$30 a day, two hours to get to Brisbane
PAUL Davies says he takes his chances on the M1 car park to Brisbane every day because of the cost of catching the train.
“My car was out of action for three weeks where I was forced to catch the train,” he said.
“The first couple of days I was buying my tickets at the station and was spending around $30 a day. One trip was $15.
“The ticketing officer at the station said to spend the extra money and buy a GoCard, and I found I saved a lot.
“But even then, the train is just not economical enough to twist your arm to use every day.”
He also said for the time conscious, catching the train was not a viable option.
“You’re almost guaranteed a one-and-a-half to two-hour commute, especially if you need a connection. And I just found the service wasn’t frequent enough, coming every half-hour.
“With the Commonwealth Games and the additional services, it made a heck of a difference.
“It had me start to think about switching to the train — if you get the M1 at the wrong time, you’re looking at a long commute. But with the car, it’s the convenience of doorstep to doorstep.”
While he said he had no major concern with the trains themselves, with the service in its current state, the negatives outweigh the positives.
“The Gold Coast line is clean, the WiFi is pretty good. You can always get the laptop out and do some work — which you obviously can’t when you drive. But when it’s overcrowded and you hit those peak times, sometimes you struggle to find a seat, so you’re standing for the entire trip.
“If they were to drop the price down even a third, it would make be consider the inconvenience of time and needing to jump on a connection.”