Actually it is more like Buses, Trains, Ferries, City Cats and Automobiles.
The last few days has seen Brisbane traffic in true gridlock. Accidents, train issues, road works – you name – we have seen it, and when you put it all together you get a day like today.
On Tuesday, Shadow Transport Minister Fiona Simpson made a media release on the ongoing problems faced by Queensland’s South East.
“…the legacy of 11 years of Beattie-Bligh Labor Governments was a city in gridlock with transport failures regularly shutting major city arterials and rail links for hours on end.”
A friend of mine who actually works in Uban Planning and Development spoke of the current plans offered by Anna Bligh’s government as “too little too late” and that Fiona Simpson was “right.”
It doesn’t take much for a run to work to become a nightmare.
I commuted from the Gold Coast to Brisbane for a little over two and a half years before relocating to Brisbane Central. In that time I saw trains reaching capacity – even the 6am train from Helensvale station was standing room only before we hit Beenleigh. At night, it was pointless even attempting to get on a train before 6.30pm unless you wanted to stand for at least half of your journey. Fold out camp chairs are still common sites in backpacks down Creek and Edward streets as the distance commuters make their way from Central Station. To vary it up, I would sometimes drive to Upper Mt Gravatt for Park and Ride – but I couldn’t obtain a park if I arrived after 6.50am. The buses were packed by then as well – and don’t even get me started on trying to do the drive every day. After moving to Brisbane Central, I became a walker and bus taker. If I caught a bus after 7.30am it would generally take a couple before one was not full.
These days I drive against the traffic to the far Western suburbs – against the traffic. However road works (which are important and had long been ignored) have turned a 25 minute journey to an average of 35mins – and blow outs to maximum of 55 minutes.
Curious about what the LNP’s position was on Transport/Infrastructure I checked out their policy. On the surface it certainly seems like some good ideas, even some are tack ons from Labour’s policies. $414m over four years is not something to be sneezed at – but unless I missed it I don’t remember anything about the River (eg. CityCats).
Only being a layperson, albeit one who is directly impacted on a daily basis, I asked another friend who is actually passionate about Transport Infrastructure and is currently undertaking a career change in Urban Planning and Development because of all the issues we face. He was less than enthusiastic about the LNP’s polices, suggesting that do nothing more than “exacerbate” the problems.
Certainly on the surface many of these sound pretty good, until you start thinking about it in the big picture. Between 6am-7am some of the trains are already packed (especially as they are reduced cars). The real problem isn’t those people living in Zone 1, but those in outlying zones working on getting into Zone 1 – CBD Fringe. Yes some feeder buses will help, but Park and Ride is a self fulfilling prophesy from congestion and failure. Not to mention the whole question of where the extra space is going to come from, if not up.
The Bligh Government has certainly made a mad dash to try and get things done. I don’t think there are many people out there who felt that no enough was done over the past 5+ years to keep pace, but at least something is happening – even if they are currently rather inconvenient. Unless things have changed with regards to the availability of CityCats and Buses, they are already going into use as fast as they can be made. I for one love the idea that the bus I travel on was assembled in the State where it is being utilised (even if they sometimes catch fire).
My major concern with this and all other LNP policies is that we are being asked to wait a “couple of weeks” for an explaination of where the money is coming from. A couple of weeks lands us right before the election.
Breaking News – Anna Bligh announced a $12M traffic congestion plan moments ago at the Gateway Duplication Project. Let’s just hope it isn’t “too little too late.”
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