A long time ago, Sydney virtually stopped building public transport infrastructure.
When it resumed, retrofitting the city was painful and expensive, according to Bond University urban planning researcher Daniel O’Hare.
“It’s been so much more expensive because they waited,” Dr O’Hare said.
“And very much more disruptive because the city had to grow up without it and they had to retrofit it.”
The south entrance of Gadigal station on Sydney’s new Metro line was not cheap. (Supplied)
On the Gold Coast, the rapidly growing city realised it too was headed for gridlock, long before construction began on Sydney’s massive underground metro or light rail projects.
“It was identified we would have gridlock unless we developed some kind of rapid transit system,” Dr O’Hare said.
30-year plan
Light rail was chosen shortly after a 1998 transport plan, using population growth and migration patterns, identified problems.
The Gold Coast’s population continues to surge. (Facebook: City of Gold Coast)
The city’s population has since doubled and is expected to surge towards a million people by 2040.
This week the final, fourth stage that would see a light rail line run the full length of the Gold Coast’s coastal strip was scrapped by Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie.
A review found the 13-kilometre line to the airport would cost between $5.7 billion and $9.85 billion.
Mr Blejiie also cited a survey detailing the feelings of nearby residents about the project.
Now, similar to another south-east Queensland rail project, the Gold Coast line is expected to terminate at Burleigh Heads with buses servicing the route south to the city’s international airport.
Changing character
Burleigh Pavilion owner Ben May said he was not surprised by the decision, because it had been foreshadowed for months.
But that does not mean he thinks it is ideal.
“The reality is we’re left with a half-finished transport solution,” Mr May said.
“The fact that it was started without a guarantee that it would be finished is absolutely laughable.”
Ben May has businesses in Queensland and NSW. (ABC Gold Coast: Tara Cassidy)
He said swapping between trams and buses was a turn-off for commuters, and an interchange could transform Burleigh Heads.
“No-one wants to live at the end of the line,” he said.
“As someone from Sydney who knows what that looks like — it’s a really poor result.
“Part of the jewel of Burleigh was that it wasn’t Surfers Paradise.”
‘Views remain mixed’
Cavill Avenue in Surfers Paradise isn’t popular with some Gold Coast residents. (ABC News: Tom Forbes)
For some who live on the Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise is a dirty word.
There are fears of a concrete canyon stretching south, spurred along by the light rail, as one of many reasons some residents are opposed to the project.
Luxury beachfront apartments rise above Palm Beach which had been largely single storey.
Some say the developments follow a decades-long trend.
“We’re seeing development all through the southern Gold Coast. It’s market driven,” said Coolangatta-based councillor Gail O’Neill.
A post card image of Palm Beach and Currumbin circa 1960. (Supplied: John Engelander & Co via the Centre for the Government of Queensland)
Some residents felt they do not have a choice about development, or how transport would work in the area.
A recent government survey report found 60 per cent of those felt like they had not been listened to and were told light rail was “a foregone conclusion”.
The report also found “views on preferred transport modes remain mixed”, while transport demand in the already congested area is expected to increase by 32 per cent by 2041.
The report said the extension of rail was “not an alternative to improving other public transport on the southern Gold Coast”.
Tit-for-tat
These issues featured heavily in recent local, state and federal elections, which Mr May said had impacted local politics in the area.
“[Burleigh MP] Hermann Vorster’s been pretty vocal on it and I guess he’s been elected, he feels, on the back of doing this review and then probably coming to this conclusion,” Mr May said.
Steven Miles and Meghan Scanlon with a sign of Hermann Vorster in Burleigh. (ABC News: Nicholas McElroy)
While it was ultimately a Crisafulli government decision, Queensland opposition leader Steven Miles said the area would become a bus depot and he took aim at Mr Vorster’s involvement.
“Overwhelmingly, across the Gold Coast, this is a very popular project,” Mr Miles said.
“But instead of listening to people, that overwhelming opinion, [the government has] listened to a few. A noisy minority.”
Mr Vorster said designs for the area were now being worked on by the transport department.
He said only the opposition was talking about the area becoming a bus depot.
Laura Gerber, Jarrod Bleijie and Hermann Vorster announced that Stage Four of the light rail would not be going ahead. (ABC News: Mackenzie Colahan)
He said buses servicing the line would layover at a shopping centre several kilometres away before picking up passengers.
“Had light rail Stage Four progressed we still would have had five to seven years of buses connecting to light rail,” Mr Vorster said.
The late change to the project creates a conundrum for the area, said Griffith University transport expert Matthew Burke.
Light Rail Stage Three is currently under construction. The last stretch, Stage Four, could be serviced by buses. (ABC News)
He said planners now needed to create a “seamless” transfer between buses and trams.
“There are ways to do that, including double-deckering [stations], which will cut off the views at that location,” Professor Burke said.
“There are other ways to do it, by taking out road space, footpath space, everything else. There’s going to be challenges there.”
Urban planning researcher Daniel O’Hare. (ABC News: Glenn Mullane)
Whether or not debate is helpful, Dr O’Hare said the latest decision could lead to two agitated communities.
He said politicians and planners could have been less antagonistic and more open as opposition to light rail emerged over the years.
“I really don’t think the Burleigh Heads community will tolerate having a deterioration as a result [of cutting the route short],” Dr O’Hare said.
“So, they will get active too. You’ll have two very active communities … Burleigh Heads and Palm Beach.”
Over time, over budget
The “iron law” of mega projects states that they are often over budget and over schedule.
But the latest price tag led Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate to ask “are the tracks gold-plated?”
The light rail span across Currumbin Creek was expected to be expensive. (Supplied: Queensland government)
While budgets blow out on transport projects in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, Dr O’Hare said similarly priced Gold Coast projects seemed to be less controversial.
He pointed to the 16km Coomera Connector, a road which has doubled in price.
“Nobody questions $3 billion on the current stage,” he said.
He said the next stage of the road would likely exceed the costs of Stage Four of the light rail.
“No one seems to question that,” he said.
Whole city approach
While the Gold Coast developed as a string of interconnected areas, rather than a central hub, Dr O’Hare said thinking of the city and south-east Queensland as a whole could be more helpful.
“I’d like us to put the whole city into context so we can get the various villages … talking, not only among themselves but also to each other,” he said.
60 years effectively rebuilding a ripped up rail line
The government is now working on designs to service the southern Gold Coast with buses, but Dr O’Hare said he hoped the scrapping of the rail project was not permanent.
“I’m hopeful that the current situation is a postponement and a catching of breath [rather] than ‘it’s all over’,” he said.
He said neglecting public transport altogether would be too expensive.
“You lock us into the car-based future forever, which is one where there are never enough lanes, never enough parking spaces,” he said.
“And when you get to where you’re going it’s dominated by parking rather than places.”
