Enoggera not interchange

Enoggera on the Ferny Grove line is a designated bus-train interchange in Brisbane. It is one of the few purpose built facilities in the city (in fact, in the country). It was built with commonwealth funds back in the 80s.

Unfortunately, it has never worked well. It is so close to the city that passengers have always preferred staying on their bus rather than transferring to the train. I am told that when it opened (before multimodal fares) they even tried making it cheaper to transfer and people still didn't.

As a result, not a lot of people use the interchange and it's a bit of a white elephant.

The interchange is also a bit tricky to get to from the main road and requires lots of turns for buses. Most of the routes have since been diverted away from the interchange and just stop on the main road.

If, like I do sometimes, you want to transfer from the train to the southbound bus at the Wardell Street bridge bus stop there is a bit of a problem.

There is no footpath.

That's right. There is no path connecting the station to the bus stop. You have to walk along a side street for a bit, cross the road near a slip lane and then clamber through a gap between trees.

It's not very convenient nor very safe. The environment at the bus stop isn't all that pleasant either. It's hard to see buses coming and I'm always nervous that one is going to go right through without stopping (it happens).

Wild wild weather

We've had some pretty heavy weather here in Brisbane lately. Over two days this past week my part of town had something like 400mm of rain. It's a bit odd to get rain in Brisbane this time of the year. Mostly summer is wet and winter is dry. The May average rainfall for Brisbane (at the airport) is something like 100mm and the annual average only 1200!

Some suburbs were really badly hit. In my part of town Ithaca Creek broke its banks in a few places and a whole suburb (St Johns Wood) was isolated.

My place wasn't much affected. The downstairs rooms got water running through them (they're below ground level on one side), the gravel from the driveway got washed across the back yard and there is a large hole in the back ground next to the far side fence where the ground has subsided.

My main grump is that my bike route to work is along a linear park alongside Enoggera Creek. Half of it is covered in mud and the floodway creek crossings won't be passable for weeks. Some of the timber bridges that were damaged in last November's storms might be washed away totally. I don't know yet.

The rain did have a good side. The drought is now officially over, and the dam levels went from a respectable 60% to a good 73% over this week.

Raining

My new rainwater tank, installed just before Christmas, is now full and overflowing. I've connected the pump and it seems to have enough pressure to fill the upstairs loo. Hurrah!

I think I now need to go and sprinkle some fertilizer on the lawn. How decandent.

Just briefly

The worst storm in decades *was* pretty fierce. Driving through it with 10m visibility and debris over the road was, um, interesting. If we'd known at the time how bad it was we probably wouldn't have set out.

The worst hit areas are only a few km from where we live and we didn't even lose power. Lucky.

It's hardly stopped raining since. Pity the order for a rainwater tank is still sitting on the kitchen table :-(

Inner City Rail and Brisban rail system

I have been hum-ing and ha-ing about what to write in a follow-up post on the ICRCS. After the release by the government of proposals a fortnight ago, there was a lot of buzz and then silence. A lot of the feedback (particularly in the Courier Mail) was very negative. In the rail and transport 'fan' community there was also a lot of discussion about why various things were proposed and why others weren't.

I have been giving quite a few informal briefings at work on what the project was and why it found what it did, but I don't feel at liberty to talk outside about it as much as I might like. Hopefully, the government will release more information from the very extensive study reports soon.

What I do want to say though is that Brisbane/SEQ badly needs a strategic rail network review. Something that looks at where the city is growing over the next 20-30 years (and beyond) and what rail network will be needed to serve it. This needs to not just tot up the existing SEQIPP suburban extensions, but also look at trunk and middle suburb needs (Newstead - Bulimba - Hamilton - Northgate ? Spring Hill - Newmarket - Stafford - Petrie?) to keep the network effective.

The ICRCS makes a start for the inner city, but the rest still needs to be done.

ICRCS findings announced!

In a press release today, Premier Anita Bligh and Transport Minister John Mickel have announced the findings of the Inner City Rail Capacity Study. The study itself hasn't been released to the public yet (stay tuned!) but the press release and associated maps released to MX newspaper confirm the basic study findings: the need for one new cross-city corridor from the Gold Coast line by 2016 and a second new corridor from the Ipswich Line to the Caboolture line by 2026.

The whole lot is expected to cost over $14 billion, and Infrastructure Australia (the Federal government's infrastructure fund) is being asked to contribute.

The press release also releases some interesting figures that show the scale of the demand:

Ms Bligh said the Inner City Rail Capacity Study found that in 2006 more than 44,000 people used city train services each day during the two hour morning peak period.

“By 2016 demand is forecast to reach between 70,000 and 80,000 people in peak periods and by 2026 increase further to between 105,000 and 130,000 people,” she said.

I'm quite excited the project is slowly being released, but I am a little worried that it might be being oversold with phrases like "world-class 21st century underground rail network".

What the project is is a way of providing capacity in the congested inner city for services from the outer suburbs. Along the way, there are a few underground stations to tap into various opportunities, but it is not really an underground 'network' as such.

Edited to add

Immediately after posting this, I discovered that the project web site has been updated with various documents. I am a bit surprised at what has been released and for the truly geeky I would recommend the "rail operations review" (warning: 5MB pdf file)

Time for the Hamilton NorthshoreTrain

The Urban Land Development Authority (ULDA) has released details of the Master Plan for the Hamilton Northshore site.

Those of you know know the area know that it is served by Kingsford Smith Drive, which gets incredibly busy. Heaven knows how it is going to cope with the 26,000 people who are expected to work there every day!

Luckily, the master plan suggests the extension of the Doomben line into the site - an extension of less than a kilometre.

I sincerely hope the state government takes them up on this option. Otherwise, chaos can be expected.

Now it's two tunnels!

Information about the Inner City Rail Capacity Study is dribbling out. Today's Courier Mail reports that the state government needs in the order of 14 billion dollars to "save southeast Queensland from rail chaos". The article goes on to say

The study findings are expected to be released later this year and details are still sketchy. However, options being considered include "doubling of existing capacity by building two dual-track tunnels connected to the existing network by 2026, with other upgrades to the surface network to support freight".

It's a sum of money that's so mind-boggling big it's hard to comprehend. In scope though, the project is not that different from Melbourne's underground rail loop of the 1970s. If you think about it, two deep level tunnels under Brisbane River with a number of city stations wouldn't come cheap.

Can the work be avoided? I doubt it can. Certainly at the moment there are some 21 trains coming off the Gold Coast, Beenleigh and Cleveland lines across the two-track Merivale Bridge then around a sharp curve and through a short tunnel to a flat junction with the lines from the Ipswich line. Factor in a built-over Central Station (with no real room to grow except downwards), suburban rail extensions (Springfield, Coolangatta, Maroochydore, Redcliffe - maybe) and there's a heck of a lotta trains to handle.

I hope more details on the study are released shortly. It's so frustrating not being able to discuss things properly.

Time for a PT solution for the middle suburbs

Just about all the proposals I have seen for enhancing Brisbane's PT network fall into 2 categories

(1) expand into new outer suburban areas (and if necessary enhance CBD capacity to cope)
(2) put something clever (e.g. light rail) up the inner city corridor between West End and the Valley.

I would like to put in a plea for those missing people. People like me who live in the middle suburbs, who are not far enough out to benefit from the suburban rail and busway networks as they currently stand, and are not high profile inner city 'renewal' areas. Instead we have to put up with congested roads complete with buses stuck in congestion.

This past Monday as my ''express" bus edged down in the inside lane of Musgrave Road in Red Hill I counted no fewer than 7 local buses stationary in traffic in the outside lane. Many of these buses had standing passengers.

These people are trying public transport but I fear that as road improvements (such as Hale Street Bridge and the Western Link) come on line, will switch back to car.

I'd like to make a special plea for this corridor. I believe that something has to be done to provide a dedicated public transport facilities for the Waterworks Road corridor. What I would love to see is a light-rail based solution. It would be expensive and would involve tunnelling, but I think it is needed. I rather fancy something like the SF "Muni" solution: light rail that runs in a tunnel in the city centre and where needed plus median running on the street where there is room.

Imagine it, something whizzing past and under traffic from Ashgrove Village, under Red Hill, down and around Latrobe Terrace Paddington and onto the City, the Valley, Newstead, maybe under the river to Bulimba. The possibilities are endless.

It's not going to happen. The planners won't buy it because we don't deserve PT because we don't live in high density housing units, and the engineers are too busy building road tunnels - supported by politicians who should know better.

Oh well...

Busway blues

Brisbane's new Inner Northern Busway opened on May 19th. My bus route was one of those changed to use it.

The new cross-platform arrangement with trains at Roma Street is pretty neat (although the platform is the used once-a-day standard gauge platform).

Apart from that, I must say I am particularly underwhelmed by the changes.

Under the old system, my bus came down Countess Street, turned left at the lights onto Roma Street, stopped outside the station, continued along Roma Street, turned left at Turbot Street, right at Edward Street, stopping outside Central Station then left into Queen Street to a terminus outside the GPO.




Under the new route the bus runs down Countess Street, turns sharp left at Roma Street onto the busway on ramp (stop at lights) then up to the busway through route (stop at lights), turn right, stops at the Roma Street station, along the busway, into the left lane just short of King George Square station (stop at lights), turn right and out of busway onto Roma Street again, turn right (no signals) onto Roma Street slip road, left at Turbot Street and then as before to Central and the GPO.



Seeing as I get off at the Central Station stop, the whole deal has probably added 2-3 minutes to my trip in the morning.

There's no improvement in reliability either because the congested part of the bus route is Musgrave Road through Red Hill before you get to the city. Roma Street was never any problem.

Woo! Go BRT!

What is a metro - and does Brisbane need one?

On Wednesday I posted a set of pictures, and asked which ones were from a so-called 'metro' and which ones weren't.

This is what they were:

1. A high end 'light rail' system, the Tyne and Wear Metro
2. High capacity electric 'heavy' railway, the Berlin U-Bahn
3. Lightweight diesel railcars ('Pacers') from the West Yorkshire Metro
4. High capacity electric 'heavy' railway, the original Paris Metro
5. High capacity electric 'heavy' railway, the District Line of the London Underground
6. A high end 'light rail' system with city centre tunnel, the Docklands Light Railway (also in London)
7. A bus from the Adelaide metro (which also features some diesel railcars on a rather run-down railway network)

The Berlin and the two London examples aren't called 'metro'. All the others are. Looks can be deceiving!

(My offer of a half-mark was for recognising that the District Line began its life as the Metropolitan District Railway! I have also noticed that the Berlin U-Bahn web page refers to it in English as "metro". I don't recall hearing the term used in Berlin myself)

Obviously I picked this list for a point, and not just because they are all systems I have ridden on. The dictionary definition that is simply 'an underground railway like the one in Paris' isn't enough on its own: West Yorkshire and Adelaide don't have underground parts to their 'metro', and in London it's always 'the Underground' or more often 'the Tube', never 'the Metro'.

As a professional transport planner, I have had to deal with various demands for a 'metro' for Brisbane. When I sat down with a rail engineer we discovered that we had very different ideas about what defined a metro. He immediately thought big and bulky like the London Underground; I thought fast and flexible like DLR or Tyne and Wear. It was just what we were used to. What we agreed on, though, were:

• It's a railway
• It serves a city
• It offers a frequent service
• It is high capacity and probably has lots of standing room on board
  
• It has closely spaced stations for maximum coverage
• It is preferably designed with lots of doors for fast loading and unloading
• It serves in part a distribution function (not just a home-work commute function)
• It is a marketing term

We agreed that it would probably be underground for at least part of its route because this was the only way it would serve the inner city area. We also agreed that the Brisbane Citytrain system already shows many characteristics of a metro, and with improved vehicle design (for faster loading and unloading) and more frequent services (especially in the off peak) it probably ought to be called one.

What we also agreed upon was that Brisbane doesn't need a totally new independent underground rail line or loop of the London Underground or Paris Metro type: it simply doesn't have the population numbers or city size and shape to make it worth while. Certainly, any attempt to curtail Citytrain's operations at the city fringes and make people transfer to a metro for their final destination ('like London') is a very bad idea - and bad history to boot.

As the inner areas of Australia's capital cities increase in population through densification and urban renewal, there will be a need for improved public transport. Except for Melbourne (where the trams still have much potential) this is going to mean new dedicated facilities. I personally feel that there is much benefit in exploring the 'lightweight' metro of the Tyne and Wear or DLR model as a complement to the existing suburban railways, rather than trying to copy London or Paris.

Rain

So far, 2008 has been wet.

Really really wet.

Rain nearly every day this month.

Brisbane's dams are now over 30% of capacity (up from something like 15% this time last year)

There are gullies across my back yard where the water running under the fence from my neighbour has pushed aside the gravel. The whole lower back yard is a damp mess. The vegies, especially the tomatoes have given up the ghost with the swampy ground.

Amazingly there was just a little bit of sun yesterday and this afternoon, so for the first time in 3 weeks I get to mow the lawn, which is inches high. Of course, I run out of petrol half way through.

Bet it rains tomorrow again!

Brisbane Inner City Rail Capacity Study

According to a story in today's Brisbane Sunday Mail, there is a 'bold new government plan' to develop new a new underground railway for Brisbane:

BRISBANE could have two under-the-river rail tunnels and a new rail bridge in a bold State Government public transport plan.

There could be major new train stations at Woolloongabba, Gardens Point and the "financial district" at Eagle St, and a redeveloped Exhibition line for year-round use.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Paul Lucas will today unveil details of a $5 million feasibility study to develop options for connecting the rail network north and south of the Brisbane River.

I don't think I will be breaking any rules of confidentiality if I mention that this project is one of the reasons I haven't been able to post anything in the last month :-p

The bus goes where?

Information in the Brisbane bus system is generally pretty good. The Translink website is pretty comprehensive, timetables are available from most council libraries and various information centres. Buses all have clear route numbers and destinations, with all but the oldest buses having very bright digital displays. Just about every stop in the network has a timetable, bigger stops in the city and at interchanges have maps too. At many major stops and interchanges there are also digital displays indicating the next few bus departures (this is based on a recorded timetable, not real-time, though)

There is one really weird feature of the system that can cause confusion to the new user.

Most bus routes have two "different" destinations depending what form of information you are looking at. If you use the printed timetables or look at the bus itself you get one destination. If you look at the digital displays or on timetables posted on timetables you get a completely different destination listed!

Take my route for example, if you have a look at the printed timetable (or its pdf version) you will be told that it is 433 Kenmore South to City (all stops). When the bus comes along its destination sign will tell you 433 Kenmore via Indooroopilly (or 433 City via Indooroopilly) depending on the direction. Fair enough I guess.

Now, however, if you look at a timetable posted on a bus stop, or at one of the digital displays (see above) it will be 433 Kilkivan. Where? Well the final stop on this route would appear to be Stop 39A ("Kilkivan Av Opp Cromarty St") which has been loaded into the electronic system as "Kilkivan".

Similarly there is no such place as "Centenary". Bus 106 goes to Mt Ommaney Shopping Centre (in Mt Ommaney), which is located just off Centenary Highway.

There is, however, a place called Moggill and as the bus terminus is a turnaround at a corner paddock, it's called Moggill. The destination will be 444 Moggill BUZ.

Confusing? Yes.

Why do they keep saying it will rain?

I have come to the conclusion that the Bureau of Meteorology model to predict short term rainfall needs serious recalibration.

It seems like every week for the past 6 weeks the forecast has been "fine" with showers later in the week. As the week goes by, the forecast slowly changes to "fine" with a few showers by the middle of the next week, and by the middle of the next week, well, you get the picture.

There was even a day (when I was in the country) when I was warned to get home early because a major storm was approaching Brisbane. Brisbane had 1.4mm of rain that day.

The fact is that in the two months that I have been in Brisbane there has been one day of reasonable rain that I can remember, plus one very light sprinkle yesterday.

I get the feeling that normal service won't return any time soon.

Goodbye Perth

This will be the last post I make from Perth. There is little left in the flat but a whole lot of packing cartons, some semi-disassembled furniture, and a computer.

It has been a roller-coaster of a three years. There have been some terrible lows and some amazing highs. I have met some wonderful people, and I would like to say thank you to them for being such great friends. I'd especially like to single out AH and AM - you know who you are!

The removalists arrive at 7.30 am tomorrow and then we are in the car on Thursday morning for the next big adventure.

See you there!

Goodbye, it's time I sought a foreign clime,
Where I may find there are hearts more kind than I leave behind.
And so I go to fight the savage foe,
Although I know I'll be sometimes missed by the girls I've kissed.

In some Abyssinian French dominion I shall do my bit,
And fall for the flag if I must.
Where the desert sand is nice and handy, I'll be full of grit,
You won't see my heels for the dust.

...

Goodbye. Goodbye. I wish you all a last "Goodbye".
Goodbye. Goodbye. I wish you all a last "Goodbye"

Across Australia Adventure

Well, it has been decided. We are leaving Perth at the end of this month and have decided on Brisbane as a destination. Hopefully it will be a bit more interesting and have some real career potential.

We were talking with removalists and they said it would take 2-3 weeks for everything to arrive, rather than the one week we were anticipating. We then had a brain wave: rather than flying across and then spending those 2-3 weeks in a hotel, why not drive? We could "See Australia" and at the same time save quite a bit of money.

Yes, I know it is mad to cross the Nullarbor at the start of February, but the weather has been so atypical, and with a decent air conditioner in the car 35 degrees is really no different to 25 degrees, and with two to share the driving it should be fine.

So here is the tentative itinerary:

Day 1: Perth - Kalgoorlie
Day 2: Kalgoorlie - Eucla
Day 3: Eucla - Streaky Bay
Day 4: Streaky Bay - Adelaide (maybe stay an extra night)
Day 5: Adelaide - West Wyalong
Day 6: West Wyalong - Goondiwindi
Day 7: Goondiwindi - Brisbane
Day 8: nothing whatsoever.