Fury at $12m bus subsidy

A Gold Coast City councillor is furious about having to spend $12m on subsidising state public transport in the fast-growing northern suburbs.

However, the state government says the state’s secondlargest council is big enough to go it alone if it “genuinely believes it is a high priority”.

Council’s annual report 2021-22, released as part of

Wednesday’s budget, shows for the first time the city is “subsidising bus services in the northern Gold Coast to improve accessibility”.

Deputy Mayor Donna Gates could not hide her disappointment when asked by the Bulletin about council funding public transport.

“We, as a council recognising all the problems, have committed $12m over the next four years for rapid bus services in northern Gold Coast,” Cr

Gates said. “We did that after our officers had been in consultation with the state, and we understood they might match that $12m with $12m of the state’s funding.”

Councillors agreed to the public transport upgrade in April after a report confirmed the northern bus services were “lousy”.

The city’s highest patronage services cater for buses every eight minutes between Broadbeach south to Tweed Heads, and 15 minutes between Helensvale and The Spit and Broadbeach to Robina train station. Some of those buses operate from 6am to midnight.

By comparison, eight routes operate in the north across three corridors between Helensvale and Pimpama. Weekend services are as few as four.

“So we’ve had to step up because of the situation our residents are experiencing and let the state put their money where their mouth is,” Cr

Gates said. “Because it’s one thing to say in a private meeting that if you can get this funding, you can match it. We want to see it on the table.”

Transport Minister Mark Bailey fired back at council’s claim it had been forced to do the heavy lifting for the bus route.

“As the second-largest council in Queensland, the Gold Coast City Council is certainly in a financial position to fully fund this initiative themselves if they genuinely believe it is a high priority,” he said.

“Covid-19 has seen patronage drop significantly on public transport, which has to be taken into account on where we invest in new services.

“The Palaszczuk government and Gold Coast Council have worked well together over the past few years to deliver better transport for the Gold Coast, and we’ll continue to do that for its growing northern communities.”