Crime and the light rail: Statistics paint a curious story

Some Gold Coast residents fear trams bring trouble. Here’s what the statistics say.

There are a number of online sites keeping lists of some of the more unlikely things blamed on climate change.

On the very lengthy list are problems such as heroin addiction, shark attacks and shrinking sheep.

The idea, of course, is to lampoon those who say climate change is an existential crisis as being somewhat over the top in their claims.

Whatever your views on the matter, you’ve got to appreciate the humour.

This column is wondering if it may be possible to soon compile a similar list regarding the light rail.

The building of the humble tram system has been variously linked by campaigners against it to traffic congestion, homelessness, the construction of high-rise buildings, destruction of wildlife, algae and sharks in waterways (yes, really), the closure of businesses and a lack of parking.

These are all matters of concern, but is a single tram line really to blame?

In fact, at least in relation to congestion, parking and business activity, there are plausible counter-arguments that the light rail can do a lot to help.

Police officers on a Gold Coast tram. Picture: Regi Varghese.

But perhaps the most insidious, unpleasant – and frankly quite ridiculous – is the suggestion that trams can somehow be responsible for an uplift in crime.

You will see this said, in various forms, on social media quite regularly. Any crimes reported by the Bulletin that happen within a cooey of a light rail stop are vigorously shared by anti-tram campaigners, despite the fact that many appear to just as vigorously long for this newspaper’s demise.

As Division 11 councillor Hermann Vorster noted this week, this fearmongering appears to have had some effect, with the idea that trams equal trouble taking root among quite a number of people.

“Locals worry that the state is transporting public nuisance on public transport, and that could import more crime into southern communities as the light rail snakes south,” Cr Vorster told the Bulletin.

This nonsense needs to be knocked on the head.

For one. It’s not backed by statistics.

If the tram is responsible for delivering offenders, we should see a big increase in crime in areas where it has serviced since the first stage began operating in July 2014.

But that is far from the case.

In the Southport police district, which is bisected by the light rail line, the offence most closely associated with youth crime – ‘unlawful use of motor vehicle’ – has indeed gone up, from 335 cases in 2015 to 433 cases last year (a 29 per cent rise).

But compare that to the Palm Beach district, an area the light rail has yet to reach, where cases have gone from 114 to 203 in the same period – a staggering 78 per cent rise.

Property damage (excluding arson) offences were up four per cent in Southport and 38 per cent in Palm Beach over the same period.

Reported assaults – and these are a shocker no matter what way you look at it – are up by similar percentages in both areas since 2015, rising 234 per cent in Southport and 237 per cent in Palm Beach.

Police arresting teenagers after an incident near the Broadbeach South light rail station.

Am I cherrypicking statistics? Yes, to an extent. The truth is overall crime rates have risen faster in Southport than in Palmy. Sadly, some of the biggest rises are for DVO breaches.

But listed above are the crimes that bring the headlines, the ones that have people fearful of stepping out after dark.

If the light rail was even a small part of the problem, we’d expect to see very different results.

Anyone who truly studies the youth crime issue on the Gold Coast will also have noticed the very many videos shared on social media by the young people involved.

You’ll see a good deal involving kids haring down the M1 at alarming speeds. Are haring around suburban roads in all manner of vehicles.

I’ve yet, however, to see any featuring a tram. The light rail is many things, but ‘fast and furious’ is certainly not one of them. Cheery yellow carriages tootling along at 20km/h and emitting the occasional ding ding sound don’t make for much of a gangster look.

Also, it’s well known the reason Palm Beach has been badly affected in the youth crime wave is because of its proximity to the M1. So why have I never heard anyone argue the current expensive upgrade to the southern end of the motorway should not be going ahead?

G:link customer service staff at a Gold Coast light rail station.

In reality, for anyone using public transport, the well-lit, CCTV-ridden trams and tram stops feel a lot safer than buses after dark.

As a father of children on the cusp of adulthood, I’m a hundred more times comfortable with them riding the tram than a bus.

And I’ve also met many retirees who are happy to take the tram to a restaurant or show but would never get on a bus.

Their custom also helps businesses by the way, while choosing public transport helps keep more cars off the road and out of parking spots.

By all means, let’s have a debate about how best we build up our public transport system in this city.

There are some sensible people who hold very valid concerns and they need to be heard.

But it often feels like they’re getting drowned out by the din of angry and exaggerated claims.

Claims that make for quite the list.

Follow @keithjwoods