station to the state government.  It's all about pigs and pokes.

[STB]

I'm not surprised to read this.  This sort of spat goes on even on an officer level between the state government departments and BCC.  I'm not a fan of the BCC, they have become a government all on their own and it looks like they enjoy isolating themselves from the rest of SEQ.

BCC blocks any access for the state to put in private buses using Adelaide St and Queen St Bus Station.  Hence you see them on Elizabeth St instead.

[somebody]

I thought QSBS was already under state control.  Have I been misinformed here?

[STB]

QSBS is under BCC control.

[Sunbus610]

QSBS is under BCC control.

Make sense I guess................hence we've never seen any of the privates using it.

[longboi]

It only makes sense to have all public transport infrastructure under the control of one agency (TransLink).

It seems Cambell Newman likes to espouse the idea of public transport but I get this feeling that the BCC treats it like it could never actually be a real alternative to private car use 

[AnonymouslyBad]

Sigh.

If I were TransLink, I'd just spend the money. Council's not worth arguing with...