Ann Wason Moore: Why the Gold Coast needs the light rail and bus system
With all the furore over the light rail, it seems we might have missed the bus. While public sentiment is focused on an either/or option over rail versus road, the true solution to our traffic congestion lies with both, writes Ann Wason Moore.
Gold Coast
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WITH all the furore over the light rail, it seems we might have missed the bus.
While public sentiment is focused on an either/or option over rail versus road, the true solution to our traffic congestion lies with both.
Developing a light rail route alone is not enough to create a true city-wide transportation network – although certainly it is the most vital piece of infrastructure – and we can already see that our bus network is not succeeding in alleviating congestion.
But as a city we have been obsessive about our rail links: we’ve been tracking the tracks, assessing the stops and raging over the routes.
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It’s time to divert our one-track mind train preoccupation and consider the network as a whole. Of course it’s well worth discussing and debating the development of the light rail, but let’s not forget the buses either.
We need a first-class light rail AND bus system if we are to lead this city out of gridlock hell.
And Lord knows our bus system needs some divine intervention.
Just because we already have bus routes, bus schedules and buses themselves, doesn’t mean they can’t use some work.
While it’s true that patrons will almost always prefer trains to buses (research from around the world confirms this), the fact is that we will always need a reliable bus service.
The light rail route is there to service the most in-demand area of our city: the coastline. But the buses are there to get us everywhere in between – from east to west, from bus stop to rail station.
The truth is that traffic has become so bad on the Gold Coast Highway that it almost doesn’t make sense to use it as a route for a private vehicle, particularly if you’re travelling through Surfers Paradise. And while the light rail is heavily patronised, it doesn’t yet connect the full length of our coastline … why then are our highway buses so empty?
Because you need a PhD to understand their schedule.
Last week our family attended the Gold Coast Beach Parade to raise money for the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital, which was held at Burleigh Heads.
We knew it was pointless to drive our cars, parking is impossible at the most popular beach in the city. And let’s face it, unless we build a 10-level parking garage on James St, there is simply no solution to that.
Instead, the only option is to use some form of group transportation. And so we called an Uber.
While I bemoaned the lack of light rail at the time, I realised in retrospect that I could have just caught a bus.
Indeed, there is a bus stop just a few hundred metres from our house, so why didn’t I use it?
Quite frankly, I just didn’t have the confidence that it would take us to the event on time – nor did I have the time to figure out which route to use.
It wouldn’t take much to revolutionise our bus systems. We just need some funky transit maps and LED display boards.
By all means, keep the three pages of schedule times posted at our bus stops, but give the masses something they can more easily understand – and something for which they don’t need their grandma’s reading glasses.
Surfside already has a stylised transit map of our bus network, but I’ve yet to see it displayed at any bus stops in my neighbourhood.
Even at a glance, this map is far easier to understand than the reams of tiny writing posted at every stop.
Instead of maps, there’s advertising for the TransLink app that can give real-time information on bus services … which is a great idea, except using it requires another PhD.
Until we make it as easy as possible to take a bus, we’ll take our car – traffic be damned.
And what could be easier than an LED display board with real-time updates? Just like the electronic displays used at London bus stops, it could let customers know which bus is next, along with its ETA.
No apps, phones or data required … just easy information.
Another area of improvement to investigate is the buses themselves. While it’s fantastic that electric buses will soon be rolling across the Coast, let’s think about the design and appeal of these vehicles as well.
Just as London has it’s famous red double-deckers, we should consider making our own fleet as iconic as this city. Let’s pimp our buses – we could inject more colour, we could even consider an open-air second level on our most scenic routes so locals and tourists alike can consider public transportation more than just a way of travelling from A to B but a true joy ride.
Let’s make buses simple, efficient and fun. If we pull out all the stops, we’ll have passengers lining up at all the stops.
But let’s remember that even with all of these (or other) improvements, buses are no replacement for light rail – and vice versa.
Each is a complementary form of transportation rather than an alternative to the other, and together they create what we truly need … an integrated network of city-wide public transportation.
Let’s get on board.
Why Gold Coasters are ready to knock down Miami Motel
April 24, 2021
FOR all the anti-development sentiment in our southern suburbs, there’s a historic site for sale that has locals begging for a knockdown/rebuild.
While many bemoan the loss of our kitschy motel culture – think Pink Poodle and the El Dorado – when it comes to the Miami Motel, it seems residents have their hammers ready.
Look, there are plenty of examples where this city has allowed developers to pave paradise, but we should also acknowledge that, sometimes, these developers also manage to save paradise.
And this could well be one of those opportunities.
Residents on social media say this blue-chip location squatting on the corner of the Gold Coast Highway and Riviera Road in Miami has become a black mark on the suburb.
With cheap rates, this accommodation house has attracted a long-term clientele at odds with their up-market neighbours.
But now it’s for sale – at just a shade under $2 million. While the selling agent admits presentation of the property can be a challenge, he says the potential is huge.
With a low-medium height density, the 10-unit motel could be redeveloped to offer commercial space below and apartments above.
Although, according to one resident’s reaction on the Miami Residents Group page, expectations are not that high: “Let’s hope the new owners burn it to the ground.”
More common, however, was the sentiment that even a “can of sardines high-rise” would be preferable to the current building.
But how long will that attitude last?
It’s interesting to watch this situation – and suburb – develop. Literally. Because for those who have been here for a decade or more, this is a similar narrative to that of Palm Beach.
That suburb was once considered a social scourge with its needle exchange and welfare offices before the grip of gentrification took hold. But now that the township is tidy and pricey, it’s the developers who have become public enemy number one.
Never mind the fact that they were the ones who helped transform the streets from scary to safe.
While I readily acknowledge that overdevelopment is not a positive for Palm Beach, not all development is negative either.
Meanwhile, Miami is a suburb still caught between two demographics. While single dwellings are fetching exorbitant prices from buyers with a keen eye on location and potential, the old motels and medium-density apartments scattered along the Gold Coast Hwy have become a haven for anti-social behaviour.
While residents may say they prefer new development to old ills, the legacy of Palm Beach proves that history is soon forgotten. No one bemoans the loss of the needle exchange, just the “charm” and “character” of days gone by.
But there is another problem at play here.
What happens to our Miami motel dwellers?
As they are chased out of yet another suburb, where do they go from here?
Most Gold Coast residents would say they support affordable housing … they just don’t want it in their neighbourhood.
And the fact is that we can’t keep lumping specific socio-economic groups together. Whether a “millionaire’s row” or a ghetto, neither is beneficial for a community.
In fact, research shows that a city benefits most when the rich and poor literally live side-by-side.
“An increasing amount of data shows that location matters just as much as income in determining a child’s likelihood of escaping poverty. Children from low-income families who move to more affluent suburbs are more likely to graduate from high school, attend college, and have jobs than their peers who stayed in the city,” according to an article in The Atlantic.
We need to secure individual properties, not entire buildings or even suburbs, if we are to find a palatable solution to our affordable housing problem. This current situation of “us” and “them” can’t continue.
Low-income housing as offered by the likes of highway motels past their prime are not working – not for their neighbourhoods and not for the residents.
It’s time to develop a new solution.
WHY IS SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR SUCH AN INSULT?
It’s the three-letter acronym that may as well be a four-letter word.
SJW. Social Justice Warrior.
It’s the ‘insult’ hurled at anyone who promotes socially progressive views - including feminism, civil rights, gay and transgender rights, and multiculturalism.
To which I wonder, isn’t it more of an insult to NOT be called an SJW?
Why wouldn’t you want social justice? Especially given its opposite is literally a neo-Nazi.
So go ahead and call me an SJW, I’ll wear that badge with pride. Besides, I’m used to copping criticism, it’s kind of my job - and I love that. But I hate that others will hesitate from jumping on the SJW bandwagon because it’s been deemed deplorable.
It’s tragic because God knows right now we need all the warriors we can get - whether that’s in the fight against domestic violence, the fight for better support for our veterans or the fight for better living standards for our elderly in aged care.
See, to support these women, these veterans, these senior citizens, you have to support social justice.
You have to want for these people to be able to access support and you have to be prepared to fight for it. And sometimes that means putting our money where our heart is.
And Gold Coast, looking at those donations flowing to the family of Kelly Wilkinson, I believe our heart is in the right place.
Seeking $50,000 to help the three children of the 27-year-old Arundel mother, whose estranged partner has been charged with murder, the Go Fund Me appeal has soared into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
We want to help, we want to fight … but we can’t be afraid to say so out loud. There is no shame in seeking social justice.
Of course, we need our politicians to affect real change to laws and legislation, but we are kidding ourselves if we think there is nothing we can do.
It’s not just a matter of donating money or applying pressure to our representatives. We need to call on our own friends and family to make an attitude adjustment.
You can scoff all you like at the term of ‘toxic masculinity’ - a label no doubt coined by the SJW crowd - but there is simply no denying that the vast majority of domestic violence cases are perpetrated by men with women as the victims.
Further, 97 per cent of reported cases of sexual violence are perpetrated by men. Something is clearly going wrong.
And please don’t hit me with the ‘not all men’ line. In the words of my daughter: no-duh.
Of course, it’s not all men … no one ever said it was. Besides, according to that line of reasoning, we should stop promoting cancer fundraisers because ‘all lives matter’.
The truth is that social justice is not about belittling one group at the expense of another, it’s about raising the profile of our most at-risk groups.
And right now, that means women.
Alan Jones wrote this week that it’s ‘tough times for men’ and that many parents are openly worrying about their sons in today’s environment … to which I say, if you’re worried, then maybe you should be.
Personally, I have no qualms at all about my son’s future endeavours in the dating world. He knows about consent, he knows about respect.
But I worry plenty about my daughter.
I have yet to see one single mother in my wide circle of friends experience a false (or true, for that matter) accusation against her son … but I can already count the handful of daughters who have been victimised, harassed or assaulted.
Let’s be clear, women and girls are far more likely to stay silent about a real assault than to falsely accuse anyone.
In fact, almost 90 per cent of sexual assault survivors will never go to the police, while just five per cent of all reported sexual assaults are considered false accusations.
And let’s define just what ‘false accusation’ means.
University of Melbourne criminologist Dr Bianca Fileborn says reports can be labelled false when there’s not enough evidence to support the report, or when police have decided the person isn’t credible (which is problematic in itself), or if a report has been made on behalf of a victim - and then the victim doesn't want to pursue it in the criminal justice system.
Research shows this rarely come from a place of malice, but from fear or a need for assistance.
So if that whisper of accusation is directed towards your son, it might be time for some soul-searching.
Ultimately it all comes down to listening to women - and yes, that means all women. Encourage your friends, encourage your family, from parents to police, it’s time to listen and act.
Maybe the terminology of ‘SJW’ doesn’t matter, but the meaning sure does.
Because if you have a problem fighting for social justice on behalf of your wife, your mother, your daughter or yourself … then you have a problem.
Originally published as Ann Wason Moore: Why the Gold Coast needs the light rail and bus system
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