The Greens have released a Liberal/Labor "Public Transport Shame File" as part of their campaign to win some wards, and make Jo Bragg Lord Mayor.

Labor/Liberal public transport shame file

• As chair of the Southeast Queensland Council of Mayors, Campbell Newman supported the motion that public transport was not a key political issue for the region, and agreed that the Council of Mayors should no longer pursue public transport as part of their transport campaign (Courier Mail, 05/10/05, p. 3).

• A refusal by Labor and Liberal to make any long-term funding and infrastructure commitment to public transport. Council’s Mass Transit Taskforce report (September 2007) refused to commit to building light rail – instead it proposed just  a few new bus routes for the inner city. References to exploring light rail options were removed from the Climate Change and Energy Taskforce report. Labor and Liberal don’t want to commit to large ongoing funding for public transport.

• Rather than seeking Federal assistance for public transport projects, both Labor and Liberal have pursued +$500 million in funding for the Northern Link Road Tunnel. The Greens will pursue Federal funding for their light rail network

• Public Transport budget has remained at paltry 25-27% of BCC budget despite known massive increases in demand due to predicted population growth

• No net increase in City Cat Fleet between 1999 and 2006 despite known massive increases in demand due to population growth. Teneriffe City Cat proposal languishes since 1997

• In 2007 Mayor Campbell Newman cancels T3 lane on Coronation Drive. Labor party lets him do it. Labor and Liberal abandoned their original commitment for a transit lane on the Storey Bridge (after completion of the North South Bypass Tunnel).  Bipartisan support for the removal of any reference to increasing the amount of bus lanes and cycling lanes in the Climate Change and Energy Taskforce report (refer Council Special Meeting minutes – 30 April 2007).

• Labor and Liberal have failed to understand the scale of the public transport investment needed to reduce traffic. The recent promises about 500 buses by 2012 at best adds 30,000 places to the public transport network. Yet a Council traffic report predicts that in 2012 there will be 4,200,000 car/light vehicles trips each day on Brisbane’s road (Airport Link Environmental Impact Statement: traffic and transport technical report, table 7.1).

• Council is planning for only 11% of all trips in the Brisbane Metropolitan area to be via public transport in 2026 (Source: Airport Link Environmental Impact Statement: traffic and transport technical report 8.109).

• On the 10th of February all Liberal party candidates for the Brisbane Council elections arrived at their campaign launch by car and most sitting Councillors drive to work.

• Despite living within 300m of high frequency bus services, and being within cycling distance of the CBD, Lord Mayor Campbell Newman still drives to work, adding to congestion on Lutwyche Road.

• The upgrade of the Teneriffe Ferry Stop to a City Cat terminal has been planned since 1997 but no action has been taken and Labor and Liberal will wait 3-4 more years for developers to fund a stop in Newstead Riverpark.

• Both Labor and Liberal claim that a balanced approach to transport requires massive road infrastructure improvements as well as public and active transport improvements, but road tunnels and bridges simply wouldn’t be necessary if Council got serious about public transport and took a truly balanced approach to transport planning.

• Council is planning for buses to be stuck in even more traffic. Council’s TransApex road projects will lead to major increases in car traffic on public transport corridors such as Stafford Road, Gympie Road and Kingsford Smith Drive (refer table 9-6 and 9-10 in the Airport Link Traffic and Transport technical paper) and lead to reduced travel speed on the road network due to increased congestion (table 9-8).