OPINION: I used the Gold Coast light rail for two weeks. Here’s what I learnt

It’s been described as an outdated nineteenth century system that carries some very 21st century troublemakers easier than it transports luggage. I tried using the trams for two weeks. This is what I found out.

This column has lately faced a transport challenge.

After many years of faithful service, my trusty old Ford spluttered its last.

Thanks in part to an interminable spate of public holidays, arranging its replacement has taken longer than hoped.

In the meantime, there has been much making off with my wife’s vehicle, grabbing lifts and – on quite a few occasions, resorting to taking the light rail from Helensvale to the Bulletin’s well-appointed Southport headquarters.

So what have I learnt in a fortnight of tram journeys?

Although far from my first sojourn on the system, in light of the raging recent debate about stage four’s extension to the border via Gold Coast Airport and the many comments made by those for and against, it was a useful opportunity to take another look.

It is my deep suspicion many of those commenting most strongly – on both sides of the debate – have never had the pleasure of using the great yellow beasts in any serious way.

Here’s what I concluded in relation to some of the claims made.

LUGGAGE IS NOT AN ISSUE

Taking typical luggage on and off trams is a breeze.

Many correspondents to this newspaper, with an eye to the debate about light rail being a suitable mode of transport from Gold Coast Airport, have suggested that its carriages, as constituted, would be unsuitable for luggage.

What absolute hogwash.

On Monday night your columnist observed a gentleman on board with two large suitcases.

They were of the kind most commonly seen these days at airports – with hard shells and wheels.

He sat comfortably for the whole journey with the suitcases in ample space in front of his seat and, on arrival at Helensvale, effortlessly glided off the carriage and onto the platform.

THEY’RE A BIT SLOW

You may need a book for long journeys.

High speed rail this is not.

In public transport terms, the trams are a very efficient way to get around due to their reliability and regular schedule. During the day, they go every seven and a half minutes, like clockwork. If necessary the frequency can increase to every three minutes. You won’t get that with any bus system, not even in Germany.

But once on board, they trundle along at a sedate pace.

Your columnist has a bit of a walk to the nearest tram stop to Bulletin HQ. On two occasions, the ride home appeared on the roadway, quite some distance from the stop.

It was necessary only to break out into a gentle jog (actual running being well beyond my capabilities) to comfortably reach the station at the same time as the carriages.

There has been some murmuring about the length of time it would actually take to travel to the airport by tram from its starting point at Helensvale should stage four go ahead as planned.

In such an event, this columnist recommends bringing a good book. You may finish it.

THEY SOMETIMES STOP SHORT

The Gold Coast University Hospital stop is still the final destination for some services. Picture: Jerad Williams.

You may wonder why your columnist was bothered even breaking out into that gentle jog, given the aforementioned reliability, and seven and a half minute intervals between services.

The answer is simple. Inexplicably, some evening services still conclude their journey three stops short at Gold Coast University Hospital.

Why spend all that money building stage two to meet the heavy rail if some services are still going to terminate where stage one finished?

It’s hardly a numbers issue – invariably, the tram that follows and is indeed continuing to Helensvale is standing room only.

If the line is indeed to continue to Coolangatta, at what may be quite an extreme cost to the taxpayer, can we at least be assured that unlike to Helensvale, the line will be fully used?

THEY ARE CLEAN, COMFORTABLE AND SAFE

Clean as always.

To listen to some commentators, one would assume our tram system is purpose-built to deliver hordes of teenage criminals, assorted drug addicts and other undesirables unto the innocent burghers of Gold Coast suburbs.

In this column’s many trips on the trams over the last two weeks, zero evidence of such persons was evident.

Journeys were calm and uneventful and the carriages and stations well lit and spotlessly clean.

G:Link staff were also on board on quite a number of occasions – especially in the evenings.

Given the cancer of road rage currently affecting this city, it felt safer than mixing it with the punters on our roads.

THEY ARE MODERN AND NOT AT ALL UGLY

A cable tramcar in Melbourne back in the day. We’ve come a long way.

Another frequent refrain from the tram-phobic community is to question why we might invest in what is characterised as a nineteenth century technology.

There is also the suggestion that its associated electrical wiring and supporting poles somehow despoils otherwise grand boulevards.

But the trams in use on the Gold Coast are nothing like their Victorian-era counterparts. No rattly cabins or wooden seats here. And I’m quite sure there was no comfortable airconditioning on board in that era.

As for the idea that their visage is an affront to sensitive eyes that forever ruins the areas it passes through?

Let’s put it this way. The Gold Coast Highway through Palm Beach is no Champs-Élysées.

Give me a break.

THEY ARE NOT JUST USED BY TOURISTS

Not a tourist in sight.

Ah, the “tourist tram” jibe, with its implication that the needs of locals are not considered.

First of all, why is it a bad thing if this system is popular with tourists? We are, are we not, a town dependent upon their dollars.

But more than that, the suggestion the tram is largely only used by visitors to the Gold Coast is simply not true.

Granted, my commute passed two of this city’s great institutions – Gold Coast University Hospital and Griffith University. A daily trip through Surfers may be somewhat different.

But unquestionably, the vast majority on board were locals.

IN CONCLUSION

How trams will look when they reach Burleigh Heads. Picture: Supplied.

There is an intelligent debate to be had about the stage four extension.

The projected cost, for example, is obviously quite the issue, well justifying the state government’s pause for thought.

One may well make the case that having heavy rail stop at Varsity Lakes is just as troubling as having trams end at Burleigh. Though in this column’s humble opinion, as this city rapidly grows, it should not in the long term be an “either or” question.

And it’s reasonable to be nervous about the prospect of any new infrastructure traversing the wildlife haven of Burleigh Hill.

But much of the current hullabaloo, well, it’s debate alright, but the intelligence factor is sometimes missing.

As my simple spell of tram testing easily confirmed.

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