Division 1 candidate Mark Hammel calls for bus and cycle lanes on Coomera Connector

17 March 2020

Division 1 candidate Mark Hammel is calling for dedicated bus lanes and cycle ways for the Coomera Connector as part of a new plan that would improve local access to public transport and ease pressure on congested far northern Gold Coast roads that have reached choking point.

As part of a traffic plan developed in consultation with urban planning experts, Mr Hammel has today released the comprehensive Division 1 public transport plan he will be taking to the local council election on March 28.

The plan details how bus and cycle ways would be incorporated into the Coomera Connector, while also outlining necessary bus, cycle and footpath connections to local community hubs, bus stops, and hard and light rail stations.

Mr Hammel’s plan also calls for long-overdue improvements to the rapid bus network and associated infrastructure and would future-proof Division 1 for the anticipated 65,000 new residents arriving in the next 15 years.

“I’ve spoken to the transport experts – as well as thousands of frustrated local residents and businesses - and I have a plan that would see dedicated bus lanes and cycle ways on the Coomera Connector that connect to Ormeau, Pimpama and Yatala train and bus stations, as well as the light rail station at Helensvale,” said Mr Hammel.

“This will give people in heavily populated suburbs in Division 1 a quick and efficient way to connect to the heavy rail, while also significantly increasing patronage on the bus and light rail network.

“Parallel to the bus lane would be a dedicated cycle way that would connect cyclists to public transport and keep them safe by getting them off extremely dangerous Division 1 service roads that were never built to have bicycles on them in the first place.”

Mr Hammel said instead of always retro-fitting public transport into suburbs, council needed to plan future infrastructure placement more strategically.

"It's completely unnecessary to retro-fit our transport infrastructure on the northern Gold Coast. Unlike central and southern suburbs, which are mostly built out, Division 1 is in the unique position where we can afford to set aside land corridors for future infrastructure," he said.

"Taking this approach would avoid disruption to businesses and residents when the infrastructure is built, and provide certainty around exactly where our new transport routes will be, so people can establish their businesses, and buy and sell homes with this in mind."

Mr Hammel slammed council’s seven-year-old Gold Coast City Transport Strategy 2031 - labeling it as ‘a joke that doesn’t take the far northern Gold Coast seriously’.

“How can the fastest-growing region of the Gold Coast – and south-east Queensland, for that matter - barely get a mention when it comes to the city’s public transport strategy?,” he said.

“It is laughable that this current plan for public transport doesn’t have Division 1 being connected to the rapid bus network before 2031 – the bus network that is currently proposed ends at Coomera.

“When the public transport strategy was created, we knew that we were going to go through significant population booms in Ormeau, Pimpama and the Yatala Enterprise Area.

“We can upgrade all the roads in the world - and we can build the Coomera Connector - but we also need to be serious about a public transport network where buses, light rail and heavy rail, and cycle ways connect together for all residents of the Gold Coast – not just thinking about suburbs from Coomera south.

“The transport strategy states that new developments should be connected to public transport from day one, but we are not seeing that happening in Division 1 and looking at this plan, that does not appear to be something that is even being considered at the moment.

 “If elected, I’ll be calling for the city’s public transport plan to be reviewed and the rapid bus network to extend all the way to the far northern Gold Coast by joining Ormeau, Pimpama, Yatala and Jacobs Well,” he said.

“But it’s not as simple as putting more buses on, because patronage is low on a lot of services and that’s simply because it’s too difficult to get to the bus stop because footpaths aren’t there, it’s unsafe to walk or ride to bus stops, and there is no shelter.

“If public transport is going to be seriously viable it will take a significant investment and a long-term plan, but if we don’t start future-proofing Division 1 now, I hate to think of what kind of situation we will be in decades down the track if we don’t get this right.”

 Mr Hammel said there were a number of Division 1 projects in the pipeline in need of review.

“We have the train station coming up in Pimpama in 2023 – let’s plan a dedicated bus network to get to that train station properly so we get the patronage to the station from day one, keep cars off the road and don’t have such a huge demand for car parks at train stations," he said.

“Ormeau is about to get a car park upgrade and there are already calls for the new Pimpama train station car park not being big enough.

“Looking at the recent take up of light and hard rail and bus services on the Gold Coast, it has been proven there is an appetite for public transport in this city – if Division 1 had better access to public transport I know after speaking with the community and planners it would be well used.”