Trams on the Gold Coast

[CoastSportsFan]

CSF, how long have you lived on the Coast? I the reason I ask, is because it'd be interesting to know how long you've seen the place develop. If you've been around long enough you may develop an idea what works and what doesn't. Please don't tell me you're another Melbournite that's been here a couple of years and start proclaiming you know what'll work best for the Coast.

Anyway, the thing with Broadbeach Monorail. It doesn't foul up the roads. Whereas the Light Rail is in direct competition with the already congested streets along the Strip. As Whiz said, great idea just in the wrong place. So once the novelty of the Light Rail wears off, and it starts losing money hand over fist. They will most likely have to rip up in time to get traffic flowing again to the best of it's ability.

Until then, it's going to be another white elephant project that'll cost Ratepayers for many years to come. Because it won't even get close to balancing the books itself.

Born in Southport, lived here 20+ years. Public transport has always been quite poor and we definitely needed something to change. I don't understand how you can say the light rail won't work when it's never been tried before. I hate to keep using AFL analogies because I'm just going to be called an AFL troll but people said the same thing about Carrara Stadium when they were planning to redevelop it. People said it would be a white elephant based on previous attempts. Well, it isn't. It's regularly pulling decent sized crowds and will be the main stadium used for the Comm Games in 2018. I'm not naive enough to say the light rail is definitely going to work but I just think it's way too early to label it a failure.

You say you are born and bred Queenslander, can you please give us a break down of how long you have lived where in Qld? Just to be fair, I am born and bred Gold Coaster, have lived in Sydney and NSW, Melbourne ( and around Victoria) and WA for in excess of 12 months each, but spent my first 17 years on the GC and the past 15 years on the GC. I have been to every Capital city in Australia, a lot of VERY regional places in Australia, I have crossed the Nullabor. I say all this because I have traveled, I have seen ALL the states and Capitals of Australia and lived in 4 states for over a year, so I am not some redneck Qld'er speaking without a view on the World. I have been on the Melbourne tram system, which the roads and traffic have been designed AROUND, and I have traveled on the recently pulled down Sydney monorail, that didn't affect traffic and still they pulled it down because it wasn't worth having.

As I've already stated, born in Southport and lived my whole life here. Been on holidays to all the major cities in Australia with the exception of Perth and Tassie (Launceston and Hobart). Also been to lots of regional areas like Newcastle, Cairns and Townsville. I've seen plenty of this beautiful country we call home.

$1.8BILLION is a waste of money! It's tracks are laid on exisitng roadways. I had no idea it would cost anywhere near that. The only significant cost i expected was for the bridge at Southport. Standard cost? Where do you pull this BS from.

First of all, I can't find anything official that says it actually costed $1.8 billion. The point I was trying to get across was the fact that Sydney's is going to cost $1.6 billion so the costs are pretty similar for around the same distance. Sydney also don't have to build a bridge.

No mate, it means EVERY SINGLE PERSON who doesn't use the tram will now have to use private transport to get into/out of/around these places. Nightmare scenario. And those who do WANT to use the tram now have to find a way to get to a tram station, which means more inconveinience. Tell me who you think is actually going to find using a tram more convinient? Sure, some tourists might find it fun and novel, but please tell us how many local people are going to want to drive to a bus stop, get on a bus to take them to a tram station so they can catch a tram into a place where they previously could just drive to? And how much will all this "convieniance" cost each time you "want" to use it?

I think university students will find the tram convenient. That's nearly 20,000 people right there. Not saying they'll all use it because they won't but that's still a lot of people who could use it. As you've pointed out, tourists will also likely use the system. Like I said in my previous post, students and tourists will be the main people using the trams. I also expect plenty of people that aren't students/tourists will use the system to get from Surfers to Broadbeach on Friday and Saturday nights.

This shows the stupidity of most of your comments. using your logic, because it is too expensive to pull something down that was a waste of money to put up, in your mind it makes it valid.I don't want gridlock in the present or in the future, but we have it now and I can;t see it getting better. As I said, what will happen is once this starts to affect more and more people, the GCCC will "redesign" the roads to try and rectify their lack of planning, which will result in more traffic issues while it is done. The simple fact is, they cannot widen roads around/through Surfers, and every time they add something to the roads, whether cafe strips, garden beds, or tram tracks, it reduces the actual road space, and the first thing to go is parking which means tradies/couriers/suppliers who keep the tourist strip running can't get in/around Surfers.

No no, I didn't say it was a valid reason to keep it. I was trying to say that it may be the reason it is kept if it does end up being a failure. You can't see traffic getting better? Really? There are roadworks everywhere and streets have been shut down but there is no way it is going to get better in your mind? What a ridiculous thing to say.

I see your point about couriers and the like not being able to park in Surfers. Don't really know how you can avoid that though and now I'm starting to think you are using personal reasons as to why the tram shouldn't exist. Fair enough, of course people will fight for what affects them directly but majority of the people living on the Gold Coast don't need to park along Surfers Paradise Boulevard on a daily basis. We do live in a democracy, majority rules and unfortunately you are in the minority in this case.

You are a moron on most matters, and this just adds to the list. I drive in/around there about 4-5 times a day. What about you? When was the last time you HAD to drive into Surfers? And find a park in the middle of Surfers? Not in a carpark, but outside a venue somewhere on a road? When was the last time you tried driving through Southport CBD, with one way streets, no right/left turns, full roads closed, etc, where it used to be 2 ways and you could get to ANYWHERE in Southport in your car?

I drive through Surfers Paradise once every second day. No doubt the roads are an absolute mess right now but once the roadworks are finished the traffic flow will improve. As I said before, I see your point about the parking along Surfers Paradise Boulevard but I'm not sure a lot can be done to change this. I drive through the Southport CBD area every day. Scarborough street is really the only one that has been majorly affected. I know that's one of the main roads in Southport but you can still get around it if you know what you are doing. Again, I think you're taking personal experiences into this and painting a negative picture when a vast majority of people won't be facing the issues you do on a regular basis.

In your feeble mind, where do you think they are magically going to build car parks near the tram stations? I know from most of your posts that you either go and find a lot of "facts" to support an argument, or failing that option you just spout BS that you seem ill-informed about.

Well Pacific Fair is getting a makeover so that's a good start. I don't have facts for this one, it was simply my opinion (and yours?) that they should build more car parks near the tram stops. Whether it's possible is a totally different issue.

As far as how do I know it will be worse? I already do because it already is! I would drive through Surfers (the whole tram network is part of my driving route) at least 10 times a week, weekends included, sometimes spending a whole day in Surfers trying to get from one place to the next. It is currently a nightmare. it won't get better as they start to expand on the tracks with "stations" and now are talking about putting gardens and other "objects" around tracks to stop people walking or driving onto them. All part of the lack of planning that is typical of the GCCC.

Mate, it's bad because it's not finished. I don't have to tell you how bad it was a year and a half ago when even more streets were shut down. You can't honestly tell me it was easier to get to Surfers Paradise Boulevard a year and a half ago than it is now?

As I said, great idea, typically poor planning and project management from the GCCC means we will all suffer for it. The light rail is a good idea, but putting the tracks right through the main road through Surfers (which is only a goat track anyway) was just dumb.

You may well be right. It may be a failure but I still believe it's too early to make that call.

What will happen though, is initially everyone will want to ride it, so it will be hailed a "great success", the councillors will all tell themselves what visionaries they are, then give themselves a payrise, and then the next generation will have to spend another billion fixing the mess. Standard political BS.

Rant over.

For now.

Entirely possible that will happen. Only time will tell. Unless you have a time machine I think your predictions are a bit premature.