Brisbane should be developing its busiest train and bus stations and building an extended subway system, according to urban economist Chris Hale.
Mr Hale, a PhD student who studies land use and transport with The University of Queensland’s Centre for Transport Strategy, said the city’s main stations should be transformed into expertly designed transit hubs called Transit Oriented Developments (TODs).
The hubs are a mix of private buildings such as convenience stores, cafes, shops, offices and homes built in and around upgraded public transport.
Mr Hale said Brisbane, Toowoomba, Ipswich and the Gold and Sunshine Coasts could support about 50 TODs of various size by 2015.
“In Brisbane you see a lot of transit stations and they have no development whatsoever,” Mr Hale said.
“They are in desperate need of European styling and Japanese transport technology.
“You’ve got to spend a lot of time and effort on the architecture and design of the public space and also on the quality of the buildings and the finishes such as paving and planting.”
He said the hubs would become vibrant community centres which would generate rental revenue for state authorities to help run more efficient and popular public transport.
There would also be less urban sprawl and better access to jobs.
Mr Hale and his colleagues with the Centre for Transport Strategy, Professor Phil Charles and Dr Kathi Holt-Damant, are working on a three-year research project about the viability of TODs.
He will write a report that includes a step-by-step model on how to transform existing stations into TODs.
He said a Brisbane City Council plan to link the city centre at Gardens Point, Eagle Street, Spring Hill and Centenary Place via a subway, needed to be extended to South Brisbane, St Lucia and Indooroopilly.
The cost of building a subway system was comparable to road tunnels but more efficient in transporting many people.
“I think mass transit tunnel for Brisbane is going to happen but for some reason we’re more comfortable as a community with the idea of building road tunnels.”
A trial TOD is planned for Brisbane within three years, possibly at Park Road in the Boggo Road Precinct.
Mr Hale said the TODs could spread in Brisbane by shifting the reliance on cars, improving transit hub design and encouraging developers to invest in transport centres rather than fringe subdivisions.
He said outstanding recent examples of Australian TODs were Federation Square and the Southern Cross Station in Melbourne.
Brisbane’s first TOD was the Queen Street Mall Bus Centre.
“Kyoto and Nagoya Stations in Japan for example have absolutely massive office-retail-hotel type development and these things go some way in paying for the transport infrastructure.”
The TOD project has been paid for by an Australian Research Council grant with funding also from Queensland Transport and Queensland Rail.
MEDIA: Mr Hale (0407 761 934, c.hale2@uq.edu.au) or Miguel Holland at UQ Communications (3365 2619)
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