In May 2016, Brisbane City Council put forward a proposal to convert Victoria Bridge into a dedicated transport 'green bridge' which would:

• provide a significant increase in public transport capacity and increased service levels
• reduce CBD traffic pressures and congestion.

This proposal was not supported by the Queensland Government and did not proceed.

With major CBD traffic diversions and bus route changes occuring from 12 December 2016, as a result of the State Government's Queens Wharf Brisbane casino and resort development, almost 50 extra buses will need to use Victoria Bridge during both the morning and afternoon peaks.

This petition calls on the Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to urgently support Council's plan to prioritise public and active transport by converting Victoria Bridge to a dedicated transport 'green bridge'.

Background

The Victoria Bridge is one of the key public transport links across the Brisbane River and is absolutely critical to the city's transport network.

Each weekday during peak periods, around 200 buses per hour use the bridge - a bus every 15-20 seconds.

In addition to buses, the bridge also has an important role in carrying pedestrians and cyclists (more than 22,000 per day).

The two existing dedicated bus lanes simply don't provide enough capacity to cater for this massive number of buses.

Every day, long queues of buses on the bridge mean passengers face significant inconvenice and delays and this is 'bus jam' is only going to get worse.

CBD traffic changes associated with the Queens Wharf Brisbane development mean almost 50 extra buses will need to use the bridge during both the morning and afternoon peaks.

It's time make Victoria Bridge a true 'green bridge' by getting cars off the bridge and providing more capacity for sustainable and efficient forms of transport.

At present, only around 8,800 cars use the bridge each day and many of these are carrying only one person. In contrast, each standard bus can carry 40-60 people (or up to 100 people for articulated 'banana buses').

In fact, Victoria Bridge already caries far fewer cars than any other inner-city bridge.  The following figures are the average daily traffic volumes for each inner-city bridge and show that Victoria Bridge is not a critical route for  private motor vehicles:

• Victoria Bridge: 8,800 vehicles (not including buses)
• Go Between Bridge: 14,000 vehicles
• William Jolly Bridge: 40,000 vehicles
• Story Bridge: 109,000 vehicles
• Captain Cook Bridge: 132,000 vehicles

Across Brisbane around two thirds of all public transport trips are carried on buses and providing more bus capacity on the Victoria Bridge will improve a key bottleneck in the public transport network.

Support for the proposal

To date, a number of different groups, organisations and elected representatives have publicly expressed their support for the proposal, including:

• RACQ
• Rail Back on Track (Public Transport Advocacy Group)
• The Brisbane City Council LNP Team (The Administration)
• The Brisbane City Council Labor Team (The Opposition)
• Jonathan Sri, Greens Councillor for The Gabba Ward
• Don Brown MP, State Labor MP for Capalaba

Even though they represent motorists, RACQ understands the proposal will bring a range of wider benefits.

Their spokeswoman said "RACQ supported BCC's proposal because a car-free Victoria Bridge could lead to less congestion in the long-term."

"An improved bus network will lead to less congestion and a 'green' bridge could also result in improved access to the CBD," she said.

(Photo source: Brisbane Times)