THE Gold Coast should go back to the buses and all plans for the expansion of the light rail should be scrapped, says a leading Gold Coast businessman.
Retired property demographer and development consultant Alan Midwood said the light rail system was a “disaster” and development of the system was based on a miscalculation.
Mr Midwood, whose Midwood Report was considered the bible for measurement of property development in the city, said system was developed on an error in first place.
“In the 2008 feasibility study there was an error in the calculation of the population growth of the Gold Coast for the previous 20 years,” he said.
“It said the population had grown by 218 per cent rather than 118 per cent.
“I believe that was why they decided buses could not continue under that growth pressure.
“The scandal is that was initially based on a fallacy and then it got bigger and bigger. The money should go back into buses and even then into smaller buses.
“There is not the density of population to support it and never will be.
“We could have put another 1000 buses on the road for the cost of the light rail.”
Mr Midwood said the light rail had been a ‘gross financial disaster’.
“Translink’s end-of-year newsletter boasts it carried ‘over 6 million passengers in its first year’,” he said.
“An impressive figure to some, but anyone with a calculator can divide that by 365 days to see it only carried 16,438 passengers a day.
“The buses were doing 17,000 without spending over $2 billion, losing 1000 roadside car parks in the inner city and turning Southport’s centre into a virtual ghost town.
“To say nothing of sending countless small businesses bankrupt and stealing half the scarce road space between Parkwood and Broadbeach.
“It was supposed to reduce congestion, not double it.”
Mr Midwood said the cost of the project had grown from an initial estimation of $320 million to be well over $2 billion.
“Initially that $320 million was to cover the full 17km from the heavy rail to Broadbeach — not just the 13km part that cut out the heavy rail link “to save money”.
“The same reason was given for deleting the 1000 car spaces in two large Park & Ride stations at Parkwood and Loders Creek.
“Heaven forbid that anyone should seriously consider extending it into the less densely populated southern reaches of the city.
“But our city planners are already asking our opinion on alternative routes. Have they nothing better to do?
“They can be assured the taxpayers of Queensland will not be offering to pay for such profligacy this time around, as they are already burdened by losses that must exceed $100 million annually, when taking into account interest and operating losses due to disappointing usage.
“Someone please tell them that Gold Coast cannot afford another disaster like this.”
Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate said council’s Transport Strategy 2031 proposed a multifaceted approach to the city’s future transport needs.
“As Mayor, I support the light rail continuing on south from Broadbeach, to the airport, in stages,” he said.
“This will occur as state, federal and local funding becomes available. I am also a strong advocate of an improved bus network that feeds off the light rail ‘spine’.
“These bus networks will run east and west. Again, this will require strong commitment from the state and our council.’’
Meanwhile, business and community leaders are being quietly sounded out to form a committee to lobby for the extension of the light rail south.
Steve Harrison, who was chairman of the Gold Coast Light Rail Business Advisory Group, said he was approaching business and community leaders in an effort to reform the group with a focus on a future stage.
“The business advisory group played a key role in helping get the funding for stage one of the light rail and helped get the full level of government support for stage two,” Mr Harrison said.
“The intent is to recommence regular meetings with GoldlinQ and the contractor hired to build stage two.
“We want to get the maximum value possible for stage two.”
He said the composition of the group was no longer current because construction work was no longer happening in Surfers Paradise.
“It’s more important to get business stakeholders from the new section of the project than from Surfers,” he said. “It’s also important to have stakeholders from locations that are future possible extensions.”
Mr Harrison said the important part of the decision-making process was to get consensus on where future extensions would be.
“The exciting part is not about if it should be built but that we are seeing parts of the city fighting to get the light rail to come there, whether it’s Robina, Nobbys or Burleigh,” he said.
“And certainly the airport would be an important link and would have a massive impact on the Gold Coast.”
He said he hoped the business advisory group would be reformed in the next four to six weeks.
“We want to have the right people involved to have a serious discussion on the future,” he said. “It’s important the airport is a contingent stakeholder, educational institutions play a role so we have Griffith University and it would be nice to have Bond and Southern Cross University.
“It’s important to stay close to the chambers of commerce to ensure the needs of business are included.”