by Dr Daniel O'Hare
Good public transport is city-shaping infrastructure and an essential part of any balanced plan for our city’s future.
The City of Gold Coast, together with the Queensland government, has been developing and (very) gradually rolling out a coherent plan for servicing our city with effective public transport. By effective, I mean public transport that is viable and offers desirable options for all citizens, not just the one-third of us who have ready access to a car.
A city without workable public transport is one in which traffic gridlock becomes a way of life. To me, as an urban planning researcher, the decision to scrap Gold Coast light rail stage four, from Burleigh Heads to Gold Coast Airport, came as a shock.
It signalled a sudden departure from what was – until now – a comprehensive plan that was as much about city-shaping as it was about giving people options for getting around and reducing our car dependency.
City-shaping is about connecting destinations all over the City of Gold Coast to support living, working and recreational opportunities for tourists and locals by creating walkable neighbourhoods and convenient transport options linking them together, reducing our reliance on cars.
The focused resistance to light rail from Palm Beach residents is a lesson that the success of major infrastructure projects can often hinge on greater engagement with communities that stand to gain or lose the most. That’s a lesson worth considering as we ponder the next stop for public transport on the Gold Coast. This decision might provide an opportunity for another stage of the light rail network to be moved up in priority.
The coastal strip and airport link is just one of the two light rail lines offering the most to the city’s future prosperity and quality of life. Let’s look at completing the city’s already half-built health-knowledge-business-lifestyle loop by linking the coastal line back to Robina Railway Station via our second university and hospital.
The first half (or more) of this light rail loop already links Helensvale heavy rail station, Parkwood park-and-ride, the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct (GCUH, Griffith University and more), Southport’s business centre, Surfers Paradise tourism, the Broadbeach convention centre and lifestyle hub, and some of our best beaches and the Oceanway.
Now we need to connect Robina Station to the coastal light rail line via a developing knowledge precinct based around Bond University, Bermuda Point and Varsity Central. This east-west link would assist the development of Robina into the Principal Regional Activity Centre status envisaged by the South East Queensland Regional Plan for twenty-plus years.
Such a move would transform Robina Station into a major interchange for heavy rail, light rail and buses, giving many more Gold Coasters access to Robina Town Centre shops and offices, Robina Hospital, Robina Stadium and the city’s green lungs being developed in the Green Heart Parklands adjacent to the stadium.
From a state government budget perspective, this investment would enable the undeveloped 10 hectares between station and shopping centre – owned by Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) – to fill the missing gap, allowing Robina to function as intended.
Getting this right, if lessons are learned from stage four, will take time. Let’s start exploring more options to shape our city for the future.
- Dr Daniel O’Hare is Associate Professor of Urban Planning at Bond University.