Media release Mon 19 Mar

Take the heat off the Bombay Express

Community Action for Sustainable Transport (CAST) calling on government to improve travel conditions and reduce travel times for train commuters travelling between the Gold Coast and Brisbane.

“We want to see more trains on the Gold Coast line, particularly during peak hours, to ensure all passengers are comfortable,” said CAST spokesperson Tristan Peach.

“We also want the government to look seriously into another rail crossing of the Brisbane River, to relieve the congestion that occurs on the Merivale train bridge,” said Mr Peach.

The limited capacity of the Merivale Bridge can lead to delays for train commuters.

CAST are interested in a rail link between Dutton Park Station, QUT Gardens Point Campus, Riverside (Eagle Street) and Cathedral Square, with a link back into either Brunswick Street or Central Stations.

This would spread the load of commuter traffic entering the CBD across a number of stations, and give people better access to areas of the CBD not currently serviced by train.

A duplication of Merivale Bridge may not solve the problem because Roma Street Railway Station could have trouble handling increased capacity.

It recently lost one train platform to make way for the inner-northern busway.

However, to compensate for this they have rebuilt Platform 2 & 3 with dual-gauge tracks to allow usage by both narrow gauge and standard gauge stock. Platform 3 has also been extended to accomodate long distance trains such as the Spirit of the Outback and the Sunlander.

For longer trips (+10km) in urban areas CAST support rail over bus travel and are urging government to fast-track rail links between Petrie and Redcliffe, and between Darra, Springfield and Ipswich.

Media release Tues 13 Mar

More buses for UQ St Lucia

Community Action for Sustainable Transport (CAST) are urging TransLink to increase the number of bus services to the University of Queensland (UQ) campus at St Lucia.

15000 people catch the bus to UQ each morning and half of these people use routes 109, 169 and 209 via the Eleanor Schonell Bridge.

In response to huge demand TransLink have added just one more service to each of these routes.

“They’ve only added an additional 120 seats to deal with overcrowding on a route that carries more than 7000 people each morning,” said CAST spokesperson Tristan Peach.

“Public transport users deserve better than this. We think an additional 30 services would be far more appropriate,” said Mr Peach.

These additional services could be on existing routes and there is also a possibility of introducing a feeder bus linking Dutton Park Railway Station to UQ via the Schonell Bridge.

CAST have also suggested that Route 209, which travels along Old Cleveland Road from Carindale should be given priority at traffic lights to reduce travel times for public transport users.

“Increasing the capacity and reducing travel times on these routes will reward existing public transport users, and entice others to get out of their cars and onto the bus,” said Mr Peach.

CAST believe if Translink can get this right then there may not be a need for Brisbane City Council to build the controversial Hale Street Bridge.

Media release Mon 5 March

Smart options to reduce traffic on Kingsford Smith Drive

Community Action for Sustainable Transport (CAST) are promoting a range of options for reducing traffic on Kingsford Smith Drive.

“Airport Link, construction traffic from the North-South Tunnel, the North Shore development, Portside and the Cruise Ship terminal are all going to be creating more traffic on Kingsford Smith Drive, so we need a smart plan to deal with this*”, said CAST spokesperson Tristan Peach.

CAST are proposing a range of options that will reduce traffic, improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions:

(1) An extension of the Doomben railway line to service the North Shore development and the Cruise Ship Terminal at Hamilton. There is already a freight line between Doomben and the Hamilton Wharves which could be utilised by CityTrains.

(2) Council’s planned walkway/bikeway along the Brisbane River linking Hamilton, Breakfast Creek, Teneriffe, New Farm, Fortitude Valley and the City must be completed in the next year

(3) A rapid public transport service linking Hamilton with the City via Kingsford Smith Drive – Breakfast Creek Street and Ann / Whickham Street utilising the existing 300 and 305 bus services. This service could have priority at traffic lights along the route and if traffic impedes the buses then a peak-hour bus/cycle priority lane should be provided

(4) A new City Cat Stop at the Eastern end of the North Shore development with high frequency services throughout the day

(5) Car-pooling and car-sharing programs for workers and residents at North Shore, Portside and the Cruise Ship terminal.

These improvements would provide significant benefits to the tourism industry by servicing the Cruise Ship Terminal.

Improvements to Brisbane-wide transport services would also be required to make these options totally effective.

Brisbane City Council’s proposal is to widen Kingsford Smith Drive and Nudgee road.

“Council’s option for reducing traffic on Kingsford Smith Drive should be tested against our options,” said Mr Peach.

“Given that the Airport Link tunnel is a major cause of this extra traffic I am concerned that building more roads will just create more problems,” he said.

END NOTE
* The Airport Link impact statement (table 9-10 traffic and transport technical paper) shows that east of Cooksley Street (on Kingsford Smith) traffic will increase by 8.23% by 2016 (66,900 in 2004; 71,000 2016) with Airport Link. East of Racecourse Road traffic will increase by 25.87% by 2016 with Airport Link. The North Shore development at Hamilton is predicted to have 10,000 residents.