You’re probably right, it will probably work fine. Will just be some envy of the amazing bus/light rail interchange in Sydney at Kingsford that enables same platform transfer between buses and trams.
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A temporary solution awaiting the next stage is miles different to a seamless transfer!! I think the numbers will be problematic .
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Some good questions asked by the presenters, especially towards the end.
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They are only talking about a layover point for buses at the West Burleigh shops. There’s not going to anything replacing it only less capacity, especially since they won’t even have bus lanes but ‘bus jumps’.
And more misleading BS from the light rail opportunistic political opponents.
They didn’t ask what would suit the community’s lifestyle and way of life, they got a biased sample of responses from a partiuclar area to a question about what would make a great public transport system for your local area.
And a whole lot of distraction with east-west connections. Light rail is about connecting the length of the Gold Coast. Of course east-west connections can be enhanced with bus services. They aren’t mutually exclusive.
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The presenter did ask “Is it fair to ask a PT commuter to now transfer three times to go South or North, while the others who were against it mainly travel by car regardless.”
In addition despite the project being canned the pollie did point out there would have been buses travelling north and south for the next ten years anyway.
Things could change in the future and they might go underground to Tallebudgera and do another route from there, I reckon.
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The irony is the Kingsford interchange is hideously underutilised compared to our equivalents like Broadbeach South.
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May as well ask people what diameter the sewer mains should be. It’s no different conceptually - having a useful opinion on the subject requires detailed understanding of fairly specialised knowledge, so asking any muggins what they think is pointless. If that makes me sound elitist, then I’m elitist. I believe we should be relying on expert opinion to formulate positions and that the public should be consulted, but we shouldn’t be crowd-sourcing our basic thinking about project delivery.
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I think this is a legitimate concern but I’m not that bothered.
The reality is that Stage 4 wasn’t going to start operating (at the earliest) until the mid-2030s even if the current government was pressing on with it, and the interchange task at Burleigh is going to be dramatically less significant than at Broadbeach. I think it can cope for at least 10-15 years.
Leaving aside the highway corridor services (currently the 700, 765 and 777), there are only 4 other bus routes that currently serve the GC Hwy bus stops at Burleigh - 753, 754 and 757 (to the west), and 764 (to the south). These 4 all terminate/originate at Burleigh Heads and all run hourly, so 4 movements per hour each way.
Assuming comparable highway service levels to right now when Stage 3 opens, the highway corridor sees 14 buses an hour at the busiest stretch (6 x 700s, 4 x 765s, 4 x 777s). I expect the 765 will be split (Robina to Miami only and Burleigh to The Pines only), with the 700 and southern 765 terminating at West Burleigh, and possibly the 777 extending non-stop from Burleigh Heads to Varsity Lakes station.
Total is 18 buses an hour in each direction, and only 4 of those are laying over or turning around in the immediate vicinity.
Even if these numbers doubled (eg 8 local services and 28 highway services an hour - which I sincerely doubt), that is 36 buses an hour each way past the tram terminus, or a bit more frequent than one bus every 2 minutes on average.
Compare the numbers with BBS where there are (on my rough count) about 66 movements an hour at the busiest times across 17 bus routes, all of which are terminating services except the 705. (The count includes terminating and originating services and through services in both directions on route 705.) That will drop to 46 once Stage 3 opens and the 700 and 777 go away, but will creep back up again in future as services to the west like the 745 become high frequency routes and other routes go from hourly to half-hourly headways. Also, the catchment of people transferring to light rail from highway services at BBS is materially higher - at Burleigh, the highway corridor buses are only picking up pax from Tweed to Jellurgal instead of Tweed to Broadbeach.
Even with a significant uplift in bus services at Burleigh (which I don’t think is too likely in the short term), I think this is still manageable. There are 2 bays on the southbound side and 3 on the northbound side, and unlike BBS buses are not going to sit on either side for an extended period.
To the extent you will get people wandering across the road, I don’t see that as being soluble short of fencing it all off. If there is a fault here, I would say it is the fact they haven’t put in a second signalised crossing at the southern end of the platform.
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What I don’t understand is if stage 4 has been cancelled but stage 3 hasn’t even started construction couldn’t a new government at the next state election revive it, does this even have that much of an effect on the timeline if a new government decides to revive it in a few years?
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Isn’t stage 3 very much under construction?
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oh yeah right my bad, sorry
Infrastructure Gold Coast is likely leveraging the nightmare of an 8-lane highway to coerce TMR to rethink their GCLR decision 
I don’t think anyone in the panel was seriously considering widening the Gold Coast highway - except probably Leon Rebello MP (McPhereson) and the lone Gold Coast councillor in attendance 
It’s also clear that Infrastructure Gold Coast isn’t keen on the ‘tram replacement bus’ option either.
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I’m a bit confused by the diagram. Which section of the highway is this?
And note, that although this is a major highway, parking is permitted on both sides of the highway.
As an interim solution, this space could become bus lanes.
It’s a composite image showing the total requirement of traffic lanes. It shows the Service Road, M1 and Gold Coast Highway Side by side.
But its message is on point.
We’ve got a major tram derailment that has taken out a pole!
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All trams travelling in both directions are suspended due to an incident requiring emergency services.
Buses have been arranged to get you moving again.
To find alternative travel options, visit journey planner and deselect ‘tram’ under advanced options.
Queensland Police
@QldPolice
GOLD COAST: Police are responding to a rail incident at Surfers Paradise. Surfers Paradise Boulevard is closed southbound between Ocean Avenue and Palm Avenue. Motorists should avoid the area or expect lengthy delays.
Right at the North Surfers turnouts - though it appears that this has happened immediately to the north, so might not be related.