Re: [TramsDownUnder] Metro buses revealed as alternative to axed stage 4 light rail

[Richard Youl]

Yes. I see it as a sop, a bit like giving Newcastle the tram as a replacement for the much more convenient train to the railway station. It will be approximately 4 km long compared with 13 km to the NSW border which will continue to be served by buses.

As for Harbour Town, there are already buses to the tram at the hospital or train to Brisbane. How many extra people would go to the shopping centre by tram compared with buses is unknown. Certainly the vast majority of shoppers need a car to transport home all their purchases. 

Incidentally the original route for the tram to reach Helensvale station was via Harbour Town but in fact the shorter and faster present route was chosen which is great for me.

Richard

On 22 Jun 2026, at 10:26 pm, 'Brian Blunt' via TramsDownUnder <tramsdo...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

There has been some media attention in gh elast couple of days about a north bound extension to Harbour Town?  

Brian 

Bblun...@yahoo.com

On 22 Jun 2026, at 20:33, 'TP' via TramsDownUnder <tramsdo...@googlegroups.com> wrote:



So the maths of their proposed "metro-like" timetable are fascinating during, say, an event scenario. Three hundred passenger tram arrives on 7.5 minute schedule at Burleigh Heads, 110 of the passengers board bus, leaving 190 passengers waiting for the next bus. Another 300 passenger tram arrives 7.5 minutes later, disgorging its load to join the 190 still waiting. Next bus comes 2.5 minutes later, taking 110 passengers and leaving 490-110=380 passengers waiting for the next bus, during which wait another tram arrives and 380+300=680 passengers are now waiting for the next 110 passenger bus. And so on and so forth, to infinity and beyond! 

It ain't going to work without a nose to tail conga line of articulated buses and then it won't work for that reason. I know, because we've had to live with such crap in Sydney for decades.

Tony P

(sceptical of bus "solutions")

On Monday, 22 June 2026 at 19:46:38 UTC+10 Richard Youl wrote:

Sometimes readers’ comments make interesting reading. Some were from me as ‘Richard Y’.

Diagrams suggest the replacement buses are ordinary single artic diesel buses with a fancy looking body which will fool very few. 

Tate is Mayor.     BBleijie the smug Deputy Premier.    Christafulli Premier

Richard

From: 'TP' via TramsDownUnder <tramsdo...@googlegroups.com>
Date: 22 June 2026 at 19:16:38 AEST
To: TramsDownUnder <tramsdo...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Metro buses revealed as alternative to axed stage 4 light rail
Reply-To: tramsdo...@googlegroups.com



A bit of misleading language in the coverage here. The "metro-like" buses would be referring to the Brisbane "Metro" double artic buses. These are illegal on the road in the eastern states under the NHVR regulations and are only allowed on the Brisbane busways because they're entirely isolated from operating on public roads. The academic quoted seems to think they are double artics because he referred to them having half the capacity of Gold Coast trams. 

So the "metro-like" reference would be to conventional artics, which have a capacity of about 110, or not much more than a third of the capacity of the Gold Coast trams. So, if you have a packed tram arriving Broadbeach South and everybody wanting to be carried on, you need three artics to collect from each tram. So at 7.5 minute interval trams you need buses less than every 2.5 minutes. For 15 minute interval trams, you need buses every 5 minutes.

Good luck with all that.

Tony P

(who has casually observed over the years that buses can't do the job of trams)

On Monday, 22 June 2026 at 15:45:31 UTC+10 Mal Rowe wrote:

On 22/06/2026 13:00, 'Greg Sutherland' via TramsDownUnder wrote

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-22/metro-buses-alternative-to-axed-stage-four-light-rail-gold-coast/106825972

It will be interesting to see what the capacity of these buses will be in terms of people with luggage.

Mal Rowe in a city with just buses and motor cars serving a large airport

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TramsDownUnder" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tramsdownunde...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tramsdownunder/b8011b64-b8a6-4619-bbf0-376298e71b21n%40googlegroups.com.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TramsDownUnder" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tramsdownunde...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tramsdownunder/e74cc81e-66ca-41ea-b232-9ab86ae87b29n%40googlegroups.com.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TramsDownUnder" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tramsdownunde...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tramsdownunder/E548F76C-9997-4645-B4B0-171C4D1AE1AD%40yahoo.com.

[Andrew Highriser]

Is there a danger of the service interval to Helensvale from Olsen Avenue being reduced by some trams running to Harbour Town? If it is just a shuttle tram, it is certainly not worth the cost. Regardless, it doesn't seem like a wise idea, and I will be very surprised if it is built. 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tramsdownunder/F2EBE648-F224-4EC8-8A27-39A1128EDC07%40icloud.com.

[Richard Youl]

That option could be a possibility but in the am peak I expect that if every second tram were missing there would be severe overcrowding. As Andrew says, a shuttle of 4km or less is quite a waste of resources.

One bit of good news today was that for all of these transport projects to go ahead they will need financial input from the local council, Canberra, and  the private sector on top of state input. 

Other news is that work will stop on Stage 2 of the ‘Coomera Connector’, a road being built parallel to the M1 which connects Brisbane to Sydney. Work will not resume for years. 

Connecting the dots, emphasis seems to be on balancing the budget. 

Richard

On 23 Jun 2026, at 6:43 pm, Andrew Highriser <andrewhi...@gmail.com> wrote:



To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tramsdownunder/CABLyQSdAP%2BbkgqqcJKvQBC5tZyYTPyN%2BgeN-pRGE5KcRb%3DRTsw%40mail.gmail.com.