Sort of? In the form of shafting it off to yet another study.
Local, State, and Federal elections will all be held in 2027.
It possible for the GCCC to pull a BCC, but that would probably bankrupt the GCCC in the process.
Likely outcome is that the State red team are the only ones that can promise and complete Stage 4.
It is clear that the QLD Government do not like anything to do with ‘rail’ unless it involves weaselling out of broken promises.
If you define ‘extending the heavy rail line’ to mean copy/paste The Wave, then yes this would be consistent with their policy platform.
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This very well could make for a good follow up MR
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I can’t put into words how frustrating this is, such a backwards decision and the government knew from the beginning they never wanted it to go ahead. Using a sham survey and pandering to retirees believing they still live in the Gold Coast of the 1980s. This city isn’t Brisbane’s retirement village like it was 60 years ago, we are becoming a world class city and we are digging ourselves a hole for worsening traffic congestion in a city already plagued by it.
If they start construction on a bus rapid transit style service, it would stunt original stage 4 completely, and hinder the viability of future connections such as Nobby’s to Robina. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good but in transit that rule can’t apply.
I can only hold out hope that with planning of the new ‘rapid bus’ service, construction won’t be able to start until at least around the next state election. This is a one term government and when Labor gets back in they’ll go back to the original plans for stage 4 (which I have to imagine would’ve been nearly complete sitting in Department of TMR).
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I think doing nothing is the best scenario for now. It gives the option for light rail to continue once the current government is given the 
. Installing something different (like BRT) would be a negative step IMO.
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The Queensland Government acts independently of us. They have a Plan B indicated. Likely to involve a new bus depot on the Southern Gold Coast.
I am confident that the ’ BRT ’ will be low key. I don’t think it would stop future efforts for stage 4 light rail.
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In another sign of the success of GC light rail, it has already exceeded pre-covid ridership.
Graph of quarterly patronage:
‘Better value than light rail’: Brisbane Lord Mayor supports Gold Coast busway plans
… Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has applauded the state’s decision to scrap stage four of the Gold Coast light rail, saying a hybrid tramline and busway travel route will be better value for money. …
Schrinner said he was pleased the state had used Brisbane’s Metro as a benchmark for other cities in the south-east, and said rapid bus transit was “the only timely and affordable way to keep our region moving in the near future”.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate and Opposition Leader Steven Miles both said they were disappointed in the outcome yesterday, with Tate adding that axing the light rail would skewer the Gold Coast’s 2032 Games transport legacy. …
Of course he did 
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God, what a muppet.
Definitely. I presume the retirees mean that they only want normal buses instead of fancy banana Metrobus thingies.
I’ll bet you good money we end up with regular diesel buses stuck in traffic because “we can’t lose the street parking”.
At some point we have to acknowledge that this government is no friend of good public transport.
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I think the best realistic outcome we could get would be the modification of the 777 to run its current express run from the Airport to Burleigh and then to go express to Varsity Lakes station and Robina town centre. At least that would be a fast single seat connection from the airport to the heavy rail.
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The 777 is currently having fleet issues though.
Currumbin depot is running the route with 10 electric Volgrens but more often than not only 6 or 7 are in service, with Tweed Heads having to assist at times with a normal diesel bus.
Fleet needs to be increased first to run the service more frequently than the current 15 minute timetable (which is being hard to achieve due to GCLR3 related congestion), while the 760 needs a boost to 15 minutes from half hourly operation.
Case in point: 921 is a MAN 19.320 and 492 is an old BusTech.
The LNP is really in the grip of ’ stinking thinking ’ the answer to everything is BRT. BRT is not cheap to do properly, something which will hit home on the GC if it hasn’t already. Like others who have commented in this thread I don’t think they will get proper BRT at all (too costly, too difficult to take away car parks etc.) It will be single unit rigid buses mixing it with the every worsening road congestion now a hallmark of the Goldie. So yet again we have a major public transport project wrecked by political short-term-ism with a fair degree of myopia. CRR was once a great project, that is until politics massaged it. Here we have GC Light Rail suffering a similar fate. Wave goodbye to Birtinya as well.
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The Lord Mayor has killed public transport in SEQ and should be called out for it. Only an self-indulgent politician would call this outcome “smart”. Clearly none of them will actually use either the Light Rail or the Bus.
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Rail Express: Queensland Government axes Gold Coast Light Rail extension
… Australasian Railway Association (ARA) Chief Executive Officer Caroline Wilkie said the extension’s cancellation will hold the Gold Coast back from realising the full potential of future growth opportunities.
“It is disappointing to see the cancellation of Gold Coast Light Rail Stage Four given the significant economic, community and sustainability benefits this project would deliver,” she said.
“The certainty of ‘tracks in the ground’ would have delivered increased economic growth opportunities for the region and supported long term development along the corridor.”
Wilkie said buses won’t deliver the benefits light rail has to offer and will not be able to keep up with growing demand for transport services in the region.
“Today’s decision represents a future of congestion, car dependence and increased emissions, limiting the growth of one of Australia’s key international tourism destinations.”
With 14 stations, the dual track light rail extension would have completed the 40-kilometre light rail link from Helensvale to Coolangatta. …
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Getro
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And therein lies the problem. The people on the southern Gold Coast who opposed this, the politicians, the Lord Mayor, the premier, they all don’t actually use public transport.
There’s still very much a “public transport is for the poor people” attitude in SEQ and our elected representatives clearly feel the same way. It’s unsurprising then that they’re watering down these projects.
Perhaps we should mandate that before politicians make any funding decisions on public transport infrastructure they use the existing ones for at least a week 
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