Keen to find out what’s the most pressing transit issues in your city?
If there were one thing that you could change about the cycling or transit infrastructure in the city you live in, what would it be?
In Sydney of late, the reliability of the train network has definitely been an issue. Also, some outer suburban Western Sydney bus services run half hourly or worse during the morning and evening peak, with no nearby rail alternative nearby.
In SEQ the biggest thing seems to be when the services stop. I used to live near-ish to a train station on the Gold Coast, and buses would not go between the suburb centre (and my place) and the station after about 5.45pm til the next morning. In Brisbane buses are much better and we got buses every 10-15 minutes during the day which was great, but then nothing between 11pm and 6am. Even 1 per hour at night would’ve been nice. I don’t understand how we can drop from 6 buses per hour to no buses for 7 hours straight. Buses and trams work much better than trains in SEQ, and cycling can be pretty dangerous if you have to go on any main roads. Not to mention the extremely long traffic light waiting times. But we are allowed to cycle on footpaths, so it can be an ok way of getting around if you don’t mind the hills and going a bit slow on the path.
The last time I was up there, the light rail had made a huge difference to transport on the Gold Coast.
Unfortunately, at this stage, it doesn’t connect with the train line at the south end, doesn’t connect to the airport, doesn’t connect with the stadia, and doesn’t extend to the theme parks.
Hopefully it will see some extensions with the Olympics coming.
The light rail has been great, but it also will only ever serve the east of the city (mainly tourists and wealthier people) even after all of the potential extensions being discussed. The west will need more buses, but there is unfortunately no political glory in announcing more buses
Have there been bus network upgrades as the light rail has rolled out? Or has the focus just been on the shiny new trams?