Lord Mayor wants Brisbane 2032 Games to be car free

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has backed different forms of transport to help Brisbane avoid the traffic nightmares affecting 2028 Games host Los Angeles.

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Adrian Schrinner has declared the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games needs to be car free – and says the state’s South East needs to avoid the traffic nightmares of 2028 Games host Los Angeles.

In a wide-ranging interview, the Brisbane Lord Mayor has also backed cricket as a possible addition to the sporting line up at the 2032 Games in a bid to lure hundreds of millions of viewers from India.

He has also offered his support for water taxis in the Brisbane River – which would ferry passengers between the cruise ship terminal at Pinkenba to key destinations in the CBD.

And Mr Schrinner has revealed plans for Brisbane to create its own city mascot that would be different from the mascot used at the 2032 Games.

The Lord Mayor has recently returned from a trip with fellow South East Queensland mayors to North America, where the civic leaders visited the Olympic cities of Los Angeles and Vancouver.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner wants to Brisbane to avoid the traffic problems that plague Los Angeles.

Mr Schrinner said the strength of Los Angeles – which hosted the Summer Games in 1984 and will do the same in 2028 – was its amazing and ready-to-go venues.

But he also pointed out the city had a low uptake of public and active transport, was spread out, and had a lack of co-operation amongst its local governments.

“As a region, South East Queensland needs to learn from the Los Angeles experience to make sure that does not happen here,” Mr Schrinner told The Sunday Mail.

“Because it means massive traffic congestion, it means massive social isolation with people living extraordinarily far distances from where they work.

“We’ve got a big region in South East Queensland and if we don’t get the transport right, the liveability of the region will suffer.”

Mr Schrinner said the 2032 Games in Brisbane needed to be a “car-free Olympics” to the extent that spectators would not be driving to and parking at Olympic venues.

“We saw SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. It has an amazing stadium facility, but it has 10,000 car parks around the stadium which uses an extraordinary amount of land,” the Lord Mayor said.

“(Our Olympics) will be different. Yes we will have great sporting venues, but they will be surrounded by homes and businesses and vibrant communities – not car parks.”

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner. Picture: John Gass

Pre-pandemic, about 19 per cent of trips in Brisbane involved active and public transport – something Mr Schrinner wants to lift.

In comparison, Mr Schrinner said Los Angeles’ public and active transport usage was only 9 per cent.

But in the Metro Vancouver area, the region leveraged the 2010 Winter Olympics to boost its public and active transport usage to more than 50 per cent.

“When you consider that about half of the year it’s cold, and raining, and miserable in Vancouver, that’s actually a pretty amazing outcome,” Mr Schrinner said.

“Metro Vancouver … has given us some inspiration on some of the opportunities to do things better and to learn from their experience.”

When it comes to expanding its Brisbane Metro project, the council has already flagged possible services to the airport, an eastern corridor service, an extension of services beyond Rochedale, and a service along Gympie Rd.

CRICKET AS AN OLYMPIC SPORT

Mr Schrinner has backed cricket as a potential addition to the line-up of events at the 2032 Games.

The Lord Mayor said any sporting events added at the 2032 Games would be “hotly debated and contested”, but pointed out cricket had been frequently raised.

“I’m not saying that cricket will be an Olympic sport, but it’s certainly been the cause of a lot of discussion,” he said.

“India and the surrounding countries love cricket so much. It is just their national love and also the countries around them as well.”

Cricket could return to the Olympic Games for the first time in more than 100 years. Picture: William West/AFP

The last time cricket featured at an Olympic Games was in Paris in 1900. Mr Schrinner said India’s time zone was not too different to Brisbane’s – which would make for a good TV viewing experience.

“These are decisions for a number of years down the track. But that would certainly get 1.3 billion people on the subcontinent watching the Olympics in Brisbane and then no doubt also wanting to visit Brisbane as well,” he said.

WATER TAXIS

Mr Schrinner has revealed he would support a commercial water taxi service or charter service in the Brisbane River that would link the cruise ship terminal at Pinkenba to sites in the Brisbane CBD.

“That’s the obvious starting point, because you will have thousands of people arriving by cruise ship and I think it’s a much more pleasant way for them to experience their first glimpse of Brisbane coming up the river,” he said.

“You can see it (the river) as a barrier in terms of transport, or you can see it as part of the transport solution.”

Mr Schrinner said water taxis could play a role in transporting people along the Brisbane River.

The Lord Mayor expects the Brisbane River to be an important transport connection during the 2032 Games.

He said establishing berthing facilities and pontoons would be critical to getting private water taxi services up and running.

“We’ve already invested in a number of those up and down the river – the river hubs, which are available for anyone to use,” he said.

“We’ve started the network. That network can be further grown.

“We’ve heard about plans from groups like Howard Smith Wharves to install more facilities. So I think there will be a network that will come to life.”

Mr Schrinner wants to find mascots for Brisbane and the 2032 Games – but not the city’s ubiquitous ibises. Picture Glenn Hampson

A MASCOT FOR BRISBANE

Brisbane could soon have its own unique city mascot that would be different and separate to the one used during the 2032 Games.

Mr Schrinner revealed his administration was considering the idea.

“I’m wondering whether the city itself can have a mascot … as we promote the city not just for the Games, but before the Games, after the Games,” the Lord Mayor said.

“We’re putting our mind to that. We certainly don’t want to compete with the Olympic mascot.”

As for what mascot he would like for the 2032 Games, Mr Schrinner said: “Definitely not the ibis.”