Talking with some local councilors about upgrading public transport in the Redlands, yet to talk with state government reps and will report back on anything interesting out of that.
In the interim here’s some interesting news from my local councilor…
Possibly of interest to you… Redlands some years ago hosted a trial for autonomous vehicles and it was anticipated that into the future these types of vehicles could be used (first mile – last mile) of the commute, specifically joining the Capalaba Bus Interchange and Birkdale Train Station along Old Cleveland/Birkdale Road, which would also eventually support the Birkdale Community Land. It is my understanding that the significant delay in bringing these types of vehicles into production in Australia has been the legal/insurance complexities.
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I’m happy to assist with this as I was the Planner for the Eastern Region at TransLink from 2005-2009 and lived in the area from 1989 to 2015.
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I’d love to know more of your insights - what you helped plan, what are the long term plans/desires for transport in the region etc.
The Redlands has all sorts of barriers to a good network. The population is quite spread out with low density development, the one train line is very indirect, Capalaba bus station is awfully arranged, and the main bus corridor to Brisbane CBD has no bus priority until Langlands Park. The train line is what it is and won’t change, however at least all the others can be fixed with the right capital investment and policies. But until that happens I think they’ll always have a second-rate network, because the passenger demand won’t be high enough to justify a strong increase in service levels. Ipswich and Moreton Bay are more populous and growing faster, and will likely be higher priorities for government funding as a result.
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I’ve thought many times how game changing it would have been for the whole region if a line had been built from the Cleveland line around Coorparoo through to Carindale and at least Capalaba - even better Cleveland, but I think there are too many barriers to make this feasible nowadays.
Back when construction was cheaper it might have been an idea, but then in the 1990s we diverted to building busways, which I think was a grave mistake.
To be fair if there is already an arterial road connecting the same areas that are proposed to be linked with public transport, it’s always going to be cheaper to use it rather than tunnelling. If we were serious about public transport in this state, maybe we could have explored an elevated train line over Old Cleveland Road. But now we can’t even get bus lanes on it.
And to some degree that’s the fault of the people. In a democracy, we get the governments we vote for. If people really wanted public transport solutions and were willing to vote on that issue, parties would be falling over each other to promise more public transport projects, but we don’t really get that in Australia outside of maybe Sydney.
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good luck getting anywhere with this council 
Council is too conflicted atm, Redlands has barely any money and Mayor Jos herself seemed pretty uneasy about the future of transit in the area when we had our meeting a few weeks back
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Tracey said pretty much it’s a state thing and we don’t have the population to justify cost as it comes down to the bean counters effectively
Complete hypothetical map for a completely hypothetical redone Redlands Bus Network. Please critique the foam as you wish 
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Good effort, lot of detail there and presented well. To improve, I’d say the 263 needs to be extended to Cleveland station, which seems like a more natural termination point than Middle St. Also 45 minutes is quite an unorthodox level of frequency, I think 30 or 60 minutes will be easier for the public to understand. Turning the text black in the lighter coloured bubbles in the frequency chart might also assist with readability. But overall I like what you’ve done.
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Been a hot minute - some updates:
No word from TMR yet but (spoonful of salt)
Not sure how to take this
I spoke to Amanda Stoker back in June about getting the Redlands a bus network review and today received this in correspondence plus copy of the letter.
Key points from letter written to Mr Mickelberg:
No idea how meaningful this is though 
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Yeah, I’ve heard the Capalaba bus interchange has no PIDs which is diabolical 
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Capalaba Interchange (and the Park n Ride 500-odd metres down the road) both don’t and the Interchange still has Capalaba Park Shopping Center decal on Stop E from what looks like the early 2000s 
Some TLC and basic upgrades would be nice TMR
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Some PIDs is the bare minimum Mickelberg…
Debating whether it’s worth my time and/or effort to file a Parliament Petition.
Anyone be wiser on this topic than I would be?
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I’d suggest going back to local MP and stating the disappointment in the Minister’s response, that it doesn’t even bother responding to quick win, low cost opportunities like PIDs, and that you hoped for more from the local MP that is a member of the government.
A government aligned MP that can’t get anything basic from the Minister is a bad look - may as well have a non-goverment MP that might at least try to kick up a fuss.
A parliamentary petition will you only get you a response along those lines again unless you can generate a significant community campaign around it - noting the local MP won’t help with petitioning their own government (unless it is for an outcome they are already certain of - call me cynical…)
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All I asked for is:
Buses - short-term
- network review (last Redlands one was 15 years ago - we’re due)
- Bus route to Loganlea from Cleveland. Fills a huge missing link
- updates to network maps (scroll up in the thread that took me about an hour in Canva and look better than the spaghettification currently)
- E-Ink and PIDs
Buses - Long-Term
- Arctic buses
- get rid of either the Capalaba interchange or P&R and extend the depot
- another depot at thornlands
Trains - short-term
- PIDs & Payphones
- extension/optimisation of peak hour expresses (7.30am cutoff is downright diabolical)
Trains - long-term
- make a small stabling yard near Thorneside (there’s space)
I feel these are very reasonable things to do in the short-term (well except maybe the network review)
(Apologies for the double post)
I’m inclined to go after Mellish, he might be one to kick up more of a fuss than these ones. A major interchange that doesn’t have PIDs or E-Ink is BARE MINIMUM.
Not sure if it’s worth my time or effort
All of the Redlands MPs (Oodgeroo, Capalaba & Redland Bay) are all LNP… so you’d really have to kick up a stink to get anywhere. I know there is some sentiment for direct connections to Brisbane CBD in the area - not sure how much I could turn into actual motiviation though
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Proposed PDA for southern Thornlands which I don’t think was on our radar
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