Unless services are improved, most locals will still stay behind the wheel
IT is a battle of cost over convenience for Gold Coasters looking to catch public transport.
There is no doubt the light and heavy rail have been a massive success over the Commonwealth Games, moving more than a million people around the city to events and restaurants.
If you live within cooee of the light rail you are in luck, with the convenient service running to some of the Coast’s top spots, at a relatively cheap price.
Unfortunately if you live in suburbs where you have to rely on bus connections to ei- ther light or heavy rail, you may feel short changed, not necessarily in the form of dollars, but the cost of your time.
The Bulletin crunched the data, revealing the average trip on public transport around the Coast will cost you under $4, but will take, in most instances, twice as long as driving.
The figures pulled from the TransLink Journey Planner site show if you don’t live within walking distance to light rail, you’ll more than likely be catching multiple buses to get where you want to be.
If you commute to Brisbane every day for work the cost of the commute is relatively close to what you would spend on petrol every week.
The cost of travelling from Southport Tram Station to Brisbane Central train station using a Go Card is $10.47 per trip, equating to $104.70 per week. The trip takes 1 hour and 44 minutes each way, which means you’d be spending 17 and a half hours on a train a week to get to work.
This is assuming you work in the city and can walk to your workplace, it does not include further bus or train fares.
Driving the exact same trip is 74.8kms one way, 748kms a week, taking anywhere from an hour to up to two hours.
Depending on what car you drive you would be spending about $100 a week on petrol just for the commute.
When you take into account you should service your car every 10,000kms, you would need a service every 13 weeks, plus new tyres every year.
This does not take into account if you work outside of the city and the cost of parking.
Catching the train to Brisbane every day for your commute looks to be cheaper than driving and takes about the same time.
Riding on public transport around the city on the other hand is a bit of a nightmare. Yes, there are options to drive to a park and ride, to not have to bother with a bus, but that kind of defeats the purpose of easing traffic on the Coast’s roads.
If you live in Pacific Pines, are you going to drive to Helensvale to catch the tram and then a bus to Burleigh? Probably not, you’re more likely to belt down the M1 and find a park.
Until the light rail is extended to capture more of the Coast, and the bus services link more directly into the rail, then the average person is more likely to get behind the wheel and head to their destination.