GC2018 - Disgrace Shuttle

GC2018 Opening Ceremony - Transport Nightmare

Once again, QLD authorities have proven that they couldn't organise a kids birthday, after a major transport meltdown at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (GC2018) Opening Ceremony. More on that later. As of the evening of first of day of events, how is the GC2018 Transport Plan going?

Good

• Enhanced Gold Coast Line services have been running well, with only minor service delays, and minimal reported crowding. 

Bad

• Shuttle bus "meltdown" at the Opening Ceremony - not enough buses, poorly organised sequential boarding, poorly organised queues, and late start of buses before the event despite punters being told to get there early. 2 hour queues were reported after the opening Ceremony, resulting in upset kids, elderly people collapsing, and many missing last connections back in Brisbane. What a disaster!
• Confusing and sold out Park 'n' Rides - some of the Park 'n' Rides have sold out long before events, providing visitors with limited and inconvenient options to get to some events. Coomera Sports Centre is only serviced by one Park 'n' Ride in Helensvale (already sold out for some events), forcing all other visitors to have to use the train and then a bus to get to the venue. Additionally, that Park 'n' Ride is on the opposite side of Coomera to Brisbane. Go figure?
• Confusion over late night services in Brisbane - conflicting information from Queensland Rail, TransLink, and Get Set For The Games on the existence of late night buses, in particular services paralleling train lines (after the last train). Still a mystery if they actually exist or not! 
• Reports of overcrowded trains on the Ipswich and Redcliffe Peninsula Lines - due to QR's (lack of train driver) #RailFail induced service reductions before, during, and after GC2018. Things will only get worse as workers come back from the Easter break. 

So, as predicted by BrizCommuter in late 2016, things are not going too well. To add insult to injury Commonwealth Games boss Mark Peters was stated as saying that "anyone expecting perfect public transport during the event is ‘a lunatic’". Visitors are not expecting perfection, but there is no question that a relatively small stadium (Carrara, 35,000 capacity) should be able to handle crowds which larger football stadiums around the world (including Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane) handle with minimal queues, week in, and week out. After 6 years of preparation, the Opening Ceremony transport situation was an international embarrassment to Australia and Queensland. At least Transport Minister Mark Bailey apologised for the issue. Lets hope that things improve pronto!