New park ‘n’ ride stations to benefit commuters in Brisbane
COMMUTERS using Salisbury Station will soon have more places to park but there’s no good news for commuters and residents impacted by parking issues at Sunnybank’s Altandi Station.
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COMMUTERS using Salisbury Station will soon have more places to park, thanks to a $14.5m State Government commitment to add 250 parking bays to the station’s park ‘n’ ride facilities.
But there’s no good news for commuters and residents impacted by parking issues at Sunnybank’s Altandi Station, with Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey saying there are limited options to create additional parking.
Residents near Altandi Station have battled parking problems since 2014, when the train timetable changed to make Altandi the main station between Loganlea and Park Road on the Gold Coast/Airport express service.
When asked about why Salisbury would get an extra parking but Altandi would not, Mr Bailey said “every station’s different”.
“There’s a different level of development around it, Altandi’s a very residential area around there, there’s very limited opportunities for us,” he said.
“Especially in those environments where people are not always keen to suddenly have a big multistorey car park next door to their clothes line and backyard.
“Whereas this site is strategically chosen because it in on industrial land and on a major arterial road here on Beaudesert Rd, so it will not only service local residents really well but you will have people coming in along the arterial (road) to park and jump on the rail system. “There’s real limitations around Altandi in terms of being able to expand the level of parking there because it’s such a built out residential area.”
Mr Bailey said the decision to change the express stop from Coopers Plains to Altandi Station four years ago was a decision from the previous Newman Government.
“I am not privy to their thinking on that,” he said of the decision.
“The Newman Government made all sorts of weird and wonderful decisions.”
When asked by the Southern Star if there was a possibility the Palaszczuk Government could reverse the decision Mr Bailey said: “We regularly review our network, to see what improvements we can make, we do that to ensure the best possible services we can.”
While a time frame for the completion of the project, which will increase the stations’s parks from 52 to 300, has not been made public, the concept design is anticipated to be finished by March 2019.
Member for Toohey Peter Russo said land had been acquired next to the Salisbury train station to make way for the expanded facility.
“The geotechnical site investigations have been done and work on a concept design for the expanded park ‘n’ ride is underway,” he said.
Mr Bailey said the land for the Salisbury park ‘n’ ride had been resumed and getting the construction underway was a “high priority”.
“We’re very keen to get it done as quickly as we can,” he said.
“As soon as we’ve got more dates available we’ll certainly let people know.
“This investment will make it even easier for customers to access public transport which will in turn reduce road congestion.
“Park ‘n’ ride facilities are an important element of the transport network and, when delivered in the right locations, allow customers to connect with high frequency public transport where walking, cycling and connecting public transport options are limited.”
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