Cheap rides, costly parking chaos: SEQ gears up for 50¢ fares

Peak-hour public transport users should brace for major congestion at park ‘n’ rides and transit hubs when the new 50c fares begin in August, with carparking availability to tighten.

Commuter car parks across the southeast are expected to be stretched to capacity when the new 50c fares come in to play in August. Picture: TransLink

Peak-hour public transport users are being told to brace for congestion at park n rides, shopping centre transit hubs and railway station car parks when the cheap 50c public transport fares come into play in August as part of a state government election sweetener.

Transport officials said they expected a 13 per cent spike in the number of commuters hitting the cheap buses and rail network when the new fares started on August 5.

Hardest hit are expected to be Logan Hyperdome, where there are no plans to install new boom gates, Springwood transfer station, Chermside Shopping Centre, Eight Mile Plains bus station, Springfield Central, Geebung train station, Greenbank exchange, Lindum train station and Salisbury train station.

Shopping centres at Chermside, Springfield and Logan which have nearby bus stations where people may park for free, have started planning ways to shield access into their car parks.

Other businesses, which have declined to be named, are toying with the idea of installing boom gates to curb commuter parking once the fare discount starts.

While parking at transport hubs across the southeast is expected to be at capacity when the cheap fares start, it is believed that inner-city car parks will be largely left vacant.

Hyperdome centre manager Brian Turner moved to allay fears promising to monitor the fare policy and any impacts.

The Hyperdome has 4400 car parks.

“The Hyperdome has 4400 car parks to sufficiently service the shopping complex’s current operations and customers, but we will review the impact of any public transport patronage increase after August 5 and make adjustments if required,” Mr Turner said.

“The Hyperdome Bus Interchange provides tremendous connectivity between our centre and the broader community.

“Should TransLink allocate additional services, we will monitor any implications to ensure our customers and staff continue to enjoy the ease of access Hyperdome is known for.”

The expected chaos has prompted Transport officials to hold high-level planning meetings this week to draft contingency plans for extra public transport services and to map out which commuter car parks are likely to be the worst affected.

Discussions are believed to be focusing on contingency plans to overhaul weekend services, expected to be overrun with thousands of people taking up the cheap offer of a $1 return trip from Brisbane to the Gold Coast.

Talks included where and when to increase the number of buses servicing railway stations, shopping centres, during track upgrades and peak hours.

The Transport department also plans to set up an operational headquarters to monitor transport services use.

A Transport and Main Roads spokesperson suggested commuters walk, cycle or use electric scooters to get to transport hubs instead of driving and parking.

TMR also told commuters to check congestion on the network using an online tracker on the department’s website to avoid delays when the new 50c fares started.

Public transport use across all modes has remained about 13 per cent under pre-Covid levels, despite a whopping 7.3 per cent population spurt in the southeast but TMR said service levels had been maintained.

“We will monitor loading on all public transport services during the 50 cent fares trial to help inform future decisions on the cost of public transport fares and service levels,” TMR said.

Rail Back on Track’s Robert Dow says there will be congestion at bus and train stations. Picture: File

Transport advocate Rail Back on Track spokesman Robert Dow said the state aim of the 50c fares was to recover a 13 per cent drop in public transport patronage since Covid.

“The TransLink modelling seems to suggest that they will likely get between 13 and 15 per cent more commuters after the fares drop,” Mr Dow said.

“They are still doing more modelling to try to identify points on the network that will possibly be overloaded and are talking to all the bus operators and the rail operator.

“It looks like they will have to supplement extra buses to run people to railway stations which will be where there is the extra capacity.

“Commuters should be warned to try rail rather than the buses when the 50c fares come into play.”

City car park operators including leader Wilson Parking, which owns and operates 40 ticketed car parks across the state and Secure Parking, have registered concerns that they will lose custom over the six-month transport trial.

Wilson Parking and Secure Parking said they were unable to comment and it was still too early to determine what action they would take on entry fee pricing to parking spots to keep custom during the six-month trial.

Car park operators said it was too early to determine how the 50c fares would affect their business. Picture: Wilson Parking

Logan’s Grand Plaza Shopping has no boom gates or plans to install any.

Grand Plaza has 2666 spots which are free for up to four hours with the limit protecting the centre from people using it for daylong commuter parking.

Grand Plaza said the local community could use the Greenbank free Park and Ride and there were options for bus commuters.

Grand Plaza will monitor usage over the next few months to ensure customer and retailer experience was not impacted.

Southeast Queensland has 158 park ‘n’ ride facilities with 31,500 spaces with an $48 million to be spent on transport over the next four years.