Wednesday, June 15, 2016

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.  

7 comments:

  1. So how do we stop it? organise a strike?

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  2. I'm as aghast at this as you. However there is some good in there.

    1. Grade sep North Quay.
    2. Doubling corridor width over Vic Bridge.
    3. Doubling platform space at CC.
    4. Grade sep Melbourne/Grey and the Melbourne St Portal.

    If something must be built so a ribbon can be cut, let's do these four things and forget the rubber tyred metro subway malarkey.

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  3. I sincerely doubt that a strike would really get us anywhere. But I should hope that they'll have a forum for suggestions and thoughts before they go ahead and put all those dollars into yet something else the Brisbane will never benefit from.

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  4. I seriously doubt that a railway system in Brisbane could ever rival the ones that we see in other countries, but perhaps we shouldn't be too quick to discount the possibilities here? In the mean time, keep that propaganda bit in storage somewhere and make sure that you bring it out to crosscheck its actual capability when it's finally launched...

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  5. Quirky Metro is a joke!
    I live just around the corner in Bramston Tce from the existing northern busway station at Herston. And that station is never crowded, except at beginning and end of class times for Medical School and new Dental college, now that the RCH has been closed down. Which, ha, ha was one of the main reasons for building it at that location in the first place. Also the only time the existing buses passing through to the city become really crowded is during peak hours in morning. However if you get on the #66 bus going into the city which originates at RBWH there is always a seat.
    Yes, and as pointed out, most of those working at RBWH and associated medical facilities get on and off at that stop. So a person travelling from southside going to work there and transferring to this Quirky Metro, would then have to get off and walk around corner from Herston- adding extra time to a trip that formerly delivered them door to door to their workplace. And the inconvenience of having to do so on days when it may be raining! Ditto for getting home in the afternoon. Unless they wanted to do something really dumb. Like sit and wait for a bus to take them one stop around the corner.
    This scheme was obviously thought up by people who never use public transport. Now WHY, if you had got on the Metro at King George Square with a shopping trolley or baby stroller, then want to get off again at Herston to change over to a bus that previously you could stay on all the way from those stops to your destination on the northside - the current 333, 340 and 330 routes.
    Ditto for someone getting on at Roma St with a big suitcase, who can currently just hop on any of those buses to get home.

    Meanwhile I am laughing. A dedicated light rail network to service the needs of people like me who live around the corner in Herston. Glad to know that BCC thinks we are so damned important!

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  6. Plse see fb Metro Protest Page @SaveVictoriaBridgeBrisbane organised by 4101 Peninsula Residents.
    We would love to have your support and input to get the word out and help achieve a reasonable outcome for us as long term 4101 residents, workers and businesses. We were completely left out of the consultation process yet 4101 will experience the worst negative effects from the Metro proposal.
    It's a new page but has already fended off trolling and attacks from politically compromised groups, that worked on the Metro Proposal.
    Note we are fully supportive of the Cross River Rail Project- The Cross River Rail Project does not propose to disadvantage the 4101 Peninsula residents.

    BCC plans to close Victoria Bridge to vehicular traffic & bikes, to save costs for Metro Subway. Victoria Bridge is an important transport link so Have Your Say!
    More information & the basic points:
    1. Vic Bridge is iconic & belongs to all residents of Brisbane.
    2. The new bus system won't service residents in the built up 4101 Peninsula, yet takes the bridge out of bike and vehicular use.
    3. The private operator busway plan should not proceed; we want to see the busways preserved for all Brisbane residents.
    4. Surrounded by a nearby toll-bridge, Go Between, which RACQ says should have the toll removed; and Go Between does not directly access CBD.
    5. Choking Sideways Congestion already experienced by the 4101 Peninsula and the inner city south, east and west suburbs.
    6. Insufficient community consultation has been undertaken, particularly excluded was the 4101 Peninsula, yet inner south 4101 residents & businesses will experience the worst negative effects from the Vic Bridge closure proposal.
    7. The opposition states the figures are ambitious, saving 2 minutes on a 58-minute journey.
    8. The Queen's Wharf Casino Development will build a walk bridge from the Wheel to the Casino- making 3 other footbridges, a rail bridge, and a bus bridge, but no direct vehicular access into the CBD from inner south.
    9. Research is required into the possible damage to businesses in the inner ciy 4101 areas.
    10. At $944M is this a good use of Ratepayers' money, when 80% of bus users are satisfied with the existing service.
    11. BCC has no plans for a high capacity public transport service for the 4101 suburbs yet population is est. to double by 2031, plus loss of major foundational infrastructure Vic Bridge.
    12. It goes against the 2006 Brisbane City Centre Draft Masterplan; which proposed a bus only bridge from Adelaide St, not closure of Vic Bridge to Vehicles and Bikes.

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  7. Benefits areas with transport networks already. I live in BCC and is 11 km to nearest bus but I will pay towards this

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