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[SoulVision]

Growth revs up gridlock
By Anthony Marx

January 04, 2007 11:00pm
Article from: The Courier-Mail

TRAVELLING by car, bus or train will become more of a headache in the future as southeast Queensland's booming growth outpaces the ability of infrastructure to cope.
Roads into the Brisbane CBD have already reached peak-hour capacity, with gridlock tipped to get progressively worse over the next 20 years.

Brisbane City Council staff have forecast traffic jams at key inbound access points by 2026, regardless of planned road projects such as the North-South Bypass Tunnel.

Councillors now face a stark choice: either build more roads and parking, or restrict parking to encourage walking, cycling and public transport.

The cost of traffic congestion in Brisbane is expected to rise from $2.6 billion a year to $9.3 billion a year within a decade, according to council estimates – more than twice the increases faced by Sydney or Melbourne.

Commuters, hoping to avoid rush hour traffic, may not find relief on the city's bus fleet, which face chronic shortages.

Two out of three buses on major city routes are already overcrowded during peak hours, with people turned away at more than 240 bus and ferry stops each day.

The council will need to more than double its 642-strong bus fleet by 2026, if growth trends continue.

Patrons made nearly 60 million trips on council buses last year, up 12.6 per cent on the previous financial year. Ferry patronage was also up by 14.7 per cent to 5.6 million.

Travellers depending on rail face similar pressures.

Nearly 22,000 more passengers every day are using Citytrains, compared with four years ago, with annual patronage jumping from 45 million to 53 million over that period.

Transport Minister Paul Lucas said more than $500 million had been committed to build an extra 44 three-car train sets which would be rolled out over the next three years.

[KJBrissy]

All the more reason they should scrap the money being put into developments such as the Hale Street link and put it towards buses and PT Infrastructure. These vehicles can carry way more than cars, even when they are a quatre full, and will be more cost effective for the council in the long run.

[SoulVision]

Id have to agree... Brisbane has some catching up to do when it comes to PT. Personally I would like to see a light rail network put on the table and completed quickly in stages... I mean the NSBT is costing like 3 billion (not that I disagree with it, i want more river crossings) but a light rail network if planned well would cost a fraction of what the NSBT or Airportlink costs. But we still need both those projects too. so much to build in such little time!

[bluebreak]

To be entirely honest, I don't really see light rail across Brisbane coming to fruitition. It doesnt really seem like a city of trams. A monorail suits Brisbane more.

[Orfeo]

^
the end plan of the current south-east busway (and presuably the others as well) is that they will be changed over to light rail. Furthermore, there are seperate investigations into a light rail route from West End through to New Farm.

Light rail does not equal trams, by the way, but I'd be interested to know why you don't think Brisbane could be a city with trams. Especially given that it has had them before.