Re: Re: The Gold Coast light rail project shows that new transport links are worth it | CityMetric
  Prescott

Most Perth stations are unstaffed, but the busier ones have a customer
service/security person. I've found them very friendly and helpful. You can
also buy all-mode cash tickets with time in them (2 to 3 hours) from bus
drivers. Or just get a Smartrider card (free) from any outlet like a
newsagent, top it up with credit, depending on how long your visit or keep
it for future visits too.

Tony P

On Friday, 25 May 2018 23:02:01 UTC+10, Geoffrey Hansen wrote:
>

> I actually had trouble with the ticket machines when I visited Perth. I

> wish I had someone to help me then.

>

> I noticed that the Perth railway stations seemed to have transit officers

> rather than station staff and guards. To me this gave a bit of a "Police

> State" feel about the Perth rail system.

>

> Maybe the Customer Assistants setup on Gold Coast might seem friendlier.

>

> Regards

> Geoffrey

>

>

> From: 'Richard Youl' via TramsDownUnder

> Sent: Friday, 25 May, 12:59 PM

> Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Re: The Gold Coast light rail project shows

> that new transport links are worth it | CityMetric

> To:tramsdo...@... <javascript:>

>

>

> They have GoldlinQ uniforms so I suppose they are paid by the operator,

> but who knows what is in the contract?

>

> People with luggage not familiar with public transport use are likely to

> give up puzzling over ticket machines and call for Uber. I see these people

> as good PR on a line which has a high percentage of tourists riding after

> the morning ‘peak’.

>

> But as I said earlier, I’ll have to look to see if they are still around

> when special events are not on. Some were hired for just the first 6 months

> after opening 4 years ago.

>

> And during the Commonwealth games very many extras were employed but not

> for ticket checking or assistance.

>

> Regards,

>

>

> On 25 May 2018, at 10:48, Prescott lenkap...@... <javascript:>>

> wrote:

>

> I wonder if these customer service people are provided by the operator or

> Translink? It seems to be a feature of new tram services being overwhelmed

> here as there are regularly such people assisting with the crowds on IWLR

> at Central. Again I'm not sure if these are funded by the operator or

> TfNSW. They shouldn't be necessary and I suspect often over-nanny and

> prevent people catching the service.

>

> Tony P

>

> On Friday, 25 May 2018 10:34:50 UTC+10, Richard Youl wrote:

>

> It’s run by Keolis and friends. Who knows what profit margin they have

> written into the contract?

>

> I don’t criticise this point, but at times they have had a number of

> customer assistant people at some of the trams stops. I’ll have to look out

> and see if they are still around. They mostly help visitors coping with the

> ticket vending machines which have quite a few options for purchasing and

> topping up gocards and thus can be quite confusing to people not used to

> public transport.

>

> If anyone is at a loose end, just go to Broadbeach South terminus and help

> the visitors with their ticket purchases for a few hours. I have helped the

> occasional visitor there.

>

> Regards,

>

> On 25 May 2018, at 9:57 am, Prescott lenkap...@...> wrote:

>

> I don't think it should be tampered with either. I'm just wondering why it

> costs so much to run! Cutting out trips wouldn't save much, as you still

> have most of the trams and drivers out on roster anyway.

>

> Tony P

>

> On Friday, 25 May 2018 09:20:38 UTC+10, Richard Youl wrote:

>

> Let the bean counters get at it and they will make plenty of ‘savings’.

>

> Every second tram to Helensvale does not meet any train so a 15 minute

> headway beyond the hospital would suffice.

>

> In fact a 15 minute headway all day could probably cope easily with the

> loadings.

>

> GoldLink has their own ticket checkers but they could just let Queensland

> transport do all ticket checking.

>

> Trams run half hourly overnight Friday and Saturday instead of buses but

> does anybody pay?

>

> But of course all of those cuts would encounter customer resistance and

> sure to result in lost passengers.

>

> As it stands, it is a turn up and go service with many bus routes

> connecting here and there along the way. There is no need to make buses

> connect with trams at particular times as with erratic bus running times

> every bus will meet up with a tram within minutes.

>

> Personally, I think the service is great as it is and should not be

> tampered with. I sometimes wonder how many visitors to the region no longer

> bother hiring a car and use the tram instead. Maybe some day visitors from

> Brisbane will now choose the train and tram rather than fight the M1 which

> seems to have traffic collisions with monotonous regularity, weekends too..

>

>

> Regards,

>

> On 25 May 2018, at 8:31 am, Prescott lenkap...@...> wrote:

>

> If $5 per passenger per year is the operating subsidy, it still has a way

> to go with patronage before the cost-benefit kicks in. The Gong Shuttle is

> costing $1 per passenger per year and the NSW government (the one that's

> blown $1 billion extra on CSELR) is complaining that it's costing too much!

> May GCLR continue to be blessed with sympathetic governments with a little

> bit of a financial blind eye. I really thought operating costs for an

> electric transit system would be a lot lower than that too. What on earth

> are they spending the money on?

>

> Tony P

>

> On Friday, 25 May 2018 08:05:59 UTC+10, Richard Youl wrote:

>

>

> https

> https://www.citymetric.com/transport/gold-coast-light-rail-project-shows-new-transport-links-are-worth-it-3091

> ://

> https://www.citymetric.com/transport/gold-coast-light-rail-project-shows-new-transport-links-are-worth-it-3091

> www.citymetric.com

> https://www.citymetric.com/transport/gold-coast-light-rail-project-shows-new-transport-links-are-worth-it-3091

> /transport/

> https://www.citymetric.com/transport/gold-coast-light-rail-project-shows-new-transport-links-are-worth-it-3091

> gold-coast-light-rail-project-shows-new-transport-links-are-worth-it-3091

> https://www.citymetric.com/transport/gold-coast-light-rail-project-shows-new-transport-links-are-worth-it-3091

>

> *The Gold Coast light rail project shows that new transport links are

> worth it | **CityMetric*

> Gold Coast’s light rail scheme has attracted great interest since the

> streets of Surfers Paradise were torn up and stations and track were built.

> Was it worth spending A$1.5bn

> http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-13/gold-coast-light-rail-stage-three-state-and-federal-questions/7411588

> on 13km

> http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-13/gold-coast-light-rail-stage-three-state-and-federal-questions/7411588

> of light rail and more than A$40m a year in subsidies? Are we right to be

> spending another A$420m on an extension

> http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/gold-coast/the-first-sod-has-been-turned-on-420-million-light-rail-stage-2-as-tate-plans-stage-3/news-story/2520cd82de301a34498552b6a6e7dde5

> to Helensvale in time for the Commonwealth Games? Should we be taking it

> all the way down to Gold Coast Airport?

> Another question is whether gains in property values served by the project

> could be “captured

> https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-value-capture-and-what-does-it-mean-for-cities-58776

> to fund such infrastructure. Previous studies of property values in areas

> serviced by the light rail showed only modest gains after it opened. Our

> research

> http://sydney.edu.au/business/research/grants/funding_on_the_line cast

> a wider net back to when we first started planning the system in 1996

> through to the latest data we could get in 2016.

> The results were intriguing. We found that prices in the catchment areas

> started to increase in the earliest planning phases. The effects of the

> light rail were to push up property values within 800 metres of the

> stations by more than 30 per cent in total from 1996 to 2016.

> This is well above most previous estimates of a light rail system’s

> effects. This is mainly because we looked earlier for the property value

> gains and used a carefully designed control to make the comparison.

> *Impact after opening seemed modest*

> These findings cast a different light on the apparently modest impact of

> the light rail after it opened.

> When the first stage from Broadbeach to our university at Parkwood opened

> it was well received. But the behaviour change we all hoped for was rather

> modest at first: after opening in 2014, patronage did not surge compared to

> bus ridership on the route in earlier years.

> New passengers got on board, but it was an uphill climb for the new

> system. Fare increases of almost 50 per cent

> http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/translink-fare-hike-to-make-brisbane-australias-most-expensive-20140103-30910.html from

> 2010 to 2014 pushed passengers off public transport across southeast

> Queensland, especially on rail. Not all passengers enjoyed improved service

> for their particular journeys, either. Those who used to travel through the

> corridor in a bus now had to break their journey at the light rail terminus

> and transfer, adding travel time and annoyance.

> In the second year of operation, however, patronage jumped 16 per cent

> http://www.goldlinq.com.au/news-and-media/g-that-s-successful and our

> contacts suggest third-year patronage is tracking well. Subsidies per

> passenger are falling. The decision to add the connection to Helensvale

> looks a sound one.

> But, seemingly, other changes everyone expected weren’t there. The Bureau

> of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics analysed property

> values in the corridor from 2000 to 2013

> https://bitre.gov.au/publications/2015/files/is_069.pdf using a coarse

> geography and didn’t find much evidence of any uplift. This gave many cause

> for concern.

> Reassuringly, Cameron Murray used valuation data for a similar period

> https://theconversation.com/gold-coast-light-rail-study-helps-put-a-figure-on-value-captures-funding-potential-65084

> using a different geographical scale and found a 10 per cent increase for

> properties within 400 metres of the new stations. But there was still

> uncertainty.

> Our new research backs up and expands on Murray’s findings, suggesting

> there was substantial positive impact.

> *The Gold Coast light rail under construction at Surfers Paradise in 2013..

> Image: author provided.*

> *What did our research look at?*

> Our research team in the Funding on the Line

> http://sydney.edu.au/business/research/grants/funding_on_the_line

> Australian Research Council Linkage Project took a different approach. In a

> peer-reviewed paper, which will shortly be presented at the World Symposium

> on Transport and Land Use Research, led by Barbara Yen, we used sales data

> for residential properties along the corridor. Our study compared areas

> within 800 metres of the stations with a control area containing locations

> a little further away but still in the same vicinity.

> We used a longitudinal methodology to see when the value uplift occurred

> from back in 1996, when planning of the system first started, through to

> the latest 2016 data. Property prices in the catchment areas started to

> increase very early in the planning phase. The property value uplift was

> highest in the locations between 100 and 400 metres from the stations.

> Values went up 11.9 per cent in these locations compared to our control

> areas between 1996 and the feasibility study’s announcement in 2002. They

> increased a further 26.3 per cent from 2002 to 2006 over the control areas

> when the feasibility study was completed. Prices rose only 2.3 per

> cent from 2006 to 2011 when the formal funding commitment was made and

> construction began, and then by another 5.4 per cent after the line opened

> to the end of the study period in 2016.

> *Timeline of the planning and development of Gold Coast Light Rail Stage

> 1. Image: author provided.*

> The areas less than 100 metres from the stations, and between 400 and 800

> metres also recorded strong increases compared to the control areas, though

> not quite as much.

> This is to be expected. Sites closest to the stations received some

> nuisance from the light rail and road corridor; sites further away obtain

> fewer advantages in travel time savings for passengers.

> *What are the funding implications?*

> The property value gains attributable to the project from 1996 to 2016 of

> more than 30 per cent are very significant. Yet it’s pretty much only the

> landowners who benefit.

> The City of Gold Coast recoups some of its A$120m investment

> http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/rapid-transit-6004.html in the light

> rail through its rates and its public transport levy on urban residents.

> The Queensland government may end up getting a little slice via stamp duty

> as properties are sold. The few pieces of government-owned land likely rose

> in value.

> But the state and federal governments generally have no other mechanisms

> to take a small sliver of the increased property value their investment

> generated to help pay for the light rail system or reinvest in public

> transport elsewhere. We’ve written about this previously

> https://theconversation.com/what-brisbanes-ferries-can-teach-us-about-funding-public-transport-30874 and

> suggested ways we could change the system.

> A recent federal parliamentary inquiry

> http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/ITC/TransportConnectivity/Report_1

> and moves to set up “value sharing

> http://www.luticonsulting.com.au/projects/value-sharing-mechanisms-review-nsw/

> units in the Queensland

> http://www.dilgp.qld.gov.au/infrastructure/value-sharing-in-queensland.html

> and New South Wales https://www.greater.sydney/digital-district-plan/679

> governments suggest we are now getting serious about generating alternative

> funding for public transport. Our study’s results only add more support to

> these initiatives. Get it right and we should be able to deliver more

> metros, busways and light rail to serve our growing population and its

> increasingly urban way of life.

> *Matthew Burke* https://theconversation.com/profiles/matthew-burke-1677*

> is associate professor in the Cities Research Institute at **Griffith

> University

> http://theconversation.com/institutions/griffith-university-828*

> *This article was originally published on **The Conversation

> http://theconversation.com**. Read the **original article

> https://theconversation.com/why-gold-coast-light-rail-was-worth-it-its-about-more-than-patronage-78190*

> *.*

>

>

> Richard

>

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