Article: Policy Brief: Transport

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Policy Brief: Transport

Policy Brief: Public transport
March 23, 2012 - 3:00AM

Policy Brief: Transport

Public transport fares has been the focal point of a bidding war during the state election campaign and has proved an increasingly important issue for voters. A series of Newspolls show 42 per cent of voters rated transport as a "very important'' issue in January 2004 compared with 53 per cent in February this year. Of those, 44 per cent believed the LNP was best able to hande the issue and 28 per cent nominated Labor but the rest were "uncommitted''.

Labor:

    Commuters will qualify for unlimited free trips after taking two journeys on the bus, train or ferry on any given day, costing $55.7 million over four years. Policy.
    $19.15 million boost to the Translink Station Upgrade Program over three years, taking the investment to more than $137 million. Policy.
    $39.9 million to fund 95 new road upgrade projects over three years. Policy.
    $28 million for a North Brisbane Cycleway, secure bike parking spaces and regional cycling initiatives. Policy.

LNP:

    Free Go Card travel on southeast Queensland's buses, trains and ferries after nine trips. Policy announced before Christmas with estimated cost of ''$9 million in first year''. Policy.
    $101 million to halve the annual fare increases of 15 per cent for southeast Queensland public transport to a 7.5 per cent increase over the next two years. Policy.
    Double train services on Ferny Grove line to every 15 minutes during off-peak hours at a cost of $18 million for a two-year trial. Policy.
    $1 billion over 10 years to upgrade the Bruce Highway (depends on federal funding as well). Policy.
    $285 million from the party's Roads to Resources program to repairing and upgrading regional roads over four years, then an extra $100 million per year on top of current funding. Policy.
    $55 million for the Toowoomba CBD Ring Road from the Roads to Resources program. Policy.
    up to $34 million to flood proof Blakey's Crossing and upgrade an intersection in Townsville. Policy.

Katter's Australian Party:

    Free state government-run public transport for all seniors boarding between 9am and 2pm from Monday to Friday.
    Paper tickets to be brought into line with Go Card prices, which is about a 30 per cent reduction.
    Introduction of a daily cap to the equivalent of two journeys.
    Reverse recent 15 per cent fare increase, bringing it back into line with CPI.
    Add a passenger rail service on the interstate line from Acacia Ridge to Beaudesert to service the second fastest growth area in Queensland.
    Scrap the $6.4 billion Brisbane Cross River Rail project and spend the funds to upgrade the Bruce Highway, construct the Toowoomba range bypass and upgrade the highway from the Gateway Bridge to Nambour-Sunshine Coast  including the D'Aguilar Highway.
    Build a 125kmph link road from the Sunshine Coast to the South Burnett.
    Develop substantial car parking nodes close to the Brisbane CBD such as 1000 to 2000 vehicles at Kangaroo Point connected to the CBD by a cross-river pedestrian/cyclist connection.
    Scrap all T2 lanes in the state. Policy.

Queensland Greens:

    Build a light rail network in Brisbane as an upgrade to the busway network that will complement the heavy passenger rail network.
    Introduce ticket vending machines at all busway stations to improve boarding times.
    Introduce daily and weekly fare caps to the Go-Card system to ensure that users are not charged more than the equivalent cost of a daily or weekly ticket for their travels.
    Extend the operating hours of AirTrain to serve late night and early morning flights as well as airport staff who may start early or finish late.
    Investigate the feasibility of bringing AirTrain back into public hands so it can be properly integrated into TransLink. If not feasible, investigate measures to reduce the cost to users to bring it in line with trips of an equivalent distance.
    Introduce feeder bus routes for train lines rather than bus services which run parallel to the train line.
    Investigate the retraining of truck drivers affected by shifts in transport patterns as bus drivers to cater to extra public transport demand.
    Support the increase of inner city Brisbane rail capacity as proposed in Queensland Rail's Inner City Rail Capacity Study.
    Once inner city rail capacity is increased, prioritise the construction of the proposed railway lines to Redcliffe, Coolangatta, Springfield/Ripley Valley, Caloundra and Maroochydore.
    Dual track all single track rail and investigate the demand in the Doomben-Pinkenba line in order to determine whether electrification would lead to increased public transport use in the area.
    Extend the public transport concession to holders of a Commonwealth Government Low Income Health Care Card (in line with other states).
    Trial buses running on alternative energy sources such as biodiesel and hydrogen fuel cells.
    Create a South East Queensland Transit Authority to oversee the planning, construction and timetabling of current and new public transport systems in South East Queensland.
    Provide money to local councils (or newly established regional transit authorities) to provide new bus and ferry services and vehicles as well as the creation of active transport facilities.
    Provide funds for the reconfiguration of key rail infrastructure to reduce the number of facing moves. This will allow better timetabling and, coupled with new rollingstock, will increase the capacity of the existing rail network.
    Construct a new freight line through the CBD which is segregated from the passenger rail network.
    Connect the Gold Coast railway to the NSW North Coast railway in order to facilitate rail travel between Northern New South Wales (Murwillumbah) and the Gold Coast. Build a rail gauge interchange at the proposed Tugun station.
    Investigate the feasibility of re-opening the Bethania-Beaudesert rail spur to provide greater public transport coverage outside of Brisbane.
    Reform performance based funding of Queensland Rail to take passenger loads into account rather than simply analysing whether the trains are on time.
    Install new safety features at all level rail crossings by 2012 including boom gates, more visible signage, road surface based warnings, reduced speed limits and cameras to catch vehicles driving across the tracks when a train is approaching.
    Cancel the construction of new road tunnels, including the Toowong-Everton Park tunnel and all road tunnels in the Brisbane City Council's TransApex scheme.
    Redress the lack of funding for public and active transport by maintaining road safety projects but moving funding from new road projects to new public and active transport projects.
    Investigate the effectiveness of an airport curfew and the economic and environmental impact.
    Delay the construction of an extra runway at Brisbane Airport until a study has been completed to determine the optimum position of the runway with respect to the impact on nearby residential areas and the Boondall wetlands bird sanctuary.
    Restructure vehicle registration to encourage fuel efficiency and the uptake of hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles and motorcycles and motor scooters.
    Remove any state based fuel subsidies and transfer the money towards setting up a "pay as you drive" vehicle registration system where registration is paid at the petrol pump.
    Increase the efficiency of the road network by introducing disincentives for single occupant vehicles such as transit lanes for multiple occupant vehicles, priority signals for buses and congestion pricing for areas adequately served by public transport, particularly the Brisbane CBD and other areas with high levels of pedestrian use.
    Review and amend planning regulations to encourage building owners and designers to provide facilities such as secure parking and end of trip facilities for cyclists and walkers.
    Reduce urban speed limits to make roads safer for all users, particularly exposed users such as cyclists and pedestrians.
    Improve safety at intersections by increasing the length of pedestrian crossing signals and ensuring all turn signals for traffic have a full suite of lights from red through to green.
    Review and strengthen air quality regulations in line with the latest research into air pollution and its effects on human health. Deny approval to road projects which do not meet these regulations.
    Restrict heavy vehicle movements on suburban roads to increase safety and urban amenity. Reduce the speed limit for heavy vehicles on urban and suburban roads in order to prolong the life, and increase the safety, of the road surface.
    Ensure adequate testing of heavy vehicle emissions, particularly diesel engines, so that they meet air pollution regulations.
    Amend transport legislation to allow full judicial review.
    Provide public transport season passes to state government employees in lieu of fleet vehicles for travel to and from work. Maintain a fleet of hybrid vehicles at government offices for journeys during the day which require the use of a car.
    Make new drivers' licenses conditional on defensive driving training in order to improve road safety and reduce the number of driver fatalities.
    Create bike lane and bikeway networks to connect communities to their local train stations, bus interchanges and shopping centres. Provide adequate and safe facilities for bicycle, scooter and motorcycle storage at these locations.
    Allocate a minimum of 5 per cent of transport infrastructure funding for the provision and maintenance of cycling facilities in order to meet the usage goals in the Queensland Government's cycling plan.
    Legislate to ensure that all new state road projects and upgrades conform with the Department of Main Roads' Cycling on State Controlled Roads policy.
    Develop abandoned railway corridors as "rail trails" for cycling tourism.
    Establish an auditing process to ensure all existing cycling facilities (both on and off-road) meet the needs and expectations of cyclists.
    Establish a $100 million Regional Queensland Cycling Fund to facilitate the construction of cycling infrastructure in regional towns.

The verdict: peak bodies

Rail: Back on Track – spokesman Robert Dow

Mr Dow said in Brisbane the sleeper issue that would affect Brisbane voters, but which did not come during the election campaign, was the different policies of both major parties in choosing whether or not new "park n' ride" stations would be placed at shopping centres closer than 10 kilometres to the city centre.

He also said no party – except the Greens – accepted that unemployed people needed concessions on public transport to make public transport less of a burden.

"We still think this is an important issue," he said.

"And all parties forget to address that, except for the Greens."

Mr Dow said no party was prepared to expand the Sunshine Coast rail services despite the population growth in the region.

"Neither the LNP nor the ALP have indicated anything on this, really," he said.

"I mean the ALP do have a really long plan out to 2031, or 2021 to upgrade the line north of Beerburrum.

"The LNP have given no commitments really."

Mr Dow said the LNP's plans to increase the frequency on the Ferny Grove line on weekdays was worthwhile.

"We'd like to think that could be extended to the Caboolture to Ipswich line, because that is the engine room of the network."

He said both parties suggestions to provide better services on buses using the Go Card were also worthwhile, but praised the LNP's decision to reduce fares by 7.5 per cent.

He said Cross River Rail – the future Brisbane underground rail project - was a strong point to Labor's transport plan, although it is totally dependent on federal government funds.

He predicted if the LNP win office, they would grow to appreciate the project once they knew the full details.

"I think we will end up with something virtually the same, it may be exactly the same, but it will be virtually the same."

"What I was pleased about yesterday was the LNP's decision to not come out with their alternative to Cross River Rail," he said.

"They said they would look at it and reassess it. So I think that is a welcome announcement."

He said Katter's Australian Party has provided some good ideas, but said incentives to encourage people back to "paper" tickets was "a bit silly" and would rule out the savings now coming from Go Cards.

He said the reduction is car registrations by both  the ALP and LNP was a sop to car drivers, who had to pay more for public transport during the week.

"They are still increasing public transport fees but making car travel more attractive aren't they."

He said plans to rebuild roads were basically federal government projects and similar to both the ALP and the LNP.

Dr Jago Dodson, director Urban Research Program, Griffith University

Dr Dodson said in general the transport policies were "bland", but quite surprisingly there was little attention to unrealistic measures to reduce congestion.

"One thing that seems to be gone is the usual bidding war on a catalogue of rail links and the rogues gallery of urban roads that have been the hallmarks of previous campaigns," he said.

However Dr Dodson said the "chest beating on congestion" was markedly absent from the 2012 election.

He said his observations were that vehicle use on the Captain Cook and Story bridges had "declined marginally" and a public transport boost had started.

"What I suspect is that the tunnel building process disrupted the road system that it increased congestion, but actually reduced traffic volumes," he said.

Dr Dodson said road projects were starting to finish and public transport figures were declining slightly.

"So I suspect congestion is not as big an issue as it used to be," he said.

Dr Dodson said all parties were trying to find ways to reduce public transport fares in southeast Queensland.

"Whether that is through free trips or through altering the pricing of that," he said.

"But there is very little public transport infrastructure being proposed."

Only Katter's Australian Party had proposed a new public transport link, suggesting re-opening the Beaudesert rail line to passenger services.

"And that has been a long-standing question in the region's public transport," Dr Dodson said.

However, he said it was already being investigated under Labor's Integrated Regional Transport Plan.

Dr Dodson said he had mixed views on the expensive Cross River Rail project.

"I think if it is seen as a way of fixing capacity issues on the Merivale Bridge, then there are some questions about it," he said.

"But as a regional rail link that enables very fast trains to operate from the Gold Coast through the city to the Sunshine Coast and provides that linear rail link connecting the three main cities in the region, then I am more supportive of it.

"I think that is a better function for it."

Dr Dodson said changes in signalling, plus a series of "smaller scale" interventions could possibly improve the situation over the Merivale Bridge cheaper.

Best proposals:

    The proposal from the ALP to cap daily Go Card use.
    The Greens proposal to bring the AirTrain rail link to Brisbane Airport back into the Citytrain network.
    The focus on the Bruce Highway from the LNP: "It probably deserves a bit more attention than it got."


Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/policy-brief-public-transport-20120320-1vh49.html

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