2012 Queensland State Election Intro

[ozbob]

This board will be for posting railway/public/active transport policies, articles of relevance and discussion for the forthcoming state election.

Representatives of any political party, or independent candidates, are welcome to send information or links for posting on our forum to Admin Rail Back On Track at admin@backontrack.org  If it relates to rail and/or public and active transport initiatives and policy it will be considered for posting.

RAIL Back On Track has no particular political affiliations and treats all such material on its merits.
Please note our terms of service here --> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?board=9.0

[Stillwater]

Currently, Queensland has an elected government with a transport action plan called Connecting South-East Queensland 2031.  It is a plan that has been widely criticised because it is unfunded and the promises made could easily slip, as they have done in the past.  It is a plan, nonetheless, it is just that the government of the day is not sticking to the stated timelines, nor is it saying where the money will come from.  Commuters would prefer if the plan, like the trains they travel on, were sped up considerably.

Now consider the LNP Opposition.  It is ahead in the polls, but has no transport action plan.  It's leader is less than enthusiastic about Cross River Rail and has demonstrated as Mayor a penchant for road-based transport solutions, including massive and costly tunnels such as the less than successful Clem 7.  Although a lot of water is yet to flow under the political bridge (and with one or two pollies jumping from it into the Rubicon, no doubt), the polls indicate an LNP victory at a state election to be held early next year.

With an election possible in two and a half months, the LNP has no coherent public transport plan.  It has promised one, but with all the angst behind closed doors as members and candidates fight for their pet project to make the list, chances are that what eventuates will be the inevitable glossy brochure full of motherhood statements about how Queenslanders deserves a 'fair-go on transport' and how the LNP will give Queenslanders 'a better transport deal' and 'overcome Labor's neglect' .... blah, blah ..... you get the picture.  An LNP Opposition criticised the Connecting SEQ document for being a glossy brochure with no effect.  It's answer is likely to be a different glossy brochure, different pictures and changed typeface, but essentially the same lsme excuse for a promised policy in government.  That's likely to be another glossy document.

Does anyone else see the irony in the fact that Queenslanders criticise a government with a public transport plan, albiet an ineffectual one, yet looks set to vote in a government with, potentually, an equally compromised and ill-considered plan cobbled together at the last minute?

It behoves all of us who want better transport outcomes not only to post here (where it is a case of preaching to the converted), but to attend public 'meet the candidates' meetings in your area and quiz potential MPs about effective transport outcomes.  We have seen Ozbob's short letters to the editor in local papers.  That is a good example to follow.  In short, we must elevate public transport from where it languishes around 5-6 on the list of major election issues (health and cost of living tops the list) to bring PT in at No.3.  Figuratively speaking, that will have the pollies shoving a protective athletic support down their jocks come the next election.

[Stillwater]

When you look at it, the ALP's transport plans are reasonable, it is just that they are slow in their implementation due to lack of money.  The target dates are impossible and some of the priorities could be disputed, but only in terms of order or degree.  Some would say transport has been planned to death in Queensland, we just need to get on and build. 

The argument should be around funding, which raises the question of a congestion tax, or cordon tax for Greater Brisbane.  There will be no debate on this point during the election campaign.  If the ALP raises the spectre of a congestion tax, the LNP will attack, saying Labor's answer to everything is a 'big new tax'.  The LNP has campaigned on the impact of the cost of living to Queenslanders.  It won't discuss tax or the revenue side of things because that will be a sign that it is adding to the cost burdon of Queensland families.  The LNP has even criticised the upcoming fare hikes.  It won't repeal them in government.

The ALP assumes there is a tooth fairy that will pay for things, but it does have a plan. 

Does anyone believe the LNP will have a decent transport policy going to the next election?  It will ignore how things will be paid for.  Because every candidate will have a pet project to include, there will be no detail, no commitment on projects, just rhetoric.  We have seen that already.  You know the stuff ... 'Labor has failed Queenslanders on transport ... our vibrant state needs a transport system that will help the state grow and keep our cities vibrant and green ... the LNP will revitalise public transport ... we will deliver where Labor has failed.'  It will be a policy of hot air and little else.

If the LNP gets in, then what?  Another round of planning and a further transport action plan only finalised in mid-term.  That would suit an LNP government.  When asked when it is going to do something (CRR etc), it will argue that the 'Labor Fiscal Black Hole' is bigger than first thought and it is 'working on a plan to get us out of the difficulties.'  Probably more spin in the meantime .. 'only an LNP government will get us out of this mess ... '  Yes, but what will you do?  'We want to get the planning right first ....'.  Then, from 2014 the LNP will start spruiking its bold new plan (a Connecting SEQ 2031 document that will just reshuffle the projects and update the costings).  Their call will be 'vote for us in 2015 so we can implement this plan.'  The result?  Little or no action for three years.  Springfield and MBRL will proceed.

The ALP in opposition would be saying 'this is our plan reworked.  LNP has stolen our plan and changed the pictures.'

So long as politics dominates the PT debate, we will be like a cork in a whirlpool - lots of motion spinning around, but getting absolutely nowhere.

The LNP seems permanently stuck in opposition mode.  When it comes to public transport, it is not presenting as a viable alternative government.

[Mr X]

My take on the issue:
- ALP: We will get what we've currently got. I am hopeful we will see more BUZ routes and more action on CRR if they get into another term. The current paradigm will remain, same old 2tph spin. Considering 8 ALP MPs are retiring (Antony Green has already said this is nothing unusual) we might see some new blood into the cabinet if a Labor government is returned. I think they would have a firmer approach to infrastructure, having already delivered the Gateway upgrade, Ted Smout Bridge, Airport Link and others. We will get the same old excuses about lack of funding and usual fare hikes.
It would be interesting if we get a hung parliament and the Greens manage to snare a seat (I can't think of any seats they could/would win as examples) and form a minority government, this could force them to step up and deliver more infrastructure.
We would also have a labor government until 2015, giving them 17 years in power, though this is nothing in comparison to the 3 decades we had Nationals, from 50s-80s. I don't believe in dumping a government just for the sake of change, either.

- LNP: Like what SW has said, things aren't gonna change quickly at all. I would think with the LNP we'd see more cost cutting in departments and almost certainly less investment into public transport. I feel the LNP have run out of excuses for their slackness and vague policy announcements. They've been out of power since 1998, had a merger in 2008 which was supposed to *solve all their internal problems*, which it didn't.
We can't guarantee who will be premier, Newman or Seeney, and neither seem passionate or interested at all in PT. I do not believe they will deliver anything of significance in their first term, plan or infrastructure, as most of their MPs will be new to parliament, settling in etc. It will be about *saving money* and *paying back the debt*, as well as governing for the *whole state*, including FNQ. It is particularly worrying that we have the same old spin coming from the usual suspects- just look at how quick they were to bash the Bligh government for the splitting up of Queensland Health, yet fail to show what they would do instead. Or the "rising cost of living" and "Bruce Highway blackspots", again issues they have no solutions for.
I also don't have any confidence in completing TT's Core Frequent Network or anything major rail related apart from daft headway "improvements" across the Merivale Bridge.
I find it hard to elect an opposition into government that has no real action plan when it takes power or who will lead it.

I find myself back at the same predicament of 2009 (when I couldn't vote), while neither side looked particularly exciting or had anything reasonable on offer, it seemed sensible to stick with the status quo, the "safest" option at the time. I am keeping my mind open about this election's candidates but being in a very safe Labor seat (South Brisbane) my vote probably won't make as much difference as a vote in say Ashgrove would.

[#Metro]

I also don't have any confidence in completing TT's Core Frequent Network or anything major rail related apart from daft headway "improvements" across the Merivale Bridge.
I find it hard to elect an opposition into government that has no real action plan when it takes power or who will lead it.

There are so many competing projects and priorities (extensions/frequency/blah) that it is hard to see what needs to happen first.

Focusing on the core matters a lot because without decent core capacity, everything else stops. It gets the basics right so that feeders and
all that can then be done as the next stage.

The Core Frequent Network (Bus, Brisbane) is almost complete. There has been decent progress on that and I expect that to finish by the end of 2013,
well before any of the other big ticket items are complete. A BUZ 400, BUZ to bulimba, fix up the GCL and Albany Creek and there you have a bus
network that can take you almost anywhere in Brisbane.

The Core Frequent Network (Rail, SEQ) is a pain in the bum. Hardly anything has been done on that, frequency is bad as ever and not only
that the price has gone up but the services on rail haven't matched. 15 minute frequency to Darra is great, but everything else seems to be stymied
by freight/flat junctions/single track capacity. This is going to look more and more ridiculous as the population in SEQ grows and places like - well
just about every other city in Australia that has rail- puts on more frequent services.

[colinw]

The problem I have with voting for the LNP is that I cannot actually identify anything they stand for other than "not Labor".

All their positions are marked by an absence of policy - "Not CRR", "Not split up QLD Health", etc.

I cannot actually work out from statements so far what they will actually do, other some vague waffle about higher capacity signalling (isn't QueenslandRail doing that anyway?) and a platform at South Brisbane, none of which fills me with confidence that there is any kind of plan.

Nor am I going to swing my vote based on slightly lower Go Card free trip threshold, when there is stony silence on whether the 15% compounding rises will continue.

Regarding Newman's "CRR will never happen" pronouncement, I feel that he would be an utter fool to pull it from the Infrastructure Australia process when it is so close to 'ready to proceed' status.  A 3 to 6 year hiatus where we try to milk every last bit of capacity out of Merivale Bridge while cooking up a new proposal would do huge harm, as costs can only rise to the point where we are likely to get far less bang for our buck compared to just building it now. If QLD goes to the back of the queue, we may have a hard timing recovering our momentum, in which case MBRL, Springfield and Gold Coast Light Rail may be the last bits of good news for a very long time.

So, my position right now is that I simply cannot risk a vote for the LNP, because I don't know what I might get but really dislike what little they have said so far.

[Gazza]

I've tended to vote for good local independents and minor parties anyway. Helps make your seats marginal, independents often have the "right idea" on many issues anyway.
Single transferrable vote means your vote often ends up with a major party anyway....
So why not.... Unless you genuniley like coles/woolies (sorry I mean lnp/alp)

[somebody]

The Core Frequent Network (Bus, Brisbane) is almost complete.

Don't know how you can say that.  I'd say that 210, 227, 325, 300, 175 and many others should be on the BUZ list, as well as the routes you identify.

[#Metro]

Don't know how you can say that.  I'd say that 210, 227, 325, 300, 175 and many others should be on the BUZ list, as well as the routes you identify.

Simon, the whole idea of CFN is that we can't BUZ everything, nor should we attempt to.
That would take 50-100 years to do and cost heaps.

CFN is about the bare minimum you need to make an everywhere-to-everywhere network capable of later facilitating a re-casting of the low frequency
suburban buses, cutting them short and feeding them into CFN (Bus) and CFN (Rail).

There are now only a handful of fast arterials (such as Wynnum Road, Centenary Hwy, Old Northern Road) that don't have BUZ services on them.
Once that is done and the GCL broken up, people will be able to travel in almost any direction on a BUZ. I'd say in a year or two, that will be complete.

Once this is in, TransLink can get out the chainsaw and start terminating buses at suburban shopping centres and rail stations, at low cost, in order to
boost frequency massively.

[Jonno]

So we should vote for the Greens because they support our goals.  A hung parliament with Greens as balance of power is only hope for correct invstment in transport infrastructure

[Gazza]

Simon, my idea of CFN is that we can't BUZ everything, nor should we attempt to.
That would take 50-100 years to do and cost heaps.

Fixed.

Dunno where 100 years comes from, for Simon's additional suggestions anyway. Say 5-10 years max to do yours and his.

If you attempted to BUZ every last coverage/social service route, then yeah 50 years is about accurate. But nobody suggested that.
I think a good halfway point is say a BUZ along each 'busy' road in Brisbane.

The BUZ programme will be an ongoing thing, even once we pass beyond your idea of the complete core, but perhaps people will be less desperate beyond that point.

[Stillwater]

The polls are telling us that the balance of power will be held by the Katter Party. 

[Mr X]

I hope not.
I'm off if they get South Brisbane.
Anna has a 30% (65/35) 2PP buffer over the LNP.

[Stillwater]

The LNP Infrastructure Plan has what it calls the 'Magnificent 7' top priorities.  The top No.1 Project of National Significance priority is to fix a section of the Warrego Highway at Blacksoil, west of Ipswich, the LNP says.  An extension of the Eastern Busway to Capalaba and extension of the Gold Coast Light rail to Coolangatta are among the 'big 7' projects.  Just the cost of the light rail and busway extension would eat up any available funds in the first term of an LNP government.

To these 'nationally significant' projects, the LNP has added another 12 'Projects of State and Regional Significance'.  Among this group of 12 projects, the one that heads the list is Gold Coast Rapid Transit (Stage 2), followed by Gold Coast transitway and bikeway upgrades.  This is in keeping with the LNP commitment to provide infrastructure supporting the Gold Coast bid for the Commonwealth games.

Other notable projects in the top 19 list are the Kingsford Smith Drive upgrade, widening of the Pacific Motorway through Logan and a Warrego Highway bypass of Toowoomba.

Project No. 21 on the list is the Beenleigh to Varsity Lakes capacity upgrade, while No. 22 is the Sunshine Coast duplication to Nambour.  No. 23 is the extension of the Springfield line to Redbank Plains.

Does this list reflect transport priorities in SEQ, with particular reference to their order?

[#Metro]

If you attempted to BUZ every last coverage/social service route, then yeah 50 years is about accurate. But nobody suggested that.
I think a good halfway point is say a BUZ along each 'busy' road in Brisbane.

"However this is not the case for the inner suburbs of Brisbane. The concentration of jobs and population within the inner 10km means it is entirely possible to blanket the area with a comprehensive grid of frequent public transport, within walking distance of all homes. The fact people drive to station says there are gaps in coverage, frequency and operation hours that people are being forced to compensate for, by forced car usage."

[somebody]

The LNP Infrastructure Plan has what it calls the 'Magnificent 7' top priorities. 

Aren't you thinking of the "Council of mayors", rather than the LNP?  Link: http://www.councilofmayorsseq.qld.gov.au/Projects/Magnificent-7-Infrastructure.aspx

To my knowledge, the LNP have virtually no plans.

[Golliwog]

The LNP Infrastructure Plan has what it calls the 'Magnificent 7' top priorities. 

Aren't you thinking of the "Council of mayors", rather than the LNP?  Link: http://www.councilofmayorsseq.qld.gov.au/Projects/Magnificent-7-Infrastructure.aspx

To my knowledge, the LNP have virtually no plans.

Yeah, didn't the LNP release their plan, which was pretty much a plagiarised copy of that document? Plus a few other bits and pieces. IIRC, it wasn't even re-written, but just inserted pages and pages of stuff from the Council of Mayors document.

[Gazza]

If you attempted to BUZ every last coverage/social service route, then yeah 50 years is about accurate. But nobody suggested that.
I think a good halfway point is say a BUZ along each 'busy' road in Brisbane.

"However this is not the case for the inner suburbs of Brisbane. The concentration of jobs and population within the inner 10km means it is entirely possible to blanket the area with a comprehensive grid of frequent public transport, within walking distance of all homes. The fact people drive to station says there are gaps in coverage, frequency and operation hours that people are being forced to compensate for, by forced car usage."

If you tried to BUZ every route, like all the milk runs/social routes/stupid ones that are 90% identical to another route etc then yes it would take 50 years, and would waste resources because there are too many routes anyway. But here's a few qualifying points:

-Notice I said it should be possible to blanket the inner 10km of Brisbane at least to truly avoid the need for park and ride. Not necessarily the whole urban area, which stretches from Beenleigh to Caboolture. Doing that smaller 10km area versus the entire metropolitan area is easier, due to the way the area of a circle increases more rapidly the larger it gets.

-I did say in this thread there should be a 'grid' of PT along main roads, and that includes cross town...GLC alone won't cut it. (Roughly, the 'orange/yellow roads' on Google maps) Focusing service improvements on these areas is not the same as buzzing currently existing milk runs and so forth.
Admittedly, there are some pockets where walking distances would stretch out closer to 500-600m....But even in Perth the 400m rule isn't strictly followed.

-It would take even less time if BUZes were being put in new areas rather than duplicating (88, 222 etc)

-I'd never advocate a wholesale BUZ of the current network structure, it needs a full redesign anyway IMO.

Cool.

[Stillwater]

Don't forget that Scott Emerson is still running a poll on his website, inviting people to tell him what isues are important to them.  Currently, public transport has received 48 per cent of the vote.  If you have not yet done so, add your vote and see if the percentage will increase to over 50 per cent: http://www.scottemerson.com.au/

[Fares_Fair]

The LNP Infrastructure Plan has what it calls the 'Magnificent 7' top priorities.  The top No.1 Project of National Significance priority is to fix a section of the Warrego Highway at Blacksoil, west of Ipswich, the LNP says.  An extension of the Eastern Busway to Capalaba and extension of the Gold Coast Light rail to Coolangatta are among the 'big 7' projects.  Just the cost of the light rail and busway extension would eat up any available funds in the first term of an LNP government.

To these 'nationally significant' projects, the LNP has added another 12 'Projects of State and Regional Significance'.  Among this group of 12 projects, the one that heads the list is Gold Coast Rapid Transit (Stage 2), followed by Gold Coast transitway and bikeway upgrades.  This is in keeping with the LNP commitment to provide infrastructure supporting the Gold Coast bid for the Commonwealth games.

Other notable projects in the top 19 list are the Kingsford Smith Drive upgrade, widening of the Pacific Motorway through Logan and a Warrego Highway bypass of Toowoomba.

Project No. 21 on the list is the Beenleigh to Varsity Lakes capacity upgrade, while No. 22 is the Sunshine Coast duplication to Nambour.  No. 23 is the extension of the Springfield line to Redbank Plains.

Does this list reflect transport priorities in SEQ, with particular reference to their order?

It jolly well better not be the priority list order!

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[Mr X]

What! "Rising cost of living" not on an LNP poll! 

PT sitting at 49.2%... go go go!

[#Metro]

There should be guidelines about choosing priorities.

FOCUS ON THE CORE.

Without core capacity, nothing else works.

In my mind, the Eastern Busway is non-core. You can still run buses on the road or even remove car parks and add bus lanes as a cheap stop-gap measure. That money ($3 billion) would be better spent on freeing up core bus capacity in the CBD (either by bus tunnel, grade separations, metro conversion or whatever).

Same deal with extensions to rail lines. CRR should come ahead of ANY rail extension to anywhere. You can always run buses in the meantime as a stop-gap.

[mufreight]

The LNP Infrastructure Plan has what it calls the 'Magnificent 7' top priorities.  The top No.1 Project of National Significance priority is to fix a section of the Warrego Highway at Blacksoil, west of Ipswich, the LNP says.  An extension of the Eastern Busway to Capalaba and extension of the Gold Coast Light rail to Coolangatta are among the 'big 7' projects.  Just the cost of the light rail and busway extension would eat up any available funds in the first term of an LNP government.

To these 'nationally significant' projects, the LNP has added another 12 'Projects of State and Regional Significance'.  Among this group of 12 projects, the one that heads the list is Gold Coast Rapid Transit (Stage 2), followed by Gold Coast transitway and bikeway upgrades.  This is in keeping with the LNP commitment to provide infrastructure supporting the Gold Coast bid for the Commonwealth games.

Other notable projects in the top 19 list are the Kingsford Smith Drive upgrade, widening of the Pacific Motorway through Logan and a Warrego Highway bypass of Toowoomba.

Project No. 21 on the list is the Beenleigh to Varsity Lakes capacity upgrade, while No. 22 is the Sunshine Coast duplication to Nambour.  No. 23 is the extension of the Springfield line to Redbank Plains.

Does this list reflect transport priorities in SEQ, with particular reference to their order?

It is worth noting that the majority of these LNP infrastructure Plan projects are projects that are Federal Government funded projects relating to Federal Infrastructure, with no financial cost to the state which the current frederal government would not be inclined to add to a LNP government's shopping list and pay for hence No Policies Newman can reneg on his comitment using the excuse that it is the federal governments fault that his government was unable to proceed.  The old The cat ate my homework excuse

[Mr X]

So the big LNP bruce highway "action plan" is indeed a swindle?

[mufreight]

So the big LNP bruce highway "action plan" is indeed a swindle?

Did you indeed think that it would not be, simply another exercise in dodgy figures for an unfunded aspiration delivered as a comitment.

[Stillwater]

The LNP has adopted within its Infrastructure (as opposed to Transport) Discussion Paper all the projects endorsed by the SEQ Council of Mayors.  Campbell Newman headed that body, until recently, and has said that he does not repudiate those projects as 'his' priorities in government.  If he does he is like the biblical 'reed bending in the breeze.'

The LNP and ALP plans both rely on a federal government next year, in 2015, and in every year to 2031 contributing the overwhelming bulk of funding for projects.  For instance, Anna Bligh has published the Connecting SEQ 2031 document that requires a  (probably) Tony Abbott-led government to fund her commitments (CRR, Nambour duplication etc) across the years to 2031.

That's like me going to the bank manager and telling him/her that there is no problem repaying my housing loan because my next door neighbour will pay the instalments.  And I am willing to sign a piece of paper to that effect.

[Golliwog]

The LNP Infrastructure Plan has what it calls the 'Magnificent 7' top priorities.  The top No.1 Project of National Significance priority is to fix a section of the Warrego Highway at Blacksoil, west of Ipswich, the LNP says.  An extension of the Eastern Busway to Capalaba and extension of the Gold Coast Light rail to Coolangatta are among the 'big 7' projects.  Just the cost of the light rail and busway extension would eat up any available funds in the first term of an LNP government.

To these 'nationally significant' projects, the LNP has added another 12 'Projects of State and Regional Significance'.  Among this group of 12 projects, the one that heads the list is Gold Coast Rapid Transit (Stage 2), followed by Gold Coast transitway and bikeway upgrades.  This is in keeping with the LNP commitment to provide infrastructure supporting the Gold Coast bid for the Commonwealth games.

Other notable projects in the top 19 list are the Kingsford Smith Drive upgrade, widening of the Pacific Motorway through Logan and a Warrego Highway bypass of Toowoomba.

Project No. 21 on the list is the Beenleigh to Varsity Lakes capacity upgrade, while No. 22 is the Sunshine Coast duplication to Nambour.  No. 23 is the extension of the Springfield line to Redbank Plains.

Does this list reflect transport priorities in SEQ, with particular reference to their order?

It is worth noting that the majority of these LNP infrastructure Plan projects are projects that are Federal Government funded projects relating to Federal Infrastructure, with no financial cost to the state which the current frederal government would not be inclined to add to a LNP government's shopping list and pay for hence No Policies Newman can reneg on his comitment using the excuse that it is the federal governments fault that his government was unable to proceed.  The old The cat ate my homework excuse

Isn't that exactly what Newman did for one of the BCC elections? He promised to fix up a bunch of level crossings, then after the election said these were a State issue, but BCC was willing to put 50% of the cost in if the State covered the rest. Funnily enough the State said, "Your promise, your funds. Bugger off"

[#Metro]

Isn't that exactly what Newman did for one of the BCC elections? He promised to fix up a bunch of level crossings, then after the election said these were a State issue, but BCC was willing to put 50% of the cost in if the State covered the rest. Funnily enough the State said, "Your promise, your funds. Bugger off"

Don't you love it when there are designed to fail schemes?

Like Northern Link Tunnel connection to the busway $50 million dollars -couldn't afford it, but oh, wait, we just saved $300 million on competitive tendering process.... lame!!
Or the 1000 buses per day that would use the tunnel - what a ruse!

[Mr X]

BCC wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on Clem 7, biggest air parcel of them all! $700 mil they put into it under Newman, I believe.
People want this man running the entire state.   Sure, he gets stuff done, but he gets the wrong stuff done.

[Cam]

I visited The Greens website to find out about their public transport policy. I found an animation at http://qld.greens.org.au/sites/greens.org.au/files/Transport_Animation_530x300_Small_Logo.swf

It includes the great slogan "A train every ten minutes... Moves the same number of people as a freeway". Unfortunately, there are no details in their PT policy regarding any increases in train frequencies - not even on the all important Ferny Grove Line which services the Ashgrove electorate. 

[SurfRail]

I visited The Greens website to find out about their public transport policy. I found an animation at http://qld.greens.org.au/sites/greens.org.au/files/Transport_Animation_530x300_Small_Logo.swf

It includes the great slogan "A train every ten minutes... Moves the same number of people as a freeway". Unfortunately, there are no details in their PT policy regarding any increases in train frequencies - not even on the all important Ferny Grove Line which services the Ashgrove electorate. 

I have always found the Greens to be surprisingly dense on the implementation and cost-benefit side of public transport.  They basically wanted every BUZ route to be light rail, because light rail is awesome, yo.

[Stillwater]

I't scary stuff!  The ALP has a plan (Connecting SEQ 2031, 2041, new edition 2051) that they refuse to stick to, or just hide their inaction by putting a new date on the front cover ... the LNP is in a policy free zone and so are the Greens, but they always enjoyed catching a train when mummy took them to town as a kid.  You just weep.

[O_128]

I't scary stuff!  The ALP has a plan (Connecting SEQ 2031, 2041, new edition 2051) that they refuse to stick to, or just hide their inaction by putting a new date on the front cover ... the LNP is in a policy free zone and so are the Greens, but they always enjoyed catching a train when mummy took them to town as a kid.  You just weep.

The greens have a vague policy on there website the LNP has nothing and as an LNP supporter its actually just embarrassing. Especially when the ALP is  finally getting its act together and all the dead wood (Lucas) is retiring or been removed from the ministerial office (looking at you miss Nolan.

[Fares_Fair]

There should be guidelines about choosing priorities.

FOCUS ON THE CORE.

Without core capacity, nothing else works.

In my mind, the Eastern Busway is non-core. You can still run buses on the road or even remove car parks and add bus lanes as a cheap stop-gap measure. That money ($3 billion) would be better spent on freeing up core bus capacity in the CBD (either by bus tunnel, grade separations, metro conversion or whatever).

Same deal with extensions to rail lines. CRR should come ahead of ANY rail extension to anywhere. You can always run buses in the meantime as a stop-gap.

Hello TT,

Did you see my post about CRR and the NCL duplication.

Source:
Inner City Rail Capacity Study - Stage 3 Freight Analysis
produced for Queensland Transport by SYSTEMWIDE, states in Conclusion, Chapter 9, p25;

Conclusion  p25,
  "From an inner city perspective, the best course of action for the future of freight is
  to increase the North coast intermodal train consist lengths to 1500m. Doing so will
  alleviate the need to upgrade the inner city, and will allow the current (desired)
  freight distribution to be maintained with operational viability. If 1500m trains
  cannot be accommodated, the freight services should be spread apart ...

  This will avoid infrastructure upgrades to the inner city under medium
  growth, and only requires a fifth track around Roma West junction under high
  growth to ensure a robust operation.
 
  The freight curfew should remain, as running freight services during the peak hour
  can only be achieved by extensive additional infrastructure, or by removing
  passenger services causing unacceptable overloading."

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[ozbob]

The ICRCS confirmed the need for CRR. You are taking things a little out of context.  What the section you are referring too really implies is that if unit train lengths extended that might mitigate against the need for further surface rail expansion inner city apart from say 5th line Roma St West for FREIGHT, given that the further rail corridor/river crossings e.g CRR, Trouts Road are undertaken.  

Over the next 20 years there will be significant growth in patronage on the SEQ rail
network. This growth will result from population increases and changes in travel
behaviour caused by factors such as increased petrol prices, traffic congestion,
parking prices and environmental awareness. The resultant increase in rail traffic
on the rail network will be felt most keenly on the inner city network. Capacity
constraints on this part of the network mean that one new two track corridor will be
required by 2016 and another two-track corridor by 2026.
Construction of these new corridors provides a 'city building opportunity' because
of the impact the rail network can have on the land use pattern in the inner city.
The demand modelling and the rail operations analysis confirmed that two
additional corridors/river crossings (or four additional tracks) are required by 2026.
This includes one corridor (or two additional tracks) from the south by 2016, and
another corridor (or two additional tracks) from the west by 2026. If QR's existing
6-car set operations continue, the modelling forecasts a tripling of today's inner city
train numbers; where peak hour trains are expected to climb from 52 trains per
hour to 141 trains per hour.

http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/~/media/66d0103c-2c2a-4dff-9613-4ce20425487f/pdf_icrc_pre_feasibility_report_section_7.pdf

[#Metro]

I have always found the Greens to be surprisingly dense on the implementation and cost-benefit side of public transport.  They basically wanted every BUZ route to be light rail, because light rail is awesome, yo.

Zero net increase in mobility at cost as well. Urgh.

[Stillwater]

Hey everyone.  Go to the CM-Quest newspaper site where your local newspaper has an on-line survey to complete.  The survey includes a list of questions seeking your experience with roads and public transport, together with questions about health, cost of living etc.  The poll includes 'more information' boxes where you can give specific examples.  Quest indicates that the responses it receives will influence the weighting its journalists will give to stories in the lead-up to the state election.  So now is your chance to tell your local media about transport and other issues that affect you.

[Stillwater]

Rumour mill has it that the state election could be called as early as mid to late February.  At the time that the Governor signs the writs, disolving the parliament and authorising the election, the public service goes into what's called caretaker mode.  Except for ongoing and most urgent matters, the public services goes into a 'steady as she goes' business model.  Usually, no correspondence is answered, no new contracts are let -- everything goes on hold until the new government and ministers are sworn in.

So, ask questions of government now, before it is too late.

Secondly, perhaps it is time for this thread, or new ones, to become an "ALP promises" vs "LNP promises" site, where anyone who sees a promise from either party, or a candidate, can register that promise on line (identifying where and on what date the promise was made, and by whom), then whichever party gets into power can be held accountable for what has been promised and recorded.

[somebody]

Very odd about this announcement then: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/government-to-delay-police-academy-slash-jobs-in-bid-to-cut-costs-20120113-1pye5.html

Do they really think giving "separation packages" to public servants is going to be popular?

[Stillwater]

The political imperative is driving this.  The ALP state government wants to be seen to be returning Queensland government coffers to the black one year ahead of schedule.

But it is unlikely to do them any good.  The ABC's political guru, Antony Green, has made a forecast of the state election based on people's actual votes for political parties at the last federal election.

In short, the analysis shows Labor being wiped out on the Gold Coast and in Cairns, losing two of its three seats in Townsville, and also losing Cook, Mount Isa and Whitsunday. Labor loses many of its holdings in the western suburbs of Brisbane (including Ashgrove and Mount Coot-tha), and also loses key seats outside of Brisbane City Council in the south-east corridor to the Gold Coast and in the north on the road to the Sunshine Coast.

Not even all the lolly going to the Gold Coast, even a Commonwealth Games, will save the ALP, says Mr Green.