Bus Pull-In Lanes, Waterworks Road
The following is a letter from The Gap Community Association Inc., (GCA) to Councillor Victoria Newton of Brisbane City Council (BCC):
The GCA represents residents in the suburb of The Gap, one of the largest suburbs in Brisbane with over 16,000 people residing in the suburb, according to the BCC website.
Our members are seriously concerned about a number of issues regarding bus travel to and from The Gap that involve your area of responsibility within the BCC.
The only direct transport access route between The Gap and The Brisbane CBD is via Waterworks Road which, during peak hours, is becoming more and more grid-locked, particularly inbound during the morning peak, Monday to Friday.
The major factor contributing to this congestion, apart from the sheer volume of traffic, is the combination of the T2 Transit Lane and the lack of bus pull-in lanes from the T2 lane.
The result is that a significant percentage of traffic is required to travel in the centre (non-T2) lane due to the T2 restrictions applying in the curbside lane, whilst the T2 lane is continually stop/start due to the limited number of bus pull-in lanes available.
This encourages vehicles in the T2 lane to change lanes when stuck behind stopped buses with safety being seriously compromised as a consequence and the journeys of vehicles in the T2 lane being only as fast as the slowest bus.
We read and hear regularly of the improvements that the BCC is introducing for bus services and busways in Brisbane and we applaud this initiative by Council.
We also note that the Lord Mayor’s recent budget provides $177 million for new buses and bus route improvements.
Alas, attempts by residents of The Gap to share in some of the BCC’s bus budget allocation and improvements seems to be continually ignored and since the Waterworks Rd upgrade several years ago, The Gap residents have had to suffer a seriously compromised bus service between The Gap and the CBD.
As you know we have raised this issue with the Brisbane City Council previously, however, despite advice that the matter was “being looked into
“, we have seen absolutely no signs of any action.
In an attempt to assist, rather than just criticise, the GCA has identified a number of bus stops between Settlement Road, The Gap and the Normanby Five Ways that appear, in our view, to be immediately capable of transformation to incorporate pull-in lanes.
Some of these changes may involve the bus stop being moved a few hundred meters in either direction, but in all cases it does not appear that private property acquisitions would be necessary.
The bus stops in question are as follows:
- Inbound: bus stop numbers 31, 30, 27/28, 25, 20, 11, 7, 5a and 4
- Outbound: bus stop numbers 5a, 6, 10/11, 13, 26 and 33
The GCA is pragmatic enough to realise that not all bus stops can be indented overnight, however, with the obvious commitment of the BCC to making bus travel our favoured means of public transport in Brisbane, and no rail service available between The Gap and the CBD, why can’t a program to build pull-in lanes into the bus stops referred to above be implemented immediately?
I am not sure if you are aware that in February this year, a fully laden water truck traveling outbound along Waterworks Road at 8:30 a.m. was unable to stop in time at non-indented bus stop No.10/11 and ploughed into the back of a bus at that bus stop (see photograph below). The bus was full of school children, with six injured, including one who required hospitalisation.
Had this bus stop been indented, and you will see from the photo that there appears to be ample room to do so, this unfortunate accident may not have occurred.
On behalf of the residents of The Gap, the GCA requests your urgent advice as to when we may expect some improvement to peak hour traffic flows on Waterworks Road by increasing the number of indented bus stops.
The traffic congestion on Waterworks Road will only get worse as a result of Council’s intention to divert more & more cars onto Waterworks Road from/to the south-west suburbs via an upgraded Gap Creek/Dillon Road to the west of Mt. Cootha.
September 4th, 2007 at 4:02 am
Is is amazing that Waterworks was upgraded without more stopping bays for buses.
It is only a matter of time before there is a fatality as a result of the misfeasance on the part of the relevant government department.
May 17th, 2008 at 1:38 am
What I find amazing is that Waterwoks Road was upgraded without any bike lanes. Every weekend Waterworks (both in and out bound) is covered in bicycle riders either going up the mountain or to the city.
Nearly everyone I know complains about bicycles on the road and every day people get more and more frustrated by them. The lack of bike lanes is extremely dangerous. It won’t be long before there is an accident regarding bicycles either.