KEEP TRAMS ON TRACK
IF the over-the-top group opposed to light rail can put the hysteria aside for a moment, they should be able to see the benefits that come when the trams glide through the neighbourhood.
An update report handed to city councillors yesterday – Building Our City, Light Rail Corridor – shows there has been a 61.8 per cent increase in average daily trips on the service. Patronage figures are impressive and certainly not unexpected. There were 10.7 million trips made on the trams in 2018-19.
Extending the original Broadbeach-Gold Coast University Hospital stage one route north to Helensvale to link with heavy rail was always going to put the system on track to achieving its true purpose as a people mover that offers a viable alternative to cars. With traffic clogging the city’s roads, the Gold Coast needs an efficient public transport system that people want to use, not the less-than-adequate bus service that has operated to date.
Of course it was vital to have that light rail stage two link to Helensvale completed in time for the Commonwealth Games, but it has been the ongoing use daily by commuters and tourists that has demonstrated that Gold Coasters would use regular and reliable public transport. We can expect patronage to go through the roof when stage three reaches Burleigh.
A hard-core protest group at Palm Beach remains opposed to light rail passing through the suburb or even skirting around it, as suggested by Mayor Tom Tate when he said the extension south from Burleigh could veer away from the preferred coastal route and go along Nineteenth Ave.
The Bulletin holds reservations about that option, but at least it is on the table as the route is once again up for discussion.
Protesters along with area councillor Daphne McDonald and state MP Michael Hart have to get used to the idea that the light rail will be extended to the airport. But as late as it now is for the elected representatives to start doing their job and negotiating a solution instead of taking a back seat to a bunch of keyboard warriors, the chance is there for meaningful input.
That has to be significantly more informed than Cr McDonald’s comment at this incredibly late stage that perhaps there is an alternative out there.
Making the effort to understand the other side also applies to the city council. Finding an acceptable solution does not involve bludgeoning naysayers into submission. The issue demands calm, rational discussion.
Some concerns and arguments about how the project should proceed are valid. We acknowledge that a plan to reduce traffic lanes from four to two on the Gold Coast Hwy through a section of Palm Beach to accommodate light rail will scare locals and indeed all drivers who pass through there daily. The community has yet to be sold on any alternative routes for vehicle traffic. With backstreets too narrow to take the tram tracks, why isn’t consideration given to elevating the tracks along that section?
The report does offer hope with traffic, revealing that in the Southport CBD for example, volumes have dropped 47 per cent in Scarborough St. Locals and workers have embraced the trams there.