BACON, EGGS AND REALITY

TRANSPORT and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey should take Valerie Edwards up on her offer of breakfast.

We’re told she makes fantastic bacon and eggs, so why won’t Mr Bailey commit to anything other than saying the invitation is a “nice offer’’?

Could it be he dreads the thought of honouring his side of any bargain – making the return journey from Ms Edwards’ home at a Coomera estate off Foxwell Rd at morning peak our, inching ever so slowly back to the overpass near Dreamworld and then on to the M1 north, with all the holdups that entails?

At the very least he would understand the frustrations of the thousands of commuters – and in Ms Edwards’ case, all the tears – of taking 20 to 40 minutes to crawl short distances just to access the motorway or, as a huge number do, to cross the M1 to drop the children off at school before returning home along the same congested route or trying to drive north or south to work. Ms Edwards tells of having to abandon trips, including choir charity work, because she can’t reach her destination.

As for public transport, he would understand that it would be laughable if this wasn’t so serious. With too few stations, too few spaces at the car parks and the prospect of a fat parking fine for daring to leave the car on a verge outside the marked parking bays, commuters prefer to cop the pain of congestion on the feeder roads, roundabouts, overpasses and M1.

The situation is so bad in the northern suburbs that in one startling example of rat-running desperation, a Pimpama pastor had to lock his church and cemetery gates in October to stop drivers speeding through the grounds to avoid the mindnumbing frustration of a 20-minute crawl through 150 metres of a gridlocked roundabout and feeder road. The final straw had been when a car almost ran down a child in the church grounds.

We don’t make this stuff up. That is why Mr Bailey must come and see for himself. At least with Ms Edwards’ offer, the Minister gets to enjoy a hearty meal before the ride to eternity – well, that’s how long it seems to take at peak hour, anyway.

The Gold Coast was dudded in roads spending in the last State Budget. If Mr Bailey comes and sees for himself, he will understand why our roads, overpasses and exits must have priority and why public transport won’t work in relieving some of the pressure on roads until rail services, stations and car parking make the trains a truly viable alternative.