Getting Real Brisbane (and SEQ) Moving

 Welcome, to the debut post here at One Queensland.

It’s more of a debut of us standing alone. For two years, we’ve run annual pieces at Kuttsywood’s Couch: that have been surprisingly successful. The time has now arrived to bring the success elsewhere, to a standalone One Queensland website.

We believe, in three things: the promise, the present and the future of Queensland. We also believe that our politics needs to stop being divided into yes/no, red/blue, regions/SEQ because division is the worst problem we can have as a society because there will be always a remainder (the people alienated enough by both yes/no to think and vote informal, those that are outright sick of red/blue stereotypes that have blurred worse than having too many drinks in the bar, and most critically: those who believe the regions and SEQ deserve equal funding for transport projects: i.e. for every Cross-River Rail or Gold Coast Light Rail project we build in SEQ, we should be pouring that same amount (while still spending in the SE) into concurrent regional transport upgrades outside the SE that benefit all: not just the freight industry or the car driver) that feels that they are ignored.

In fact, if we had poured in the same amount of money we’ve spent in Brisbane’s inner 15km ring around the GPO on transport in the last twenty years by both the state government and Brisbane City Council, plus the GC light rail project, equally with regional QLD, you could well have a dual carriageway Bruce from Curra potentially to Gladstone, and the rail improvements for the NCL north of Gympie to transform it into a corridor akin to the Regional Fast Rail project in Victoria, as well as transit improvements for Cairns and Townsville: cities that will require new solutions to future transport needs that neither major party has forecast or thought about.

And the reaction towards a recently proposed toll road in Brisbane’s north by QIC (who incidentally makes a pretty penny from Castle Towers in Sydney’s north-west: the only retail complex directly hooked into Sydney Metro (thanks to Castle Hill Metro station being right next door, mind you), should rightly be sending spasms in the spine of any Queensland politician who accepts political donations and gifts either directly or indirectly from tollroad operator Transurban.

In fact, I feel that the long game, with any northside tunnel is to ultimately tie into proposals for the Bruce Highway from the Gateway interchange south of the Pine Rivers Bridge to Caboolture that will make the road a express-collector/distributor configuration: a configuration that will be, in the hands of a canny LNP or ALP politician (not knowing how much ire it will raise) a licence to print money: that is charging drivers a fee (like what exists to use the HOV lanes on some US freeways) for a faster trip.

But yet, there are people in the endless suburbia of the 200km city that is SE Queensland that are stuck in the slow lane concerning public transport (some not even 10km from Brisbane’s CBD): akin to how those of Sydney’s north-west were stranded with a bus-centric transport model until a six car driverless knight of a train finally arrived in 2019 and that is mere months away from opening the first new rail route through Sydney’s CBD since 1932’s opening of the Town Hall-Wynyard corridor that linked into the Sydney Harbour Bridge, with the first new CBD railway stations since the opening of Martin Place on the Eastern Suburbs railway in 1979, while construction next year is set to ramp up on Metro West’s terminus at Hunter Street (linked into both the Wynyard and Martin Place station complexes)

My personal hope, is to be in Sydney for the official opening of Sydney Metro’s CBD extension sometime in 2024, as a way of sending a message to Queensland politicians: “Queensland, you can do it too!” akin to how the SCRTD (now part of LA Metro) tried to persuade people in a car-centric Los Angeles fifty years ago post-1973 oil crisis to follow in the lead of BART in San Francisco and invest in public transit: a movement that culminated in a successful ballot measure in 1980 that opened the door for the Blue Line light rail to Long Beach and Red Line subway to Hollywood, as well as a successful regional rail network: that will be the basis for the keys to the success of the 2028 Olympics’s transport picture.

"Los Angeles, you can do it too!" from MetroLibrarian on Youtube.

Brisbane needs to follow Sydney’s lead much like Los Angeles ultimately followed San Francisco’s lead in investing in public transport options that work for all: and it needs to follow that lead sooner rather than later.

Because, Brisbane has become a city divided into two separate cities. The cliched centre that is seen as a easy infrastructure grab by politicians at all three levels of government, and a real city that is seen by those same politicians, at all three levels (local, federal and state) as something to stick in the too-hard basket: especially as the time will always be upon us to keep Real Brisbane moving…

Cliched Brisbane and Real Brisbane: a brief history.

We were inspired to write this, by a comment on a video about Western Sydney Airport by Building Beautifully, that accurately describes Sydney as becoming two separate identities.

“Sydney is not one city but several. I'll refer to the main two as  "Cliched Sydney" (you know, the touristy bits - Opera House, the Bridge, Manly Ferry, Bondi Beach, Taronga Park .....). Then there's "Real Sydney", where the real people, who do the real work, live; and have Red Rooster for dinner.”

Excerpt of a Youtube comment by tacitdionysus3220 on a Building Beautifully video

The political leaders of today at every single level of government have not even noticed the split in Brisbane into cliché... and real.

But it wasn’t always this way.

It’s hard to believe that just under 65 years ago, Brisbane had a efficient tram network, but yet was severely undersewered? The loss of the tram network, and the progressive sewering of the city began the wheels in motion for a split into cliché and real, although our civic fathers tried to stop it at the sprout: with new universities (fed by those who got it for free in the Whitlam era), and the sporting facilities built for the 1982 Commonwealth Games becoming the last great sign of a Brisbane that was far less ripe to split into a clichéd city.

Just where and when would it split?

It took the attitude people had post-Wivenhoe Dam completion (a similar slumber to what happened post-Somerset Dam completion… only to have a muddy awakening fifty years ago: which we ended up repeating in 2011 and 2022) and the post-Expo conversation concerning South Bank, to begin the cliché’s evolution. Urban renewal (as well as the restoration of Queenslanders in the inner suburbs), the rebuilding of Lang Park and the Gabba, the evolution of Queen St into a retail destination and the rework of the Valley into a nightlife precinct (after being a retail hub until the late eighties) all contributed to what has arrived today: the development of Cliché Brisbane: dominated by a fully redeveloped south and north bank of the river, two large sports stadiums, accommodation galore, and soon to open, a modern casino that will live up to the “BrizVegas” tag, all linked with efficient transport.

Meanwhile in Real Brisbane: which no longer ends at the Pine River going north, Miles Platting Road and Compton Road going south and at the Centenary Hwy/Ipswich Motorway interchange going west, by the way: transport is becoming a hot topic. The fact that the Ripley Valley is growing into a car-dependant suburb (while plans for a Springfield line extension to the Ripley Valley and ultimately Ipswich sit gathering dust), and why Caboolture West is being planned with the car infrastructure going first not the public transit infrastructure that is required for the long term, needs to be questioned before a lot is turned over. And, then there’s the toll road proposal for Gympie Road north of Kedron, that is resoundingly unpopular. Maybe our SEQ Mayors want these areas to be dependent on flying taxis for wealthy homeowners, instead of mass transit for the masses.

Getting around “Real Brisbane”

There are parts of “Real Brisbane” that are stung with inequality concerning public transport: The best comparison, is that of Eatons Hill and Albany Creek, with Browns Plains.

Browns Plains gets access to Brisbane’s CBD (i.e. cliché Brisbane) with two bus services 15min frequency or better and a strong E/W connection (with links to both the GC/Beenleigh corridor (30min frequency to Springwood, connecting to rail at Kingston) and the Springfield/Ipswich corridor (hourly to Springfield, via a circuitous route via Forest Lake).

Meanwhile, Albany Creek and Eatons Hill get a inter-peak frequency to the city (i.e. from a bus to cliché Brisbane) of just one service a hour, and a connection to major retail hubs at Aspley, Chermside and Strathpine… of you guessed it: one service a hour.

Timetables for the 338, 357 and 359, servicing Albany Creek and Eatons Hill.

The difference between the two: Browns Plains/Grand Plaza is only just across the Brisbane/Logan council boundary (which is set, at the Logan Motorway toll road) and has become a destination in it’s own right (with Grand Plaza being the second largest retail complex in Logan City: after the Hyperdome at Loganholme).

Albany Creek and Eatons Hill: are all part of divisions 9 and 10 of Moreton Bay City Council: with the boundary between both MBCC and BCC forming part of the eastern boundaries of those same divisions.

In the area of Albany Creek and Eatons Hill: the public transport in that area is so poor… people are exhorted to use their cars for even the shortest trips.

And, it shows in the data for the two all-day services servicing those areas.

338: 94,000 trips 2022/23 financial year (around 257 trips a day).

359: nearly 155,000 trips 2022/23 financial year (around 424 trips a day).

Compare this with the two 15min BCC-run services out of Browns Plains, that ultimately feed into the SE busway (the 140 getting on the busway at Klumpp Road, prior to Griffith University, running the Mains Road corridor (which is ripe for rapid transit): while the 150 serves suburban Runcorn and Stretton, while joining the busway at Garden City, providing a 15min link between Grand Plaza and Westfield Garden City)

-140: 1.5m trips 2022/23 financial year (around 4109 trips a day)

-150: 1.8m trips 2022/23 financial year (around 4931 trips a day)

Let’s also add the E/W connectors run by private operators:

550 (Browns Plains/Springwood via Kingston Station by Clarks Logan City) nearly 300,000 trips 2022/23 financial year (around 821 trips a day).

534 (Springfield-Browns Plains via Ellen Grove/Forest Lake by Bus Queensland) nearly 100,000 trips 2022/23 financial year (around 273 trips per day).

The same issues apply in the Hills District of Moreton Bay Council: where the suburbs of Ferny Hills, Arana Hills and Everton Hills are poorly connected to the 15min frequency Ferny Grove railway line and have similar poor outcomes for public transport use.

Screenshot of the 397 (Ferny Grove-Mitchelton) timetable:

The common thread with Albany Creek, Eatons Hill, Ferny Hills, Arana Hills and Everton Hills: they are all served by a bus operator (Brisbane City Council-owned Brisbane Transport) that residents have no say in the running of: that is, they go to the polling booths in March every four years to elect representatives to Moreton Bay City Council, who they pay rates to, picks up their garbage, maintains their parks… not to the Brisbane City Council who supplies this area with public transport.

When the E/W connector to Beenleigh/GC rail and the SE busway from Browns Plains is getting double the passengers of a City-Albany Creek/Eatons Hill service: you know something is damn wrong with our priorities concerning public transport. And, we believe the time is right to start thinking about what needs improving, if not the Olympics: it’ll be the demand post-Cross River Rail for a secondary east-west rail connection through the Brisbane CBD (and we need to begin planning and safeguarding corridor now), additional capacity for the northside (potentially to allow for rail spurs to Caboolture West) and potentially more east-west and some north-south transit options that make sense. 

The E/W paradigm shifter: Brisbane MetroRail.

Our thinking in QLD has been so glued to north-south connectivity we have forgotten that there are areas in Brisbane today that are entirely bus reliant, because of their travel pattern to and from the CBD is explicitly a east-west proposition. The largest university campus in Queensland, the UQ St Lucia campus (around 40,000 students studying there a year, along with 3000+ full time staff) sees students and staff (if they choose not to drive) shuttled off in buses from two different bus stations (Chancellors Place, feeding Coronation Drive (with poor rail connectivity in Toowong) and UQ Lakes feeding the SE Busway (linking to rail at Boggo Road Busway/Park Road Railway Station (likely facing a name change in a post-CRR paradigm to reflect the busway presence). The need is there to link UQ to the CBD and inner suburbs with a E/W rail-based solution.

However: a E/W UQ rail solution in our minds should be a part of an independent network (that is not using narrow gauge track and loading widths, like what was proposed twenty years ago, a line augmenting the existing Ipswich/NCL corridor between Toowong and Albion, which was anticipated in 2007 to be required in 2026: a shortsight equivalent to the Northern Busway’s gap from Lutwyche to Windsor, needed to be required by 2016), akin to Sydney Metro, built on standard gauge track and signalling (allowing for driverless operation) along with taking organizational learnings from other projects worldwide (e.g. following the Barcelona Metro Line 9/10 model, where access to some stations is via high-speed lift only), and critically: be able to be funded privately (a long-term FBOT deal, where the winning contender doesn’t just fund the project: but builds/operates the line, akin to Airtrain a quarter of a century ago (with state government mandating fares for the new independent rail system being tied to existing rail fares, rather than the operator setting fares for the line themselves like what is done with Airtrain). Thus, we present the vision for E/W rail capacity in the inner-city of Brisbane after Cross River Rail and a tool for densification around stations outside Cliché Brisbane: as Brisbane MetroRail.

At the heart of Brisbane MetroRail, are two large tunneled tubes (each tube designed to fit two standard gauge tracks one on top of the other with provisions for platforms at stations): through the Brisbane CBD from Newstead to the University of Queensland, designed to serve as the core of the system, allowing cross-platform transfers, and direct connections to destinations as well as other parts of the transport network (inc. seamless transfers to Cross River Rail services at Albert St station) and Merivale Bridge train services at South Brisbane, as well as a direct link to Fortitude Valley Station.

The two lines, feeding out of this central core, will link Warner in Brisbane’s north, to Kenmore and Moggill in Brisbane’s west, and from Brisbane Airport to Browns Plains in Brisbane’s south, with their own suburban network connections (inc. a future-proofed connection to a future heavy rail line via the NW transport corridor).

All these new destinations bar, Brisbane Airport currently lack a direct rail connection from the CBD, and face severe difficulties in getting to the existing rail network, by way of existing network planning or from underinvestment. In addition, protections can be made on both the northern and southern ends for future extensions (particularly from Warner to Caboolture West (to alleviate calls for a suburban rail spur), from Browns Plains to either Greenbank or even Flagstone (to meet or be a alternative to a future Beaudesert rail extension).

In fact, even if you built the Warner-Moggill line as a standalone product initially (alongside the capacity for Airport-Browns Plains being built into the central E/W core, potentially extending phase 1 of the Airport-Browns Plains corridor to QSAC, to give direct public transport access to a refurbished Nathan stadium (something that could become a piece of long-term legacy planning for the Olympics: QEII upgraded to 80k for the Olympics (designed in a fashion that half of the capacity can be dis-assembled: akin to Centennial Olympic Stadium’s transformation into Turner Field after the 1996 Olympics), and then downgraded to a 30-40k boutique athletics/football stadium post-Games at Nathan, and a 40k rectangular stadium elsewhere in Queensland), with the section between QSAC and the airport being dug at the same time as the Warner-Moggill project, potentially even fast-tracked, with the southern extension being tunnelled well away from QSAC), you’d be able to dramatically reshape the public transport network as people shift to the new mode from buses. Imagine a 10-15min trip from the CBD to UQ constantly on a mode free of traffic congestion, instead of the 30mins timetabled connection by bus via Chancellors Place, or the 20min timetabled connection via UQ Lakes, that can effectively become a turn up and go proposition once the Browns Plains-Airport line is developed.

In addition, we believe there are several key locations between Loganholme and North Lakes that need to be served by a proper east-west connection. The key should be to develop a east/west public transport network outside Brisbane Metrorail, that is legible and is frequent across the week, and can have it’s potential achieved fully once Brisbane Metrorail opens, and the bus conga from UQ is silenced.

These new routes would exclusively use the numbers from 580-599 (with the existing Great Circle Line grandfathered in, and the existing 587 between Yarrabilba and Loganlea TAFE renumbered as 579)

The key planks that can be achieved today are as follows:

-590 routing both through Brisbane Airport and approaching Garden City adopted fully by the 598/599 Great Circle Line, with the 590 route scrapped.

-598/599 Great Circle Line service is expanded to a 7 day a week operation, adopting a permanent 20 min frequency in both clockwise and anti-clockwise operation between 6am-10pm, with the potential to become a 24/7 bus route by the end of this decade.

-369 needs to be diverted to service the Stafford City bus interchange directly (something that can actually be done today, as part of a response to the Toombul reconstruction works) and Brookside A westbound, and is rebranded as 580, while also adopting a 6am-10pm operating schedule similar to a reborn 598/599.

-The current services between Springwood and Springfield (via a change of service in Browns Plains) are augmented by a new 581: linking the end of the SE Busway to Springfield (potentially extending to Goodna on the Ipswich Line) without the dogleg to Forest Lake.

-Establish a E/W service between Richlands Station and Redland Bay (via Garden City/QEII Hospital).

-Develop new E/W services between: Ferny Grove Station and Boondall Station (via Arana Hills, Chermside and Geebung station), Albany Creek and Sandgate Station (via Aspley Hypermarket/Carseldine Station/Taigum Central), and Warner and Sandgate Station (via Strathpine Shopping Centre)

-Increase the number of bus services between Bribie Island and Caboolture to meet every train between 6am and 10pm.

-Preserve routing alignments for North Lakes-Morayfield and Caboolture West-North Lakes bus services now.

-Use the opportunity of a all-weather bridge at Youngs Crossing being finished in two years or so to examine the feasibility of linking either Enoggera Station or Mitchelton Station with Petrie Station: opening a north-south connection for Warner residents, and if the Mitchelton option is chosen: a fourth major retail connection for the bus network surrounding Albany Creek, as well as giving a direct connection from Brisbane’s north west to the USC campus at Petrie.

But surely, we have alternatives to sprawl and strand development… especially as we have many transport nodes that are ripe for the sort of development that turned Nundah from a suburb struggling with Sandgate Road through it’s heart a quarter of a century ago, to a prime example of a good transit oriented development (although, it is not truly great: as carparking still takes up prime land near Nundah Station)…

Is Brisbane ripe for a YIMBY movement in our suburbs?

We also believe, that in order for any future mass transit system to succeed in Brisbane, there also needs to be a push to upzone properties near transport stations, both current and future for enhanced density. But one critical thing in Brisbane currently prevents this from happening: regulations that prevent the demolition of pre-1947 housing stock for character reasons, meaning you have oddities such as apartments on the eastern side of Toombul Station, and single family dwellings on the western side of the station.

This means the potential for places like Eagle Junction and Albion to densify is stymied by council regulations, to preserve character: despite the sheer reality that the land on which some houses sit are far more valuable upzoned for medium density housing (at a similar scope to Nundah) just due to the presence of a railway station with a frequent service at the door.

In fact, I can identify quite a few potential TOD opportunities at transit stations along parts of our transport network that are restrained by current planning policies across various council areas.

-Inner North (CBD-Northgate):

Northgate, Eagle Junction, Wooloowin, Albion.

-Redcliffe/Caboolture/Sunshine Coast shared corridor:

Geebung, Zillmere, Bald Hills, Bray Park, Petrie.

Caboolture/Sunshine Coast shared corridor:

Caboolture.

Redcliffe Peninsula Line post-Petrie:

Kippa-Ring

Ferny Grove Line:

Enoggera, Mitchelton, Grovely.

Ipswich/Springfield shared corridor (Darra-CBD)

Darra, Oxley.

Springfield Line post-Darra:

Richlands, Ellen Grove (surrounding a new station).

GC/Beenleigh shared corridor (Boggo Rd-Kuraby)

Altandi, Kuraby.

GC Faster Rail corridor (Kuraby-Beenleigh)

Trinder Park, Woodridge, Loganlea, Beenleigh.

Cleveland Line:

Hemmant-Thorneside (with rail improvements)

SE Busway: Holland Park

Northern Busway: Lutwyche.

The big roadblock toward a YIMBY movement of the kind that evolved in Sydney and Melbourne is the sheer size of councils in the SE corner compared to those elsewhere: in Greater Sydney, there are 33 local government authorities, in Greater Melbourne: there’s 31 local government authorities: meanwhile in greater Brisbane (which should be defined in the 21st century: not by the BCC boundaries set in 1924, but by the Redlands/GCCC, Logan/GCCC and Logan/Scenic Rim boundaries to the south, the Ipswich/Scenic Rim, Ipswich/Lockyer Valley and Ipswich/Somerset, BCC/Somerset and Moreton Bay/Somerset council boundaries to the west and the Moreton Bay/Sunshine Coast boundary to the north) we only have five councils: three of those rank amongst Australia’s most populous (BCC as Australia’s most populous LGA, Moreton Bay as the third most populous LGA in Australia, and Logan City as Australia’s 7th most populous LGA (with a very realistic chance of leapfrogging it’s way into the top five in the long term.)

The vision for a YIMBY movement in Queensland, is one based off a hub/branch model with the main QLD YIMBY organization residing in the SE corner (pushing for the missing middle, council reform (to better reflect local communities within Greater Brisbane: not the centre of Brisbane) as well as pushing for public transport projects that allow densification (along with better use of railway lands in the inner suburbs currently tied in carparks), with branches in Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, CQ (Rockhampton/Gladstone) and the Wide Bay (Bundaberg to Gympie) which would be focused on how to encourage councils to approve developments that would assist in easing the strain on greater SEQ: i.e. encouraging more regional growth, encouraging governments to commit to a funding model where every transport dollar spent in the SE by the state is matched at the same amount in regional Queensland (with a long-term goal of long distance rail travel between Brisbane and Rockhampton, Cairns and Townsville and Mackay and Townsville being within the 5hr time range and offers a daily return rail service for most communities along the QLD coast, with more options existing closer to Brisbane on the NCL) and pushing for improvements that would lessen the requirement for people to travel distances for specialist health needs (easing the strain on the state government concerning the PTSS scheme).

Putting Queensland on Track

We believe, that the existing rail network also needs to be invested in heavily (alongside a modern rapid transit system) to achieve key goals for the future.

For starters: we need to finish the backlog of accessibility upgrades on our rail network by the time this decade is out, along with commissioning modernization projects for Central and Toowong stations (Toowong particularly, needs a complete internal rebuilding akin to what Brunswick Street/Fortitude Valley had in the 2000’s, just to make it fit for today’s accessibility standards)

As well: we need to commit to extending the heavy rail network north, south and west: with a direct Sunshine Coast line: that doesn’t terminate in Maroochydore, but 35km north in Noosaville after serving Sunshine Coast Airport, a Gold Coast heavy rail line that finally reaches the airport on the southern end of the Coast and a Springfield line extension that serves Redbank Plains, Ripley Valley, Yamanto and the RAAF base at Amberley before looping into Ipswich Station.

In addition, we believe that there are three key heavy rail projects that need to be in the planning stage and/or construction stage by the time this decade is out:

-Heavy rail via the NW freeway corridor between Bald Hills and the CBD, either hooking in to CRR or the Ferny Grove line.

-Cleveland Line modernization from Hemmant to Cleveland, that consists of level crossing and low bridge removals in the Wynnum district and line duplication from Lota to Cleveland, with significant station upgrades.

-Gympie North-Nambour triplication, with two dedicated passenger tracks, and a bi-directional freight line (with passing loops and provision for freight line duplication) with the line improved to a 140/160km/h speed to slash passenger travel times to Brisbane. Provision is also left for a Nambour-Caboolture dedicated freight line to be built in the long term along with potential extension of triplication (two passenger, one freight with passing loops and provision for freight line duplication) to Maryborough and potentially Bundaberg to allow enhanced rail public transport services to the Wide Bay, while showing the case for a modern Hervey Bay passenger rail connection.

The biggest rail “blue sky” project that needs to be looked into is concerning the potential to propose a Brisbane/Sunshine Coast freight rail bypass, that ultimately would link the Inland Rail junction at Calvert (connecting to both the proposed Ebenezer intermodal terminal as well as the main Sydney-Brisbane rail line at Kagaru via the planned Ebenezer-Kagaru corridor, to bring narrow gauge stock into the Acacia Ridge goods yards and ultimately, the Port of Brisbane) to the North Coast rail line at Gympie, and potentially avoid the need entirely for a freight-specific railway between Caboolture and Gympie, a expensive intermodal terminal outside Caboolture or even freight-specific rail tunnels in Brisbane’s suburbs to link the NCL to Acacia Ridge and the Port of Brisbane. Such a line would then remove at a stroke freight paths from the NCL between Brisbane and Gympie, and critically: through the Brisbane suburban system itself, allowing for a significant boost in suburban and regional passenger rail services to our north: which are currently hampered by line capacity north of Beerburrum: the current end of duplicated track, after which: long distance passenger, interurban passenger and freight all share a constrained single track corridor between Beerburrum and Gympie North.

The benefits of full freight removal from the Sunshine Coast hinterland route would indeed be huge, and I personally believe such a significant corridor could be easily privately built and funded. It also encourages the re-electrification of freight rail services along the North Coast Line using modern bi-mode locomotives (that can run under the wires from Rockhampton south, and diesel north of Rockhampton), and potentially the electrification of corridor from Ebenezer to Acacia Ridge via Kagaru.

The concept of a Brisbane/Sunshine Coast freight rail bypass, should be as visionary to the people of today, as was the concept of a unified rail line along the coast from Brisbane to Cairns to our forefathers a century ago.

The Last Mile: Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast local transport solutions.

The vision for the Gold Coast’s light rail future we believe is one that is built on a multi-line network. The investigation work needs to happen now for both a GC L2 (Tallebudgera railway station on the GC heavy rail southern extension beyond Varsity Lakes to the airport, to Helensvale (via Southport/GCUH) along the Southport-Burleigh Road corridor (serving destinations like Bond University and potentially the GC Turf Club), and GC L3 (Oxenford Village/Movie World-Robina via Harbour Town/GCUH/Carrara Stadium, with a interchange with L1/L2 at Gold Coast University Hospital) north-south light rail corridors and GC L4 (Burleigh Heads to L2 terminus), GC L5 (Broadbeach North-Nerang station, interchanging with L3 at Cararra Stadium and L2 at Bermuda Street) and GC L6 (GC L3 Robina Terminus-Burleigh Heads) going east-west.

Such a light rail system, would transform the paradigm of the Gold Coast public transport network forever, and set a path to begin densifying away from the coastline: something people need to learn to live with, along the Bermuda St corridor at minimum, and most critically: redirect bus resources to service the northern and western Gold Coast in preparation for improved connectivity to the heavy rail system, which is in turn linked into a significant surface light rail system (i.e. not just the one route down the GC Highway) comparable with other cities of it’s size (The Gold Coast is approaching 1m people: and needs a transit network fit for everyday travel, something that Bordeaux and Lyon in France have turned into a art with their 21st century rebuilt tram networks: both having around 80km of track for metropolitan areas not much smaller than the Gold Coast east of the M1.)

Meanwhile, the Sunshine Coast is a harder nut to crack. The longterm need once rail is available on the coastal plain is last mile services connecting to key coastal destinations (e.g. Caloundra Station to Kings Beach, Maroochydore station to the Cotton Tree accommodation precinct, Kawana Central station to Kawana Shoppingworld) as well as being used as links to major activity centres. In addition: any future transport solutions between Maroochydore and Caloundra need to take the community into consideration: because the light rail option that was pitched endlessly by the council isn’t necessarily the best option for the Sunshine Coast (purely because parts of the proposed route (particularly the section between Maroochydore and Mooloolaba: where a LR route would require a significantly re-engineered section of Alexandra Parade between Buderim Avenue and Pacific Terrace: at Alexandra Headland just to maintain current road capacity and potential light rail that will simply become a cost drain) while the people of the northern Sunshine Coast (living above “The Split”: a micro-sized version of the real/cliché divide in Brisbane) scream out for public transport options that are needed just to provide a alternative to driving around their local area. But…

The Real Last Mile: On-demand transport.

Queensland, in the great on-demand transport race is lagging behind NSW and Victoria. Currently, four on-demand routes exist in the SE corner, with four different booking systems:

-The Pacific Pines/Nerang on-demand product, utilizing a Translink-commissioned app for booking (which since has also been expanded to the Hervey Bay market (which has not gone cashless as of posting) as a replacement for the Kan-go service for Point Vernon residents) operating using Smart Ticketing infrastructure (go cards currently, credit/debit cards soon).

-Ipswich’s Flexilink (operating in two roam zones, Goodna/Bellbird Park and Karalee/Bellbird Point) utilizing cash fares and taxi network Eftpos infrastructure only and is operated by a separate operator (Logan Coaches) to the local bus network (Bus Queensland). Cannot be booked through a app.

-The Logan DRT trial: operated by 13Cabs, in a dozen Logan suburbs, but lacks true interconnectivity (a DRT user in Loganholme, for example cannot use the DRT service to go to Grand Plaza and vice versa), runs off taxi network Eftpos infrastructure, and cash fares (with a pre-paid voucher option recently withdrawn), and lacks the ability to book through a dedicated app.

-Mt Tamborine: a DRT service, that is in reality a timetabled community pickup service operated by TransitCare, cannot be booked online at all and is also far more expensive than the other three on demand services ($10 one way to Helensvale for a adult, $12 one way for a adult to Beenleigh: compared to the $2-3 fares elsewhere).

There are significant opportunities in SE Queensland to transform some services into on demand services, as well as establishing new services.

-637 Nambour loop, is ripe for a on-demand conversion (alongside service rationalisation, that diverts travel to Nambour TAFE and hospitals onto the on-demand service in favour of utilizing Nambour Station as a terminus more).

-Gympie post-bypass, needs to see the current QR-operated buses linking the town centre with Gympie North station added outright to the public transport network (along with on-demand links to Rainbow Beach, Cooloola Cove and Tin Can Bay that meet every train).

-QEII Hospital and Prince Charles Hospital need on-demand services introduced, QEII to link with the rail network, Prince Charles Hospital, to link with the public transport network as a whole (after the severing ten years ago of the FlexiLink service between Chermside shopping centre and the hospital left the remaining public transport connections direct to the hospital doors by BCC (the 354 between Brookside and Chermside, which has incidentally not even recovered to pre-COVID patronage numbers: 36k boardings in 2018/19 financial year, to now just 24k boardings in the 2022/23 financial year) running at a 90min service frequency (the same bus frequency as what exists between Cooroy and Noosa incidentally).

-Reforming BCC’s Council Cabs scheme into a legible on-demand network accessible to all (instead of restrictions to senior citizens), initially kicking off in the Toombul Shopping Centre catchment.

-All on-demand services in SEQ eventually are mandated to be app-accessible via the Translink-developed on-demand app, and run using the Smart Ticketing solution.

And, now we close with with some technology-related demands for our public transport network, that could really make Queensland a innovator.

For starters: we need to introduce the concept of real-time reporting of public transport patronage data: that is we get access to patronage data down to the specific day, instead of the huge yearly lumps that people like Robert Dow of Rail Back on Track has made into a fantastic tool (which we have used some figures from in this post). Having public data down to the day level, would be a significant expansion of what occurs currently.

Second: There needs to be a commitment towards standardizing technology for public transport use across the country, so a single card can be used across every public transport system in Australia, instead of the great Aussie traveller somehow ending up with three to four transport smartcards in their wallet, in addition to their contactless bankcard. This idea needs to be federally funded, and can initially be used to deliver a national concession transport product for aged and disability pensioners that would ultimately replace the products used in various states.

And, finally: Queensland needs to lead the way and become the first jurisdiction in Australia to actually take seriously, the idea of congestion charges for road traffic: particularly in inner Brisbane (within the Brisbane Central Traffic Area), and potentially Surfers Paradise (bounded by Ocean Avenue in the north, Thornton Street in the south, Ferny Avenue/GC Hwy in the west and the beach itself in the east, running from Northcliffe Surf Club to halfway between Lifeguard towers 36 and 37).

The congestion charge model, I am pitching here, is one that operates in peak hours only, aided by a half-price toll on the Clem 7 going N-S in the morning, and South-North in the afternoon in Brisbane, while the Surfers Paradise scheme would run 4am-10am and 4pm-10pm (with a encouragement to hotels within the congestion charge zone to stagger checkout times).

Both schemes would need only one joint registration, while visitors passes for the Surfers CC scheme would be available at various hotel/apartment receptions. The money raised from such a scheme would be driven into transit improvements in the SE, and most critically: into transport improvements outside the SE corner, helping close the funding gap between the populous SE corner and regional QLD.

So, this is just a small taste of what we can do to our transport networks, with the right political will and a lot of gumption. The time has arrived to put our case forward for a modern transport network that will make the world stand up and notice.

To close: we reiterate a line from a LACTC video of the late 1980’s talking about the LA transport challenges that lay ahead of them that can be rightfully adapted for Brisbane and SE Queensland in the 2020’s: with our own transport challenges facing us.

“Of those who require much, much is required. Money empowers mobility, funding fuels the mandate. The entire nation looks to SE Queensland for leadership. The planning and building time for these systems is upon us, and will remain for as long as we live, breathe and move in SE Queensland.”

The starter’s gun is ready. We just need to fire it to begin the biggest public transport revolution the southern hemisphere has ever seen.