Think Tank: KDR managing director Loretta Lynch

Keolis Downer Rail managing director Loretta Lynch believes the Gold Coast has a great opportunity to be a cycling-centric city.

KDR Managing Director Loretta Lynch. Photo: Steve Holland

A CAREER that began in accounting has taken Loretta Lynch to roles in Argentina, South Africa and throughout Australia, with a focus on mining and infrastructure. Ms Lynch has worked with Mount Isa Mines, Macarthur Coal and Downer Mining — and it was through Downer Ms Lynch was brought into the Gold Coast light rail, via the company’s partnership with Keolis. That partnership, Keolis Downer Rail, forms part of the government-contracted GoldlinQ consortium and is responsible for operating and maintaining the Gold Coast tram system. “I think it’s really easy to get passionate about public transport because of the benefit it brings to society. You can really get on with that mission and take it up internally, thinking that you’re contributing each day to moving people to where they’re working and going for recreation. It’s a great job when you can help people.”

What do you love about the Gold Coast?

“I love being able to live and work in a place people dream of coming for their holidays.

“I can get up in the morning, have a swim, catch the tram to work and go home in the afternoons and do the same thing if I want, it’s just a gorgeous place to live.

“It also is a really good place to go out. You can go to the Carols, Seafire — the events at the beach are fun.

“I love the new little communities that pop up, you can explore them and each time there’s something different.

“Burleigh and Miami are great and Southport is renewing too.”

KDR Managing Director Loretta Lynch. Photo: Steve Holland

What do you think could be done better on the Gold Coast?

“We’ve got to be more available to tourists at the hours they are out.

“There’s a real opportunity for us, when the Commonwealth Games come, we’ll need to be 24-7, it will be a party town that whole time.

“That could be a really good legacy for us — sorting out how we’re going to deliver to tourists that all-hours activity.

“We need to encourage the family-friendly style of activities past 8pm, like NightQuarter and Miami Marketta.”

In your travels, what have you seen being done elsewhere you think could work well here?

“Autonomous vehicles, delivering people around areas where you need to get mobile transport quickly and flexibly.

“You could use that to link to the tram or the train and then get people to travel to places where, for example, there may not be parking.

“Then you could leave the space open for public space — that would be really great fun and help open new areas as we grow — we could encourage more development in new areas if we flexibly moved them.

“Something else I’ve seen that I’d like to see here are end-of-trip cycling facilities.

“If you can imagine riding your bike to the train going north, all dressed and ready, then come back and hop back into your cycling clothes and come home — it would be a beautiful way to commute.

“It works well overseas in different cities. We can’t take bikes on the train in peak hour so it just makes sense to encourage people to move between all of them.

“The council’s doing a brilliant job of encouraging active travel but we haven’t made it that far yet.”

If money, time, laws and approvals were no issue, what is one big project you’d undertake tomorrow?

“We are so flat along our coastline, if we could build cycling infrastructure there, and even a bike-hire scheme — imagine if tourists could explore the coast via bike, riding down with the beach on one side and hopping into those little villages.

“It would be gorgeous, a beautiful spot for people to do that.

“A bike hire scheme integrated with transport would be needed to do that.

“Although the council is doing great work with bike racks and infrastructure, where do they get the bikes?

“We’d need a lot of them. If we could get over the helmet issue — and I saw something the other day with disposable cardboard helmets — how great would it be?”

What conversations should Gold Coast movers and shakers be having?

“Focusing on getting the right people involved in conversations to discuss what the Coast is going to look like in 20 and 50 years.

“The opportunities are endless but we need to understand what the community wants and how we can support business.

“The Gold Coast has a really high percentage of entrepreneurs versus other towns, because it’s such a great place to live — they can choose wherever they want to be in the world.

“If we can encourage young professionals and young entrepreneurs to be here and bring business to the Coast, it would be lovely to hear from them and what they think is needed to give us that outcome in 20 and 50 years to bring more jobs to the Coast.”