The Palaszczuk Government has released the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Transport Plan, 2 months ahead of the start of the games, giving residents and spectators the time they need to plan for Queensland’s largest ever international event.
Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey joined Commonwealth Games Minister Kate Jones to launch the integrated transport plan today, and said travellers would benefit from twenty-four hour heavy rail, light rail and bus shuttles throughout the games.
“This significant capacity increase on local routes, was made possible by extensive and detailed planning and substantial investment in infrastructure – almost $1 Billion - across the network,” Mr Bailey said.
“The Palaszczuk Government is absolutely focussed on ensuring that more than one million spectators, around 6600 athletes and team officials, 50,000 workers and volunteers, 3500 accredited media representatives arrive safely and on time.
“We majority funded and built the $420 million Gold Coast Light Rail stage 2 in record time, delivered the $163m Gold Coast heavy rail between Coomera and Helensvale to get more trains to the games and invested more than $160 million to upgrade key local road infrastructure in our first budget.
“The world is coming to the Gold Coast. We’re expecting 6 million extra journeys on our transport network for the games, and these investments and the transport plan will help keep the Gold Coast moving between 4-15 April.
“These Palaszczuk Government infrastructure investments will also be a lasting Commonwealth Games legacy for Gold Coast residents, supporting continued economic development for decades to come.
“We now have a fully integrated transport system on the Gold Coast that offers a world class light rail service, 13 extra Park ‘n’ Rides, a duplicated heavy rail track, with high frequency shuttle buses and a massively expanded bus fleet getting most spectators to venues.
“Motorists should also be aware that the next round of Games traffic management initiatives on the M1 between Brisbane and the Gold Coast will commence in stages from 1 March.”
Commonwealth Games Minister Kate Jones said that the transport plan was solid and put Gold Coast residents and visitors in a good position to keep moving.
“We want locals and spectators to familiarise themselves with how they can prepare and adapt their normal travel habits during the event,” Ms Jones said.
“I’d encourage Gold Coast residents and visitors to consider their transport options by visiting getsetforthegames.com
“A dedicated Commonwealth Games Journey planner will also be released soon, which will include the details of event shuttles buses and special Commonwealth Games park and rides.
“There will be many different elements to the huge GC2018 event cities transport network, so a dedicated Transport Coordination Centre will be used to monitor and respond to real time activity 24/7.”
City of Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said there had been extensive engagement across the Gold Coast to get businesses and individuals ready for the Games and that all the information is now available for them to make good travel choices.
“In the past 12 months we have engaged with more than 100,000 people across the city and also invested more than $100 million of transport upgrades to which will help accommodate capacity during GC2018. This includes investment in infrastructure that promotes active travel,” Mr Tate said.
The City in partnership with TMR has also produced a series of interactive maps which can be used to gain visibility around which locations we expect to be busy at which times over the course of the ten days that GC2018 is on.
The maps work by modelling the selected date and time based on a complex data set including historical traffic monitoring, ticketing sales information and combining that with the event schedules. It can be found at getsetforthegames.com
Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation (GOLDOC) Chairman Peter Beattie AC said a robust public transport network was integral to a successful Commonwealth Games and he is confident that the large investment in infrastructure coupled with enhanced timetables would achieve this.
“The transport task on the Gold Coast is undoubtedly challenging, but we’re up to it and I’ve been impressed by what has been achieved,” Mr Beattie said.
“Demand on transport infrastructure is not an issue unique to the Gold Coast, it happens at every Commonwealth Games.
“It’s vital that locals support GC2018 and that means travelling smart.
“The long term benefits that this once in a lifetime event will bring are huge and that includes the transport legacy we will enjoy long after the Games end.”
An overview of timetable changes for each mode during GC2018 can be found below:
Heavy Rail
- The number of daily services operating on the Gold Coast line will be tripled, with trains operating 24/7
- Train services will run on average 10 minutes or better on the Gold Coast line for most of the day
- This equals 176 additional daily rail services on the gold coast line every single day of the games
- This is equal to an additional 130,087 weekly kilometres in train travel on the Gold Coast line
- Some adjustments to heavy rail services across the wider SEQ network will be experienced due to the unprecedented demand of this world class event
Light Rail
- Trams will operate 24 hours a day, every day during GC2018
- Services will be running every 6 minutes in peak event periods 7-10am and 4-10pm
- Light rail will deliver up to an additional 4,670 services during the games
Buses
- Uplift to 12 of the 56 existing TransLink bus routes that are considered key north-south or east-west connections on the Gold Coast
- All other routes will run a weekday timetable on weekends
- Average bus trips per day to increase from 49,000 to 141,000 during games time
- An additional 4000 daily services provided across the 12 existing bus routes
Shuttle Buses
- 20 + dedicated event shuttle bus routes moving 147,000 passengers a day
- Route GC2018 will be a 24/7 event shuttle service operating between Helensvale Station and Nerang station connecting sport, accommodation and entertainment precincts
M1 Games Initiatives
The M1 management initiatives for the Games include:
- Reducing the speed in the 110km/h speed zone by 10km/h to 100km/h between the Logan Motorway Interchange (Exit 31) to Gaven (Exit 69), northbound and southbound from 1 March 2018
- Reducing the speed in the 100km/h zone by 10km/h to 90km/h from the M1/M3 merge at Eight Mile Plains to Logan Motorway Interchange, northbound and southbound from 1 March 2018
- Temporary ramp metering at the southbound Gold Coast Highway (Exit 62) and Smith Street (Exit 66) on-ramps to keep traffic moving at a constant pace as vehicles join the motorway, from mid-March 2018
- Additional Traffic Response Units and towing vehicles to ensure incidents are cleared from the M1 as quickly as possible. These will be deployed in stages from 31 March with all units deployed by 4 April 2018. The deployment will finish on the 15 April after the closing ceremony
- Allowing vehicles carrying athletes and officials to travel along the hard shoulder of the M1, under police escort where safe and at low speed, if there is severe congestion that may prevent them from arriving at an event on time. This will only occur between 4 April 2018 and 18 April 2018.
- Additional speed enforcement measures on the M1 including trailer mounted speed cameras, which are to be managed by Queensland Police Service (QPS).
In making the decision to temporarily reduce the speed limit on the M1 and introduce ramp management, Transport and Main Roads looked at national and international research. Research shows that speed reduction and ramp metering helps to increase motorway capacity, improve travel speeds during peak times and reduce the number of crashes.
For further information:
For Games travel information, visit getsetforthegames.com
For all other travel and timetable information, including elsewhere on the SEQ transport network, visit translink.com.au