Letters to the editor - Published

[ozbob]

3 March 2016

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times --> Public transport still a sham across Brisbane

RAIL Back on Track has long called for Brisbane City Council's bus contracts to be discontinued and legislation passed banning Brisbane City Council from operating public transport. All other States and Territories organise public transport at the State level and do not subcontract a local government to deliver services.

Brisbane City Council has a long history of resisting bus reform. Its network is obsolete, enormous 'black holes' exist in coverage, there is waste, inefficiency and duplication galore. Fares have exploded, no doubt due in large part to the increasing costs at Brisbane City Council.

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk was handed carte blanche to make whatever changes he wanted to the bus network in 2013. It was made very clear that the bus network needed reform. The opportunity to reform was wasted.

Bus reform would have given Brisbane Australia's best bus network and provided excellent services to 'black hole' areas such as Bulimba, Yeronga, The Centenary Suburbs and the Northwest.

Now the bus network has collapsed, as we had been constantly warning for years.

The reliability is the worst in South East Queensland by a large margin, and this is with exclusive busway infrastructure in Brisbane that all other regions do not have.

Is it just one performance standard for private bus operators, and another standard for Brisbane City Council?

What exactly has to happen before the Transport Minister and State Government act?

Transport Minister, fire Brisbane City Council as a bus operator.

If Brisbane City Council knows that its monopolist contract for bus services is just going to be renewed no matter how good or bad its performance is, why would it change?

Brisbane City Council isn't even meeting TransLink performance standards!

The State Government should take over bus operations, just like it is done in Sydney with State Transit Buses.

Is there any leadership left at City Hall or George Street?

We have shown that bus network reform will deliver. Time to act!

ROBERT DOW Rail Back on Track

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 18th March 2016 page 13

Easy solution to nightmare

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 28th March 2016 page 21

Forget the highway and ride train instead

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 12th April 2016 page 17

Cross River project a winner for Brisbane

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 14th April 2016 page 13

Cross River Rail can't come soon enough

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 29th April 2016 page 13

Funding for upgrade is welcomed

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 12th May 2016 page 15

Give us rail not roads

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Courier Mail 16th May 2016 page 22

Waste widespread in city transport journey

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 17th May 2016 page 19

Paying for lack of action transport

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 19th May 2016 page 15

Brisbane stumbling on transport plans

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 14th June 2016 page 23

Road investment will improve flow

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 28th June 2016 page 19

Cross river rail funds welcome

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 14th July 2016 page 13

Forget the motorway and go rail instead

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 15th July 2016 page 13

Local bus network ready to have a total overhaul

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 22nd July 2016

LETTER: Nicholls needs to get his policy right

STATE Opposition leader, Tim Nicholls, has criticised the Cross River Rail project as being "station in floodplain", "forgot to order trains" and "secret taxes for Queenslanders".

Apart from the obvious facts that most of Brisbane is built in a flood plain by design, existing and new NGR trains will use CRR, and taxes cannot be secret since to pay a tax the person being taxed needs to be sent a bill with the amount on it, Tim Nicholls has not explained what his party's policies actually are. Albert St station will have flood protection.

Will Tim Nicholls build Cross River Rail? Some other rail project to unlock capacity instead? Nothing??

Why does the LNP appear to support giving private landholders taxpayer funds gratis when a taxpayer funded project nearby increases their private property values? Value capture and value share is required as part of the business case for all major projects for Infrastructure Australia assessment.

How will the LNP pay for Cross River Rail or its equivalent? We need a detailed point by point explanation on this one. We want to see numbers.

What is Tim Nicholls' policy on zones and fares across the TransLink network? Is there a fare reform policy?

Or is it just too hard like last time.

What is Tim Nicholls' policy on Brisbane City Council's continued poor and expensive operation of the Brisbane Bus Network? BCC is failing to meet basic bus on time mandatory standards.

What is Tim Nicholls' policy on Brisbane City Council Bus Network Reform?

What is Tim Nicholls' policy on the extension of the rail from Springfield Central, and Perth style 15-minute train frequency within South East Queensland?

Tim Nicholls and LNPQLD, where are your transport policies?

Queensland needs more than Segways!

ROBERT DOW, Rail Back on Track

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 25th July 2016 page 21

Better feeder buses needed for starters

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 29th July 2016 page 11

Time now to bring in transport changes

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 30th July 2016 page 19

More trains for Springfield line

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 29 August 2016 page 13

Public transport needs to be on agenda

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 5th September 2016 page 23

Trad makes the right move on metro depot

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 6th September 2016 page 19

Ipswich on cusp of transport meltdown

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 21st September 2016 page 15

Light rail boosts values, who pays?

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 4th October 2016 page 19

Stop fighting and sort out transport

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 20th October 2016 page 15

Helping to get the presents home

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 24th October 2016 page 15

Crew numbers affecting services

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 28th October 2016 page 11

Beware the finer details in Quirk plan

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 14th November 2016 page 13

Survey on public transport under way

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 16th November 2016 page 15

Train dramas causing anger

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 16th November 2016 page 15

Queensland Rail should just stick to the facts

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 23rd November 2016 page 15

Track closure strikes Ipswich lines again

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 24th November 2016 page 5

QR slammed over mixed messages

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 28th November 2016 page 13

Sympathy for Queensland Rail staff

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 2nd December 2016 page 13

Time to fix state's public transport

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 6th December 2016 page 19

Rail failures making us all give up hope

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 19th December 2016 page 13

Thanks for your support this year

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 27th December 2016 page 15

Action needed to create efficiency

[Matt]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 2nd December 2016 page 13

Time to fix state's public transport

That was one small win, hope to see a lot more.

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 31st December 2016 page 39

LNP weak on policy, strong on criticism

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 9th January 2017 page 13

Here's how to fix the state's rail 'mess'

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 16th January 2017 page 13

Keep regular rail users in the know