Brisbane Metro Subway System - Propaganda Response

BrizCommuter was not amused to see some of his ratepayer money being spent on a propaganda leaflet that has quite likely been posted to every household in Brisbane. So what is in this propaganda leaflet for Quirk's Brisbane Metro Subway System?

• "Services every 2 MINS" - if the Brisbane Metro was planned to be driverless then 90 second frequency would be possible, with a 33% capacity increase. It is bizarre that a driven system is proposed in the 21st century. By the way, the existing busway has services every 20 seconds in the peak! 
• "7 KMS of fast uninterrupted travel" - well actually it's interrupted by these things called stations. Journeys to the North of Herston, and to the South and East of Wooloongabba will also be severely interrupted by having to change from bus to metro. 
• "Carry up to 30,000 passengers per hour" - untrue Mr Quirk! A 60m long rubber-tyred metro train based on Paris MP05 stock will carry a maximum of 481 (very squashed) passengers. At 2 minute frequencies this is 14,481 passengers per hour per direction. This is a similar capacity to the exiting busway! However, previous information has mentioned 300 capacity trains, would would result in 9000 passengers per hour, far less than the existing busway - a retrograde step! 
• Improved CBD amenity through a reduction of buses on streets - as the Quirky Metro is replacing the existing busway, then there are only a few places where buses would be reduced on streets - and that is around either end of the Victoria Bridge. In fact, the Quirky Metro may force more buses that currently use part of the busway (e.g. 345, 390, 444) back onto the streets. 
• Victoria Bridge dedicated to Brisbane Metro Subway System, and other bus services pedestrians and cyclists - good point, but only if the Victoria Bridge can handle the weight of rubber-tyred metro trains. 
• More effective use of existing infrastructure - based on the capacity calculations above, it isn't. Why spend more than $1.5b for no increase in capacity? Simplifying the bus network at next to  neutral cost would be a far better use of existing infrastructure. 
• 3 NEW STATIONS + upgrades to existing stations - misleading. There are no new station locations on the route, only the requirement to have to have both a metro station and bus station at the termini, and at Cultural Centre. 
• Smoother, quieter, and quicker than light rail - somewhat of moot point at there is no current plan for light rail. Rubber-tyred metros are anything but quiet! 
• IMPROVED JOURNEY TIMES - a previous BrizCommuter post has shown that as passengers will have to change between bus and metro at Wooloongabba and Herston, then most journeys will result in an increase in journey times. 

Other prize quotes include:

• "Previous investigations by both Council and state government have identified Brisbane's bus network is already at capacity in many CBD locations" - so why did Lord Mayor Graham Quirk and his councillors not support TransLink's bus network review that would have solved this issue back in 2013? Bus network reform would resolve this issue at almost neutral cost, and avoid spending $1.5b on an unnecessary metro system. 
• "Wooloongabba and Herston will mark the furthest points of the route at each end" - this is a big problem. BrizCommuter doubts that the bus interchange component has been seriously thought about. The changing between modes will increase journey time. The Quirky Metro will also not serve major busway trip generators including RBWH, Princess Alexandra Hospital (PAH), and University of Queensland (UQ). In fact annoyingly, the Quirky Metro will stop one stop short of RBWH and PAH, much to the annoyance of staff and patients. Interestingly, some academics also agree in this recent Courier Mail article. 
• "Council is currently working on the Business Case" - Brisbane City Council is currently wasting $16m of rate payers money on a business case for something that does not improve anything. To be approved, the business case would have to be as fraudulent dodgy as the business case for Clem7 and Airport Link to get through. 
• "Brisbane Metro Subway System is estimated to cost approximately $1.54b" - BrizCommuter highly doubts that this is realistic, and the Queensland Government has even estimated a $3b price tag. 
• "Approximately four years to complete" - during which buses would be forced onto congested city streets - chaos would be good description. 

And finally, why does the logo look like a monorail? Have Brisbane City Council been watching too many Simpsons episodes? 

As a Brisbane ratepayer, BrizCommuter is very concerned that the LNP run Brisbane City Council are so delusional that they are countinuing to waste rates on a business case for such a nonsense project. At a time when the urgently required Cross River Rail is struggling to get funding, it is disgrace that Brisbane City Council are still promoting his pointless idea. The Quirky Metro proposal will be a huge waste of money, and a destructive, retrograde step for Brisbane's public transport system.