PUBLIC AND ACTIVE TRANSPORT COMMITTEE

PUBLIC AND ACTIVE TRANSPORT COMMITTEE

Councillor Peter MATIC, Chairman of the Public and Active Transport Committee, moved, seconded by Councillor Steven HUANG that the report of that Committee held on 12 August 2014, be adopted.

Councillor MATIC: Thank you, Madam Chairman. Before I get to the report, I just wanted to speak briefly on some of the major works being undertaken around our terminals around our city, and just to update the Chamber on some of the status and the significant amount of work that is currently going on, and the planning that has gone behind that.

As some councillors might be aware, the Milton Ferry Terminal, which was a commitment of the LORD MAYOR and is so important to the local community within Milton and the Lang Park Suncorp Precinct, is well under way. The first concrete pour of some of the landings has already commenced. Some of the structural works dealing with the DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) compliance have also started its installation process today.

The works undertaken at this location will not only address the issue of future flood resilience but importantly also access and inclusion. Mr Mayo's attendance today was quite indicative of the importance of the Access And Inclusion Policy across our city, and his words quite clearly reflect what this Administration is committed to, and that is access and inclusion for all our residents, irrespective of their disabilities or infirmity. So, making sure that the terminal that we have at Milton complies with those is absolutely core to our outcomes, and that is being undertaken.

There is also work being undertaken at the QUT (Queensland University of Technology) Terminal. At the moment full pedestrian and cyclist detours through QUT car park have been put in place, and there are a number of works being undertaken around the concrete blade being removed and access and such other issues being addressed; new paths being laid with the laying of asphalt and concrete to accommodate the proposed works for the closure of the existing facility and then the construction of the new. Once again, this is funding made available through the NDRRA (Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements) in the Federal Government, and I would like to acknowledge the tremendous contribution that they have made towards that, making sure that we have the money there in place to undertake the necessary flood resilient works there as well.

UQ (University of Queensland) Terminal is next on the list, and the land-based preparation works for the piling is continuing at the moment. We are making sure that we are working very closely with the university to minimise the impacts on pedestrians and users of the public transport there. It is important to note that, as part of the process of going through there, and looking for the best location, where the terminal currently is located, there will be a movement of that terminal further down and closer to the bus stop to ensure that there is a closer knit between all forms of public transport, and once again to add accessibility for DDA compliance, and also making sure that we are dealing with flood resilience issues.

As to Bulimba, all councillors are aware that works have well and truly begun at Bulimba, with 8,000 movements a week being our busiest residential terminal. It is important, as part of the overall process of the construction, that we also continue to meet the needs of all of the residents and the public transport users. So we have had an ongoing dialogue with residents and, Councillor SUTTON, I'd like to thank her for her continual feedback to our office on behalf of residents. That feedback that we're getting is absolutely important in being able to minimise the amenity transport impacts on residents while this work is being conducted.

Importantly, also, we are dealing with and engaging with the traders in Bulimba, along Oxford Street, and working closely with them and residents to minimise the impact on them and get the terminal built as quickly as possible. So I'd like to certainly thank and acknowledge the officers for the tremendous amount of planning, and thank everyone involved for their ongoing feedback as we continue to evolve this to meet those needs of all those public transport users at that Bulimba terminal.

Moving to the report, there was a presentation on the CityHopper, and it was an update on the project from its inception. It was a commitment by the LORD MAYOR at the last election to look at how we can continue to improve our public transport facilities, to make them more accessible, to find ways of being able to activate different parts of our city along the river. As a river city, I think it is important that all of these opportunities are provided to residents in a ready fashion.

So from that, the CityHopper was created and announced, and it has continued to grow from strength to strength. The initial service that it replaced was the Inner-city Ferry which followed the same route primarily as the existing service, between Holman Street, Thornton Street and Eagle Street Pier. The service in itself was a traditional service, and it carried on an average about 868,000 people a year. So, in the overall scheme of things, it was not a service that was heavily populated. This was one of the things that the LORD MAYOR wanted to look at.

By putting together this freely-accessible service, we have seen an enormous change in the uptake of the use of that particular service. What was primarily initially focused is an activation of the river, something of interest for tourists to have a look at some of the key spots. The service was also primarily focused on a public transport option, an alternative to residents to get from one side of the river to the other, to get from one point of the river down to the same side of the river, thereby reducing the amount of traffic congestion that residents might have caused by taking their car.

It has proven to be highly successful. From an initial patronage where the old Inner-city Ferry service carried, as I said, around 868,000 passengers a year, we now have a service that carries over 1.5 million. We have an average take up of passenger movements of about 35,000 trips a week. So it clearly shows that, when you offer such a service, there is a genuine and obvious encouragement and need by local residents to be able to utilise that service.

In some of the survey work that we have conducted on the service, just to get an understanding of the users, 53 per cent of those are just the day-to-day commuters, getting across the river and doing their work; the balance of 47 per cent is made up of residents using the service on the weekends, using it for leisure purposes, and there is also a component of tourism in there as well. It clearly shows that this service hits the mark as far as being able to address the public transport needs of the city.

It also clearly shows that this side of the Chamber continues to be innovative and continues to listen to the needs of residents when it comes to public transport. This side of the Chamber is clearly committed to the growth of our public transport needs, to making sure that we come up with innovative solutions while still running a proper and efficient service. What we don't see from those opposite, though, is any support for those kinds of innovations; any support of efficiency.

We see politics unfortunately for the sake of politics. Unfortunately that is all the Labor Party is renowned for, and they continue to do that. If that is what they want to do, go right ahead, but this side of the Chamber continues to meet the real needs of this city, continues to meet the challenges of providing public transport in a meaningful and affordable way, and making sure that we address the longer term needs of our city as we continue to grow, as we become an even bigger city, and as we continue to take our place rightfully across Australia as a new world city. Thank you.

Chairman: Further debate; Councillor ABRAHAMS.

Councillor ABRAHAMS: Thank you, Madam Chair. I was delighted to read the report on the CityHopper update, and that the services have quadrupled since it was the former Inner-city Ferry service. This is a major achievement, and I humbly and respectfully acknowledge that that has been an initiative of the LORD MAYOR, and I congratulate him on this initiative. I know from the residents, many of which are local, many of which are going about their business and commuting, find this service with its cheery colours, its reliable service, something that they are very proud of and something that they believe is quintessential Brisbane which, of course, these monohull ferries are.

But Madam Chair, while we clap ourselves on the back today in this report, let's be very aware that, if it weren't for the residents and Labor councillors being very clear on what was important to this city, the LORD MAYOR, then as the Chair of Transport, would have had his way and—

Chairman: No, Councillor ABRAHAMS, you know that is not part of this report.

Councillor ABRAHAMS: The jaws of destruction was a word that I was looking desperately for in the report—

Chairman: Councillor ABRAHAMS—

Councillor ABRAHAMS: —and it wasn’t there, Madam Chairman.

Chairman: Councillor ABRAHAMS, speak about the CityHopper service or resume your seat.

Councillor ABRAHAMS: Madam Chair, no one would be more delighted than me in respect of supporting the LORD MAYOR and his Cabinet on this successful report than the former Lord Mayor Sallyanne Atkinson who also has had a very strong association with the CityHoppers, and I will pass this report on to her.

But, Madam Chair, I listened very carefully to the Chair, and he said that that Administration councillors sitting over there continue to listen to the need of the residents while still running efficient public transport services. I am delighted to hear that, because I am asking the LNP Administration, if that is the facts, then perhaps they should look at the two services that the Inner-city Ferry are continuing to run with pay for the ride, that are inefficient, being underutilised, because there is a free service that runs on exactly the same route.

If we have an efficient service that just happens in this circumstance to be free, and an inefficient service that one is paying for, I would suggest that, taking the words of the Chair, he immediately should incorporate those into the CityHopper services. Because the residents come to me, as I know they would have come to the Chair, scratching their heads saying, we don't understand why all the cross-river ferries may not have been included in this extremely successful CityHopper project.

If those two were taken off those routes, just imagine how many more people we could have in the next report. It might not be a quadrupling; it may be that we have a five times the increase in patronage, and I am sure that the councillors on this side of the Chamber would welcome such a report. So, Councillor MATIC, I think you should really look at efficiency and see if further changes are necessary.

Chairman: Further debate; Councillor MURPHY.

Councillor SUTTON: Yes, Madam Chair, I rise to talk about this Committee presentation on the CityHopper. Can I just say that as a councillor that has four ferry terminals in my ward and my ward being one that is largely bounded by the Brisbane River, I pay acute attention to anything that comes into this place with regard to ferry services. I would like to thank the chairperson for the informative presentation on the City Hopper.

I note in the report, and as has been discussed and debated in this Council before, that this is in fact a free service that was put into place to revive the Inner-city Ferry service. Since the service has been made free; patronage has more than quadrupled from the previous levels of patronage. That we're now seeing an average weekly patronage of around 35,000 trips with 1.27 million trips during the 2012-13 period and 1.9 million trips in the 2013-14 period.

I think they're amazing results and I think that any initiative that increases public transport use and use of our ferry services should be supported. I think that the success of this trial should be expanded. I also note that 81 per cent of CityHopper customers have rated the services as very good. I have no doubt in my mind at all that if this was expanded to other ferry services throughout the city, that we would see similar results.

As I have suggested in the past, I think making the Bulimba Teneriffe Cross-river Ferry service free would be a good next phase and extension to this service, particularly now we're getting that new-you-beaut upgraded Bulimba Ferry Terminal with increased capacity. If we want to encourage more people to use the city ferry services, the cross-river services are very popular there and would only encourage more people to use our ferry services in the city. In the case of the Bulimba Teneriffe route, it would encourage more people to use the CityGlider service into the city.

I just think that whilst these results should be congratulated—the other important thing that I would like to highlight is that whilst this free service is a service that is popular with leisure, recreation and tourism, 53 per cent, or the majority of users of this service are actually commuters. I think that is also something that shouldn't be ignored.

So I have made the pitch once before about making the Bulimba Cross-river Ferry service free. I think on the back of these results, that suggestion combined with the upgraded ferry terminal that we're getting, that there's cause to relook at that service. If I can ask as politely as I possibly can during this section of today's Council meeting because I was highly interested in these results. I think that we're ready for CityHopper mark 2 out at Bulimba. Thanks.

Councillor interjecting.

Chairman: Further debate. Councillor GRIFFITHS.

Councillor GRIFFITHS: Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to add to this debate by saying that we welcome, of course, the CityHopper and what it does and Labor was, of course, always behind this proposal. But, Madam Chair, it is of concern that the people—and I suppose what we didn't get today was a breakdown on the people, who are using this service. We did hear that 53 per cent use it mainly for work purposes; the remainder use it for leisure purposes. But it didn't give us the breakdown of maybe the incomes of those people using it.

So some of the concern for me relates to this is a free service, for inner-city people, and potentially a lot of very wealthy people in the inner city. What we need to—

Councillor GRIFFITHS: Here we go, Madam Chair, here we go. The crying. A lot of very privileged people in the inner city who can afford those million dollar apartments, we're giving them a wonderful free service that they can access.

Councillor GRIFFITHS: Oh, it's all right, they're the ones that don't use this service apparently, Madam Chair, it's the poor people who are using this service, but we haven't got any stats on that. But, Madam Chair, I suppose—

Councillor GRIFFITHS: Oh, Madam Chair, I—

Chairman: Order.

Councillor GRIFFITHS: I think what we need to, as a city, is looking at what we are actually doing for people on the fringes of the city, in—

Chairman: Councillor GRIFFITHS, you speak about the CityHopper or resume your seat.

Councillor GRIFFITHS: Oh, Madam Chair, I'm happy to speak about the CityHopper but I'm just saying, I think we're looking after one very small part of the city. One very privileged part of the city and we're forgetting a lot of other parts of the city. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Chairman: Further debate. Councillor MATIC.

Councillor MATIC: Thank you, Madam Chairman. I'd like to thank—sorry, I'm kind of stunned by Councillor GRIFFITHS' comments. But I'd like to thank Councillors ABRAHAMS and SUTTON for their comments about the service. I certainly note the comments of Councillor ABRAHAMS in regards to the necessity for efficiency in a public transport service. As to Councillor GRIFFITHS' comments about a breakdown between rich and poor, Madam Chairman, Brisbane City Council doesn't do those kinds of surveys.

Public transport is for all residents and visitors, rich or poor, irrespective of where they come from, Madam Chairman. That's what public transport is about. At the end of the day, the people that use that are entitled to do so. We don't, as an Administration, ever judge any person, Madam Chairman, or look at their bank balance before we allow them to utilise the public transport network of our city.

Councillors interjecting.

Councillor MATIC: We're all about accessibility and inclusion for the whole city, Madam Chairman, unlike Councillor GRIFFITHS who seems to be about access and inclusion for only those who can afford it.

Chairman: I will put the motion.
Upon being submitted to the Chamber, the motion for the adoption of the report of the Public and Active Transport Committee was declared carried on the voices.
The report read as follows
ATTENDANCE:
Councillor Peter Matic (Chairman), Councillor Steven Huang (Deputy Chairman), and Councillors Steve Griffiths, Kim Marx and Ryan Murphy.
LEAVE OF ABSENCE:
Councillor Nicole Johnston.

A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – CITYHOPPER UPDATE

1. Brett Turville, Branch Manager, Transport Planning and Strategy, Brisbane Infrastructure Division, attended the meeting to provide an update on the CityHopper ferry service. Mr Turville provided the information below.

In a year-to-date comparison, the CityHopper ferry service recorded 1,276,964 trips during the 2012-13 period, and 1,916,074 trips in the 2013-14 period.