To be fair, the Gold Coast Mayor has always supported it.
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There is no bus rapid transit or busway or Metro or whatever the Lord Mayor wants to call it coming to the Gold Coast. Heās talking out his #@!$ and completely fails to acknowledge the huge opportunity that Metro takes advantage of being the very substantial existing busway infrastructure in Brisbane - none of which exists on the Gold Coast or will be built now.
From the GCLR4 Review Report by the Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning that the Deputy Premier ordered and used as the basis for axing Stage 4:
Findings
The construction-based public transport options proposed for the southern Gold Coast ā predominantly light rail and bus rapid transit ā would result in property resumptions and car parking loss, loss of greenspace and amenity, and impacts on businesses in the corridor.
ā¦
The review notes that even if a significant construction-based public transport option (i.e. light rail, bus rapid transit) was progressed, given lengthy construction timeframes it would not address the immediacy of need to improve public transport on the southern Gold Coast.
Recommendation 1 - The review recommends investigations be progressed for bus enhancements in the near-term.
Noting there remains a near-term need for improved public transport on the southern Gold Coast the review recommends that investigations be progressed on enhanced bus lanes (known as Bus service enhancements with minor upgrades - one of the options recommended in the PE as bus enhancement provisions).
The enhanced bus lanes option does not include significant construction works and would have a more limited impact on the construction sector and market capacity. It can also be integrated into the existing system, utilise existing infrastructure, with minimal disruption and at lower constructability risk. Bus-based public transport options have the benefit of being able to be implemented faster than other public transport options, can improve southern Gold Coast public transport in the near-term, and buses are well-supported by the community based on consultation undertaken.
Explained elsewhere in the report as:
Bus service enhancements with opportunistic infrastructure (enhanced bus lanes). This would involve improving existing bus stops, pedestrian and active access along the route, as well as introducing bus priority at intersections and other infrastructure upgrades to facilitate bus transit on the existing road network.
Other notable statements in the Review as to why anything more than some bus lane paint at intersections only and new bus stop shelters is impossible:
Burleigh Heads Bowls Club and Memorial Park precludes bus rapid transit as a feasible option because of the difficulty of turning the vehicles through 180 degrees without the resumption of significant areas of land;
Burleigh Heads National Park precludes dedicated bus lanes as an option because of the need to resume land to accommodate the wide lanes required.
And on public transport connections to the airport - with what seems a like reference to DTMR advice they may have had to fight tool and nail to get included:
The review notes that the extension of heavy passenger rail from Varsity Lakes to the Gold Coast Airport is a complementary component of a mature transport network. DTMR advises in the PE that heavy rail extension is not an alternative to improving other public transport on the southern Gold Coast.
The PE notes that when Gold Coast Light Rail ā Stage 3 project is completed, the route of the 777 service will be truncated to connect with the light rail service at Burleigh Heads rather than at Broadbeach South. This is likely to increase capacity for additional bus services linking to the airport.
The review concludes that while light rail is an option for connecting to the airport, is it not possible to assess the advantage of light rail in meeting passenger demand over other modes of transport given the PE assessments of other options. To reach a preferred position on this aspect, further assessment of options should be undertaken in future analysis.
Predictions out to 2049-50 of increased passengers using the Gold Coast Airport will likely require additional public transport capacity to deal with demand. The review notes that heavy passenger rail extension from Varsity Lakes to the Gold Coast Airport remains part of the long-term vision for public transport on the southern Gold Coast and that a protected transport corridor has been identified.
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Agreed. Just need another word for sham as thatās what the LNP have called the previous GCLR stage 4 consultation. I can only think of impolite things for now thoughā¦
I think @Ozbobās patronage graph to show the huge success of GCLR would be good too. And then excerpts Iāve pulled from the Review report to show what very little the Southern GC will get now, at best! They shouldnāt looking to Brisbane and thinking theyāll get anything like the busway and those services now. Its a regular bus stuck in regular congestion.
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It is what it is. Decision has been made.
Whatās next?
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Maybe connecting the airport to rail? I think that would make sense in holding the government to account in connecting the airport to some form of mass transit.
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Tom Tate will NOT be replacing the 777 with HESS Lightram 25sā 
But Schrinner is alluding to that possibility one day 
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That is true, but it doesnāt preclude us from using our platform to point out the hypocrisy in the decision and how it has no basis in reality. That then provides more leverage on future advocacy work (such as pivoting to the heavy rail).
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I think pointing out this hypocrisy might get more energy flowing for advocacy
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As pointed out by TMR, heavy rail is not an alternative for connectivity to the airport. What heavy rail does is turn OOL into a second BNE when it really should be serving the Gold Coast as a tourist destination. If the goal is connecting the airport to the places people want to go on the GC, even buses would be preferable.
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Then maybe a rerouting of the 777 to Robina and a service increase of it? As was said earlier?
Seriously? A significantly flawed decision has been to axe a major public transport project as a transport advocacy group we should just move on? While this decision may not change now, an unwillingness to call out the the flaws of it and hold the government accountable only emboldens them to make more poor decisions in the future thinking they can get away with it.
Thatās a large part of the point too - the flawed rationale for the decisions leave little to no scope for any meaningful improvements. Unless you think a few more buses and intersection priority is all the Southern GC needs for the next decade or two?
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I think the best, most realistic outcome for the Gold Coast now is to follow in the same, dreaded footsteps as the Northern Beaches in Sydney.
What does the Northern Beaches have?
The B line: a high frequency, turn up nā go double decker service that operates between the Northern Beaches and Sydney CBD.
Frequency: 3-4 mins peak; 7-10 mins off-peak.
No heavy rail/light rail.
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Effectively what the Gold Coast is on track to becoming.
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I may have been a defeatist person in the past but this aināt it, chief. I didnāt hear no bell.
As I said: over my dead Central Goldy body.
The 777 originally ran with BusTech double deckers up until 2022 ironically enough!
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Itās like 50c fares. Itās policy now.
Itās not going to change for the next 4 years at least. Just have to work with the gov of the day to get some sort of improvement.
For the record, LRT was the ideal mode for this particular case.
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It would be interesting to see if Heavy Rail extension is still on the table or not. Worth exploring.
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I recall you being very keen on continuing to put out MRs on why thr funds for 50c fares could be better allocated.
Support for GCLR Stage 4 is on our policy platform, so we should continue to advocate for it (even if itās really just advocating for the next government to restart it).
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Well, Iām not aware of any MRs released by BTQ relating to rolling back the 50c fare policy.
Iām terms of LRT for the GC, youāre right that if itās in the platform, then thatās the position until changed by members.
These things said, given that itās a fresh decision, itās reasonable to think it wonāt change any time soon.
Exactly.
I get that we have very passionate people here, me included. But the libs wont bent over advocacy for not killing stage 4 because they always wanted to kill it anyway. They are allergic to evidence and they commissioned this report just to have an excuse.
The best we can do for now is to ensure that nothing that happens south of Burleigh until 2028 prevents stage 4 from being built once the libs are out.
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Iām not saying we didā¦ Iām merely pointing out that you wanted to (back in the RBoT days). The policy platform put that to rest, but given GCLR Stage 4 is part of our policy platform, itās a completely different situation.
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