Commuting by train Gold Coast to Brisbane. Captain Slow is on the driver’s seat

Having to commute every day from Gold Coast to Brisbane I experience first hand the good and the bad of commuting by train. First let me give you some useful data:

The distance from Surfers Paradise to Brisbane CBD is around 77 kilometres and driving through the M1 motorway or as they call it Pacific motorway will take you less than an hour. That is even in peek hours but not when you run onto a road accident that is quite common in M1 motorway which is very heavy on traffic and is considered one of the most dangerous highways in Australia regarding accidents. In those cases total travel time might be as long as two and a half hours.  Plus if you go by car in Brisbane city centre then you have to pay a small fortune every month for parking.

So this is a great opportunity to develop the  sustainable and environmental friendly solution of train commuting. But unfortunately train is not that popular in South East Queensland. And if this is not the case for the people living here, it certainly is the case for the decision makers. And let me explain this:

The rail line that connects Gold Coast (in general and not Surfers Paradise) with Brisbane City Centre is almost 90 kilometres long making a journey from Surfers Paradise to Brisbane a total of one hour and a half.

  That is about 20 minutes by car to Nerang Station -where fortunately there is a free commuter parking- and then 70 minutes from there to Central Station in Brisbane. If we consider the rail distance from Nerang Station to Brisbane Central Station is 75,9 kilometres, that makes the average train speed 65 kilometres per hour. Did you say slow? Actually it is slow,  regarding all train standards and not just highspeed rail. 

But I am afraid that is not the only drawback keeping commuters away from the Gold Coast train. The train is not comfortable at all; The seats are like the ones that you expect from a metro train and not from a suburban train not to mention an intercity train. Certainly if you want to catch an early morning snooze or a late afternoon nap then you must do that on a sitting straight position with the fear of banging your head somewhere.

"Ok I can not sleep but can I use this time to work in my laptop?"  Bad luck again. No tables at all and not enough space to have it even on your lap. 

"How about wireless internet connection?" Only a small number of the trains have that and not in every car. And when you are lucky enough to be in one of those then there is a time limit and a limit in what you can access. So, no youtube videos or other streaming media.

But even you are someone that does not care for all this and you just enjoy reading a good book during trip time then you should take care where you board the train. Almost all trains during the peak hours run full so for the most part of the trip there are a lot of standing passengers. Add to that that the trip frequency is not good having only 3 trains from Gold Coast between 7-8 am and only 5 trains between 7-9 am. 

In one of my next posts I will write about what people commuting from Gold Coast to Brisbane do and what they can do with a little help from state government and the two city councils.

Good news for my work but not so good news for my blog.

Moving to Australia from Greece a few months ago I found my self in the not familiar position of applying for a job and especially doing it in another country. But searching and waiting period is over as now I am employed at the biggest city council in Australia.

That is surely good news for me since working in traffic and transport issues for a city so high up the global city hierarchy is a big challenge. Having the opportunity to help in the effort to improve people’s every day life or to contribute in developing policies and strategies to enhance city’s sustainable mobility is a great honor and at the same time responsibility.

I am afraid that starting work in a daily basis is bad news for my blog since my free time is considerably minimised. I must admit that I was never a consistent bloger even at times that I had more time available. But …

I will do my best to continue this blog and find the time and good mood to keep writing about interesting aspects of traffic and transport always from a sustainable point of view.  

Pedestrian scramble

 Yesterday in Brisbane I saw a simple but successful example of this type of pedestrian crossing named pedestrian scramble. The basic difference from regular pedestrian crossings is that vehicle traffic is stopped in all directions so pedestrians can cross the intersection in every direction they want, including diagonally at the same time. This type of crossing is used mainly in areas with high pedestrian volumes like central business districts or main commercial areas. This traffic management scheme has two main objectives: To enhance pedestrian road safety by setting a clear pedestrian priority and to facilitate pedestrian mobility in general by allowing diagonal movement that some times is more desirable.

The picture above from Edward and Adelaide Streets intersection shows that most of the pedestrians cross the streets in a diagonal direction. The difference in Brisbane’s case from other examples like the famous one in Hachikō Square in Shibuya, Tokyo is that both Edward and Adelaide Streets are one way roads so the red light waiting time is shorter making the intersection work safer.

Even though traffic engineers and planners seem to disagree about whether pedestrian scramble is success or not as the different decisions of two major Canadian cities show with Vancouver adding them and Toronto ripping them off, I believe that they are a useful tool not to be underestimated. Pedestrian should always come first when setting mobility priorities. Not everyone is a car owner, a car driver or a car passenger but everyone is a pedestrian even for the slightest part of his trip.

Merry Christmas and happy new year

I wish everyone Merry Christmas and a happy new year. I hope everyone stays healthy and happy.

Consider buying a bicycle for present. It is one of the top presents of all time, especially for children. 

Shared Bikes – Way to go Brisbane

Brisbane is the one of two Australian cities with a bike sharing scheme. It is the newest in Australia and the biggest regarding the total number of bikes with 1000 operating and 1000 more soon to be offered. The bicycles in CityCycle look a lot like those of Velib in Paris where the bike sharing scheme is a huge success with more than 20000 bikes on Parisian roads. CityCycle bikes can be found in 104 (soon to become 150) stations in the city centre and the surrounding neighbourhoods. In order to use CityCycle you need to subscribe and then you can ride for free for a period of 30 minutes. As long as the bikes are returned to a station within half-hour intervals the user can ride all day for free. If there is a need for longer usage then there are usage fees.

Bike sharing is a great idea for the cities aiming at providing an alternative to private car use in the city centre, thereby reducing traffic congestion, noise, and air pollution. It is a great practice for cities with parking supply problems. It also aims at supporting the use of public transportation and especially for commuters as it provides the means to the last part of the home to work trip.  Besides the obvious advantages of moving by bike like benefits in health and cleaner urban environment, bike sharing schemes are great for tourists as they provide an easy way to visit more city attractions and reach more city businesses.

There is some criticism about CityCycle especially regarding that is not so successful in attracting users. Major reasons for this are the initially high daily subscription which was 11 $ and the mandatory helmet use. The first issue was recently addressed by setting the daily subscription to 2$ which had an instant effect on rising casual hires. But the mandatory use of helmet is not. Australian bike sharing schemes are the only known bicycle share schemes that operate under a mandatory helmet requirement. But who would carry with him a helmet at all times just to use it on his last part of the daily trip to work? Also who will carry a helmet on the chance that he/she might want to borrow a bike for a quick trip to run an errand? Netherlands and Denmark are the countries with the highest percentage of bicycle use and very low percentage of accidents and no mandatory helmet use. Maybe we can learn from the best.

Smart Parking

The other day  I took a trip to Robina Town Centre and while parking there, I had the chance to view the quite advanced parking management system they have installed. As they say in their website it is “arguably the best parking on the Gold Coast with approximately 6,000 free of charge car parking spaces”. The basic advantage of this car parking site is a system that helps you quickly find available parking spot and closer to where you really want it. That system addresses the foremost needs of a driver in a car parking. With a series of detection sensors, overhead led lights and variable message signs the system directs drivers to the vacant spaces. 

 

Parking management is another sector of mobility management aiming in a more efficient and fair use of mobility resources, in this case parking space. Even though on street parking management is more crucial to cities, in the case of cities like Gold Coast where shopping is separated from residential areas, off street parking management is also critical. There are a lot of ideas and approaches for parking management. From shared parking to park and ride and from parking & charging to parking metermaids innovative solutions make parking and thus mobility easier for everyone.

Shared Space – Streets for everyone

By the term “Shared space” we define the design approach that seeks to change the way streets operate by reducing the dominance of motor vehicles, primarily through lower speeds and encouraging drivers to behave more accommodatingly towards pedestrians. In addition the use of level surface tends to remove a physical and psychological barrier to pedestrian movement. It can also indicate to drivers that pedestrians are not confined to the footway and that they can expect to encounter them in the whole of the street.
The other basic measure in shared space is reducing demarcation. Removing almost every road sign like speed limits and traffic lights increases the amount of interaction taking place between pedestrians and car drivers. Reducing demarcation indicates that the street is meant to be shared equally by all users of the street. Implied priority for vehicles is reduced, as are physical and psychological barriers to pedestrians using the street.

Shared space is not a solution for every city street. But is a great solution for streets with high leisure activity, historical importance and small commercial shops. Shared space enhances a street’s sense of place. As it is an idea based on sustainability all the basic principles of sustainable mobility must be considered. Successful shared space streets do not have to use costly materials, and their maintenance requirements are low.

Such proposals can benefit especially tourist destination cities. All that is needed some open minds and some political support.