fish.01

OP FYI there is a light rail system opening on the Gold Coast this year. Living somewhere within walking would be very handy given the frequency and span of service. Talk of extending it to connect to the train to Brisbane as well.

fish.01

Yes and even if it was Surfers is a tiny part of the Gold Coast. If there is a next time you could possibly check out Tugun, Currumbin, Burleigh, Kirra etc. Some lovely spots. Gold Coast hinterland is great too as I'm sure you've heard.

moneypenny20

Yeah, right, cos that's going to happen! I seriously do not get the point of the light rail, not running where it is anyway but hey it'll look nice and may even get used during the Commonwealth Games. Perhaps.

fish.01

Makes sense to me. It runs through the busiest part of the city where all other cities usually run their stage 1 light rail. The light rail spine replaces some of the busiest bus routes on the coast. They are then using semi rapid transit bus to link up right along the light rail spine to form a connected network covering much of the coast. I think it will be a boon for the Gold Coast and may even put pressure for alternative rail systems up here once brisbanites see what the beach bums down the coast have got

The two issues I see are the span of hours on the buses aren't yet good enough and the translink pricing is so high for 1 zone trips. Pressure is being put on the pollies all the time on these two issues so one day we might see an improvement.

Whether stage 2 linking it to Brisbane happens now or later is the question imo. There is still ministerial push for it so we'll see: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-0...isbane/5063804

moneypenny20

Not convinced on any of those points but happy to be proved wrong at some point in the next 10 years.

fish.01

Can I just ask that you give it a chance and don't tie yourself to a tree in cavill ave like the meter maids

moneypenny20

I try to avoid Cavill Ave as much as possible. I'm just a humble tax payer, none of my business if the council decide to waste my money on the Light Rail or the poxy Commonwealth Games.

Bermudashorts

Yes there will be a next time, we really liked it. We didn't bother with a car this time as we wanted to do the Surfers thing and we decided foot was all we needed, but next time we will get a car and go further afield. We thought the light railway, which we could see going in, was a good idea.

fish.01

Very rare in Australia that too much taxpayers money is invested in public transport. Now that Abbott is in all money pre-allocated for congestion busting urban rail systems around Australia has been cancelled and redirected to roads...you can sleep soundly knowing he has vowed to fund no urban rail systems at all anymore