The Future of Brisbane Transport - Can Active Transport END GRIDLOCK?

[@ChrisCoxCycling]

Brilliant video, Adam! Thanks very much for taking the time to speak to me, and the other excellent spokespeople. You've put out a really well balanced view of where active transport sits now, and where it's going, and what the challenges are. I do just take one exception to Ryan Murphy's claim that the North Brisbane Bikeway design was rejected by the community. The most recent design put out to consultation had 60% positive support for it. There was (and remains) a vocal minority opposed, and Council used the 2022 floods as an excuse to put it on hold. It will be very interesting now that consultation has restarted to see whether they find the courage to press ahead.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Thanks so much for being a part of this, and for helping me connect with some of the others as well. Also for sharing a bit more background here in the comments. I'm sure there'll be a lively discussion in this section over the next few days!

[@rustynail9381]

Do you have a link to this consultation?

[@ChrisCoxCycling]

@@rustynail9381 I did reply with a link, but I suspect it gets automatically held until Adam approves it because links can be dodgy. If you search for the North Brisbane Bikeway Price Street to Kedron Brook, then put that URL in the way back machine, you'll find a version with the consultation summary showing over 1000 submissions, 60% in favour

[@JimCullen]

Honestly I take exception to a _lot_ of what Cr Murphy said here. He talked a really great game, but it's just flat-out lying to pretend that the LNP is "prioritising public and active transport" or that investment is "heavily skewed towards public and active transport". Not in the face of MRCUP and their idea for a Gympie Rd tunnel. He acknowledges here the problems of induced demand ("inevitably, the capacity we create through additional lanes is filled up", something that the LNP has specifically said in Council that it does not believe in, and which from their actual investment it's clear they are not considering.

[@sanitygone-l9y]

I just wish Brisbane City Council will realise that paint is not cycling infrastructure, especially out in the suburbs and that at some point, you have to start taking space away from cars if you do want a decent cycling network. We need separated bicycle lanes.

[@electro_sykes]

Why not be tough and ride on the road, or ride along dirt trails. That’s what I do with my mountain bike

[@sanitygone-l9y]

@electro_sykes Because the average person isn’t going to be comfortable riding next to 3 ton metal boxes going over 60 kilometres an hour barely a metre away from you. The biggest barrier to why people don’t cycle is safety. Look at all the big cycling countries of the world France, Netherlands , Denmark. What do they all have in common? Infrastructure that prioritises people over cars and pedestrian safety over cars. If you want people to cycle, at the very least, you need to make it safe and seperate bicycle lanes go a long way in doing that.

[@electro_sykes]

@@sanitygone-l9y i can ride my bike nearly as fast as some of the cars somehow

[@BabyAteMeDingo]

​@@electro_sykesbecause these days it's even less safe riding a bike because of the increased number of brainless drivers

[@ChrisCoxCycling]

@@electro_sykes cool, it's not about you. It's about parents who want their kids to be able to ride to school. Women who want to be able to ride to work or the train station on their ebike without feeling like they're putting their life in their hands. It's great you have no fear and hit the trails. That's not active transport. That's sport.

[@CONM0S]

The fact that the QLD government has really embraced e-transport options is fantastic. With the 50c fares I’ve switched to biking to the train, then biking from Roma street to work. I know a few others who have done the same.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

I've certainly started taking the bus a lot more since the 50c fares came in (I live near a bus stop with a good route, so no need to invest in a bike or scooter at this stage). Have you noticed a change in your mood or anything like that since switching?

[@CONM0S]

The first leg and last leg of the day are pretty uninspiring, but there’s something special about crossing the river on a bike seat that resets my mind ready for the day ahead.

[@tony2707]

Do you mean the government that has just been removed?

[@rollerbladingbrisbane]

Creating a less car-centric culture benefits everyone and makes Brisbane more liveable. C’mon Brisbane. Thank you for making this video Adam.

[@MatthewThiele]

Great video! Another issue which wasn’t discussed in the video is the terrible states of our paths and walkways, especially in areas with high development where we have ended up with a hodgepodge of different materials of varying quality being mixed together. It would be great to see a video focusing on the underlying reason we have such a car centric culture in Australia - which really boils down to the lack of density and increased urban sprawl as we all want to aspire to our “Australian Dream” of a house with a lawn and big garage where we can park our cars.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

It's in the planning stages...

[@queenslandwalksincorporate4371]

Thank you for a great video Adam. The more we prioritise walking, rolling, strolling and riding - the more liveable our cities and suburbs become. Footpaths and shared paths are the cheapest and easiest transport enabling infrastructure to build, and we can't wait for Brisbane to prioritise walking and riding as a highly rated transport mode, well ahead of 2032.

[@DavidWilliams-zf1vb]

Fair point, but what about the needs of the disabled who rely on private transport.

[@mickeyd8606]

@@DavidWilliams-zf1vb It's a win-win proposition. The more we facilitate active and public transport for those that can use them the less congestion, parking issues etc will be experienced by that those that need to use private transport.

[@sarcasmo57]

Cycling in Brisbane is scary. It's a carpocalyps.

[@princess435010]

adding bike racks to busses would be revolutionary for bike commuting, i know they previously trialed it but e-bikes have made cycling way more accessible for people so hopefully there would be more interest in using them this time around.

[@davidwilliams7552]

You can't even take an e scooter on the bus it's ridiculous!

[@anubizz3]

How many can fit? And will actually make public transport slower?

[@electro_sykes]

Just sacrifice some seats. Will mean more will have to stand tho

[@LukeGero]

Exactly. It works in America having bike racks on buses. :)

[@julianwalsh8400]

Hang on Adam, have you converted to a raging urbanist?? This feels like I just watched a Not Just Bikes video, and I loved it!!

[@BrisbaneChannel]

I hadn't heard of that channel. Looks interesting, will take a look when i get some downtime. But in answer to your question, not really. Just following topics that people seem to be interested in.

[@kevinlee6118]

@@BrisbaneChannel urbanist understanding of Brisbane is the way to make it better, vs worsening car-dependency

[@stevenkeller3047]

Good job, Adam. As a person who mainly bikes or walks for my daily needs, and because I was a planning commissioner for nine years (all in the US), I see a few things that were discussed that should be considered priorities. This first is one I've worked on for years - and it's for everyone to FIRST look at active motility as TRANSPORTATION and not sport or recreation. Planners and everyone else need to look at all mobility modes the same as they do cars. Second, connectivity is paramount. You can have great pathways but if people can't get to them safely, they'll not use them. And third, and this will be the most complicated. Your laws need to put people outside of cars as a priority. Giving autos the bulk of the rights is just crazy. In the States, pedestrians have first right-of-way, then bicyclists, then cars.- To everyone involved - keep up the good work. These changes and improvements are going to take a long time.

[@haha-eg8fj]

Everything is so far away in Australia. You go to the nearest McDonald that’s a 20 minutes walk. There is only one convenience store in a multi-complex area. The closest library is 40 minutes walk in some suburbs in Brisbane. Open door sport facilities are 30 minutes walk distance. It’s better with a bike but still inconvenient because there are so many cars on the road.

[@davidcrabbe9710]

​@@haha-eg8fjthis is very much the result of unchecked urban sprawl which causes amenities to be so spread out as to require a car. Look at the number of suburbs on the periphery that don't even feature pavements for people to walk around.

[@AussieInJapan]

What an excellent overview of Brisbane and the traffic problem. As someone that lives in a very cycle friendly city despite a lack of cycling infrastructure my last trip to Brisbane I noticed a lot more about Brisbane’s wins and challenges that you’ve mentioned here. Loved the excellent cycling roads and the routes built for cyclists such as the river lap & commuting road along the highway. What I did realize is that it would be much harder to have a “bicycle lifestyle” like I do here in Tokyo. Here everything I need is within 15 minutes, and I will be able to park the bike easily whether at the train station, supermarket or even say the doctors. Meanwhile in Brisbane cafes were good for bike parking, but supermarkets, going to the doctor or doing “chores” I hardly saw any places to park, let alone spots that I would feel my bike would be safe.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Yes, more and more train stations are being equipped with secure bike parking for those that want to ride to public transport, but parking at other venues, I imagine finding somewhere to park your bike would be difficult. Not a part of our culture enough yet, I imagine.

[@sanitygone-l9y]

Even in the most carcentric cities in North America, most people do live within 15 minutes of schools, shops, the doctors etc but there is no proper active transport infrastructure to get there. Over 60% of car trips in the US are shorter than 5 miles. That's pretty telling

[@doriftodave]

Agree with so much of this. Living NW Brissy for the last decade, the traffic is awful now. Unfortunately no public transport my way, nor active options which I'd use if existed as I ride my bike in much of my free time. I'd love to ride to work, but no cycling paths, and really sketchy roads means its not worth the potential danger.

[@scottcornford1644]

If i drive to work it takes 20mins if i take public transport it takes an hour and a half and that's why I drive its as simple as that and thats extremely common which is why Brisbane residents drive

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Public transport is a whole other thing, and one that also needs to be addressed...

[@bandita2068]

Bus roads not connected no bus lanes > because even kids drive to school/ gets driven there public transport is super slow

[@davidwilliams7552]

Yes I live on the Bay Islands and have bought a mainland car... because it can take 2 hours by bus to the city but it's only a 40 minute drive. Buses and ferries do not connect, if they do the bus is often late and misses it anyway meaning a one hour wait for next ferry.

[@anubizz3]

That's why you invest on public transport not this bike lane.. I live 10 km for Sydney CBD, lucky enough to have train, company paid parking, continuous bikelane to CBD (even have end of journey facility with shower). So do I drive because I have free parking? No because with congestion it will take at least 45 min - 1 1/2 hours . Do I take my ebike or my dutch bike? No because it takes at least 30 to 40 min + shower time (unless you disgusting cyclists that work smelly). there leave me with 2 mode of transport the fastest of course motorcycle which gonna take me around 15-20 min or train which take me 20 to 30 min (even include the waiting and walking to the station). I've then I take train 90% of the time. I love this bike advocates that just say if you live 10k from work you should bike... Yeah you need to have bike storage + end of journey facility in your workplace which rare...

[@BD-yl5mh]

Something that absolutely needs to not be forgotten: bicycle parking, not just at destinations, but at people’s homes. My partner and I would be candidates for cycling, but we rent an apartment with one car port space, which has a small storage locker at the back of it. Nowhere obvious to put two bikes. I feel like this becomes a weird side effect of the housing crisis. We keep building low quality housing, and then people can’t necessarily rely on there being somewhere to store their bike at their house.

[@anubizz3]

You cannot put 2 bike in car spot? Because we have car slot allocated for motor it fit 6 motorcycle..?

[@davidcrabbe9710]

Thanks for making this video and shining a spotlight on the issue of active transport. When I moved to Brisbane I realised how patchy and inconsistent the bike infrastructure is, and in many cases how it represents the easiest routes, alongside waterways and major roads, that don't often lead anywhere useful for commuters. Until there's a continuous series of routes that are completely segregated from road traffic, cycling won't become truly an alternative for most people as it's simply too dangerous.

[@dennisdksing]

Great video Adam. Your production level has really increased lately, this one and other recent videos look very professional!

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Cheers!

[@CGWillB]

the reduced speed limits would be so good for so many residential streets but so many roads are designed to encourage speeds well above the 50km/h limits. It doesn't matter what a sign says on some suburban road with no cameras around if its wide enough to fly through at 80 with multiple meters of clearance for any parked cars and intersections flared enough they barely need to slow down. narrow enclosed roads that make drivers feel cramped between trees and curbs protecting pedestrian and bike paths would make the streets so much safer in the exact same footprint of many streets. (might need to remove some parking tho)

[@wytreeey3645]

@14:05 Regarding traffic around schools: I think a sad thing which happened in the 90's was the introduction of mandatory bicycle helmet laws. I was in high school when this occured and saw first hand the sudden change in the mode of transport from cycling to "Kiss and Go" drop off and pick up in a car. I'm not necessarily against bicycle helmets, but making a law to enforce its use comes with side effects and unintended consequences, including an overall negative public health consequence. I think another unintended consequence of a mandatory helmet law is the drop in public demand to build segregated bicycle paths. I've been on 6 bicycle tours in The Netherlands which on average last 10 days and 600km each, including the hilly south which is comparable to the hills in Maleny/Montville/Mapleton. The segregated bicycle path infrastructure in that country make it a very pleasant place to visit, particularly around shops and outdoor malls. The lifestyle is much more relaxing when out and about when compared to Brisbane. I think there is so much Australians could learn from The Netherlands and as a taxpayer would be happy if my elected representatives visited that country to study its success, ride around the Dutch cities and bring their ideas back home to be implemented in Brisbane.

[@kapparill]

completely agreed on the helmets - it discourages people from trying to ride

[@PyroManZII]

I just don't understand why people are so discouraged to ride by helmets? They typically cost about $20 for something that is up to standard, and sure they leave your hair a bit sweaty but so does every item of clothing you wear when you cycle. I've even seen people wear a cap but not a helmet for some reason? Especially as e-bikes become more popular, the sheer risk of letting people endanger their health to the tunes of millions of dollars is not the sort of cost a society can bear just so that people don't have to have sweaty hair when they ride. I would likely be dead or disabled at this point if it wasn't for my helmet, and most ERs are getting 1000s of visitors per year with facial injuries from e-bikes. I agree that segregated pathways are much more useful than a helmet, but I really doubt the government would turn around tomorrow and realise they need to build more bike paths just because people no longer had to wear helmets.

[@wytreeey3645]

@@PyroManZII I think the reason for being discouraged to ride by a helmet law changed over the years. At first, at least in my case and my peers at the time, we didn't like the new law, so we gave up using a bike. A few years went by and we forgot about it when we got cars. I only came back to bikes 15 years later because I lived overseas for a while. As time went on, I can only guess that bike use is considered a 'dangerous' activity in the minds of many Australians., maybe because Australians have mental images of hard core dare devil sports road riders and mountain bike riders now instead of the casual person riding to the shop to buy milk. Having said this, I would only support relaxing the helmet law for non assisted bikes to encourage numbers and attempt to improve public health. I think there is little health benefit in e-bike usage, so a helmet law for that might still be okay.

[@bandita2068]

Mate I don't get you Netherlands is flat as hell, bike helmets really??? are you joking , You do not use seat belts when driving either? Is it because anything affecting the highness lords/ queens comfort is evil...

[@PyroManZII]

@@wytreeey3645 Why didn't you or your peers like the law though? I understand for teens it probably seems a bit dorky, but so are motorbike helmets so why is there such a large difference in usage? I also agree with the health benefits of exercising more, but I was riding an un-assisted bike when I crashed. All the health benefits I had accrued would certainly have come at large expense to taxpayers when they spent the next 20 years extending my life through Medicare and NDIS. I would guess about the same cost as building a new segregated bike path? I don't mean to paint such a grim picture to cause distress, but to paint an image of the sheer public expense we are looking at to try and convince a handful of people still worried about... sweaty hair? ... to switch their car for a bike. That is why I'm interested to have a deeper perspective about the exact reasons people are discouraged by bike helmets, because I really don't understand in the slightest at this stage.

[@AnthonyReinhart-uz6er]

Great video, and you nailed the core of the problem: entrenched car culture. Before I moved to Brisbane (Coorparoo) from a mid-sized Canadian city in 2023, I thought Canada was bad for car dependency, but I've found Brisbane to be significantly worse. So many privileges are freely extended to vehicle drivers here at the expense of pedestrians and cyclists - round-the-clock free parking on residential streets (including boats and caravans), high-speed arterial roads with very few stops, vehicle priority at intersections, lack of stop signs in residential neighbourhoods, just to name a few. All the improvements mentioned in this video are worthy and Brisbane has made some solid moves in active transport, but I think progress will be slower than it needs to be until it addresses the elephant (or massive SUV) in the room - the massive public subsidies it extends to motorists in the form of those kinds of privileges.

[@spookybeth]

I live on the Mount Coot-tha side of Toowong. Public transport here is pretty garbage, while 40 mins walk away on the main roads there are so many buses and the train option. I would cycle to work in the city but I'm terrified of the Sylvan road section: "bike lane" on a super busy road, right beside traffic, often cars parked in the lane. The bikeways on either side of that stretch are great, but I'm not game to ride on the road in those "lanes". It sucks, I could leave whenever and be at work in less than 20 minutes but I don't want to get hit by a car :/

[@tom420guitar]

So good to see people talking about this. I live in Toowong and use the bike lane on Sylvan Road often, but I hate it. Drivers are SO impatient, even though we usually all end up at the same traffic light, and God forbid you need to turn right at any point... there are also times where the bike lane passes through a left turn for cars and it's just so dangerous and I see near accidents all the time. Then, if I want to go to St Lucia for example, I need to go to Toowong Village which involves crossing 4 lanes of traffic with a 60km speed limit and then either I have to go the wrong way down a one way street, walk my bike, and then walk the overpass to get to tbe bike lane on the otherside, or cut through a car park and then walk the overpass... and don't get me started on the windy goose chase that is the bike lane in St Lucia! There's a strsight road that goes all the way along, why do we have to zig zag around and climb multiple hills?

[@JimCullen]

Speaking of Sylvan Rd, it's _very_ telling where our society's priorities are just looking at that one street. It's easily wide enough, and an important enough connection, that it should have a 24/7 fully separated bike path, but it doesn't. It _does_ have a temporary unseparated bike lane during peak hours, but drivers regularly park in it anyway. And when one legend went through keying the cars illegally parked, the police spent every possible effort to track him down and charge him with property damage. Whereas they almost never do anything when drivers are endangering cyclists' _lives._ Somehow minor property damage is worth more than people's actual lives in this country.

[@lucasyoung6791]

The scooter rider going at the speed of light 😂 Perfectly timed

[@yesbeautyfly]

He might have exceeded the speed limit but unfortunately such e scooters are neither registered nor insured, over powered speeding (above 25km/hr) e scooters always have no penalty notices.

[@christopha3426]

You've really leveled up on the types of stories you make man. We appreciate letting us know whats going on behind the scenes in our city

[@aglr5848]

Great video - love to see more people talking about this in Brisbane. Unfortunate that given the last two elections we aren't likely to see much improvement over the next few years. Good to see BCC is making some sense on these issues, as it's absolutely true from a financial perspective that non-driving options are the most cost-effective way to move people. One of the things to focus on is the on-street parking on side streets. You see most suburban streets consist of two stationary and two unstationary car lanes with no accomodation for anyone else. Removing one parking lane for a two-way bike path could do wonders for a lot of local streets. It's not actually that complex though. You just need to put your foot down on entitled drivers and force them to share the road with everyone. Reduce speed limits, add more lanes and infrastructure for non-car transport options, and in some cases reallocate car lanes to other purposes. When you do a deep dive on public transport, I would love to see some investigation into what happened on Gympie road. Four years of roadworks to add part-time bus lanes, which apparently required them to widen the road to 10 lanes (!!) in some parts, and it's not even a full time bus lane. They could have done it in six months at a fraction of the cost if they had simply reallocated one of the existing car lanes to buses only, and it would have been much more effective. I really want to know what they were thinking with that one.

[@Sabena-pl3cw]

Agree. Cars take up too much real estate and the non-driving public is not being adequately compensated.

[@sanitygone-l9y]

@@aglr5848 There is this insane fear in Brisbane and its greater suburbs to take away any space from cars and drivers. Even when they do add bike lanes, instead of the on street parking acting as a divider between the cars and people cycling, they still put the “bike lane” (really just a painted gutter) right next to the speeding traffic.

[@s.a.m.9837]

And stopping it at Road Road 500m short of the largest shopping centre in the Southern Hemisphere. Really logical and reasonable decision

[@Silvergum]

The fact that these are the goals of council is huge it's thoroughly proven that more lanes = more traffic but car centric development is still so common

[@Ronald-qj5nx]

Brisbane City has come a long way since the mid to late 90’s when I used to cycle from West End to QUT Garden's Point on an almost daily basis. The only 2 bits of cycling infrastructure that I knew of back then was the Bicentennial Bikeway which ran from Garden’s Point to Toowong, and the bike path that ran from South Bank to Kangaroo Point. To get to Indooroopilly, I had to use the roads beyond Toowong. There were no bike paths within the CBD, I was on the roads if I wanted to go to the Fortitude Valley. Cycling on the footpaths was not allowed in those days as well unless it was marked as a shared path, but the police were relaxed on this unless there were a lot of pedestrians. Last year (2023) I came back to participate in the Tour de Brisbane, I was almost overwhelmed with the changes to Brisbane since my last time cycling in Brisbane!!!

[@adamknight5089]

It's great to see you guys putting effort into this. 50c transport fares is also incredibly brave move. As I''m from Sydney, whenever I go to Brisbane and Gold Coast I just love how well maintained the roads are and behaviour of drivers (i.e. speeding is very rare to see). We (NSW) have a lot to learn from you guys and only recently I heard we're going to allow e-scooters finally. I've always wanted to ride these for quick trips to the shops where parking a car is the worst part of the experience.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

As far as the behaviour of the drivers goes, you may have been lucky. Speeding is certainly not rare, nor is people going ten to twenty k's below the limit. And don't get me started on indicating! Not sure if it's gotten worse down there, but I did grow up in NSW and spent about seven years of my adult life there as well (both in a country town in northern NSW and in Sydney), so I think I am reasonably qualified to compare the two, and I've found there to be a higher proportion of bad drivers up here. I'm glad to hear e-scooters may be able to be adopted down there. There's some teething problems here, and I do think there needs to be more education and enforcement of laws around safe riding, but there's so much potential for them to be a positive thing.

[@supergluex]

Everyone in this video is excellent, and the reason why Brisbane transport and the general infrastructure care factor is so strong. The proactive concern is amazing, especially considering from the perspective of other cities, such as Auckland where I am from, or Sydney. We have .50c public transport now, river, good pathways. Excellent QLDr's past present future - you are the best. /briwi

[@bandita2068]

lack of car bridges makes huge traffic on the very few and on the roads leading there + way too short Citycat route on the south imho

[@ChrisCoxCycling]

@bandita2068 the thing is, even if you built more car bridges, all you'd do is shift congestion to other local areas. We have to get over trying to move cars and focus on moving people. Cars are one of the least efficient ways to do that

[@ritaprockow2866]

Dziękujemy.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

You're welcome, and thank you!

[@manitgopal6486]

Awesome video as always, Adam! I have started noticing a lot of these issues as I have started biking to get around the Greater Brisbane Region. I'm glad to see the relevant people articulate these points so well. Re: North Brisbane Bikeway... I have both biked and driven along Dickson street, numerous times, and the whole situation is frankly very sad. Seeing the general reception to that separated bikeway, as well as the posters outside many of the houses on that road, campaigning to stop the "Dickson Street Planning Disaster" are just terrible. It is quite difficult for me to understand why the community seems to believe that increased bike infrastructure leads to decreased road safety and increased risk of crashes. I know this is getting quite a bit into the details of this topic, but it would be great to see you do some sort of interview of these kinds of people, who seem to be firmly against cycling, and get them to articulate their thoughts. This could be a major step forward in trying to understand their mindset.

[@wozm9924]

Amsterdam is the gold standard. Safety is the big one, followed by practicalities. End of journey facilities need to become ubiquitous. And narrow strips of green paint on busy roads does not constitute infrastructure.

[@ownyourcrazy8734]

I used to cycle daily between my bayside home near Wynnum to Milton several days a week until I broke my collar bone cycling home. Navigating Wynnum and Lytton Roads (that is, both Lytton Roads) was quite the challenge.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Wow! Sorry to hear that! Do you mind if I ask how it happened?

[@ownyourcrazy8734]

@BrisbaneChannel I hit traffic signage on Vulture Street. I purposely stuck to the footpaths in that area, believing I would be safer.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

That just goes to show what a barrier not feeling safe on the roads is to more people taking up cycling and e-scooting, but it sucks that it turned out to be hazardous in a different way!

[@ownyourcrazy8734]

@BrisbaneChannel I had car passengers yelling at me without warning or reason out of nowhere. It could get quite frightening.

[@bandita2068]

Yeah most people give up after a month it is playing with your life with all the criminals on the road. I had idiot kids in giant monster trucks almost crashing into parking cars so just they can push me off the road.

[@adventureswithgrunt]

BCC has Active School Travel (AST) that school's can join. Our bike cage was overflowing on the AST day during the covid years. The last couple of years as we get back to the work place, it's dropped off significantly. The school still promotes it though. We are on a main road so it never feels like a safe place to ride to. We asked BCC to put a decent fence up along the main road, all they did was install 5 metres of flimsy wire fence. Anyhow, hopefully the students learn from the AST program.

[@ApeOnABike]

Great video. Well balanced. Nicely interviewed with a good range of stakeholders. As well as all the things mentioned in the video: when I walk my suburb a fair number of streets don’t have footpaths, don’t have shade, or neither. It makes walking a challenge. When I ride my bike to my city job the V1 Veloway is great but getting there is not. My office is not near the very limited CityLink paths, so I have to dice with cars. I couldn’t in good conscience recommend a similar city bike commute to a new rider. When I consider combining active transport with public transport the journey times make it untenable. Our public transport planning is so reactive. It takes 10-15 years to build a major infrastructure project, and in 2040 a real MRT metro will be looking pretty necessary. But currently we can’t even get the busways completed to their original intent. Meanwhile we have 2x $10B road tunnels being seriously considered and planned. TLDR? Brisbane doesn’t just need incremental improvement. It needs a paradigm shift in transport and urban planning. It needs visionary change that takes the public along with it by demonstrating the benefits of good planning, rather than appeasing the naysayers and enabling the mistakes of the past to continue.

[@tgough6450]

Brisbane has some great cycling infrastructure (in my area at least). One missing link is QR. QR allows bikes on trains, but sometimes I've seen (against QR's rules) 7-8 bikes and scooters on a train. Going forward QR needs to plan for more adaptable bike spaces on trains, maybe some scooter racks, etc.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Integration with public transport is definitely something that can make a huge difference, especially for those using active transport for first/last mile journeys.

[@eadonnlawrence9934]

Brisbane has grown up way too fast for its own good and is now trying to squeeze a size 12 foot in to a size 8 shoe. Brisbane suffers from a similar fate many cities have, that had massive expansion from the 70s onwards by adopting the American style car centric city structure. Shopping malls and strodes as far as the eye can see. I’ve been screaming it out for decades but nobody will take my advice. Density, density and more density, and when you think the city is too dense, add some more density.

[@CA999]

It's not 'adopting'. It's political lobbying to create car dependency, and mass consumerism in general.

[@tom420guitar]

So true. Makes me so sad knowing Brisbane had a world-leading tram system up until the mid 20th century and then just completely got rid of it in favour of cars. And now we're here, and unfortunately, trying to marry car-centric urban sprawl with public transport is bloody hard... people don't want it and now distances are much further, which makes it difficult for public transport to be a viable option. I hope the olympics coming mean a big shake up to public transport in Brissy, but after seeing the Brisbane "Metro" I'm not convinced...

[@yesbeautyfly]

The internal migrants who come to Brisbane love to drive & big low density houses. Population rises but use of public transport dropped before 50c fares was introduced on 5Aug2024. If they want density, they would have stayed or moved to Melbourne CBD, where English speaking Australians are the minority.

[@yesbeautyfly]

​@@tom420guitar Sydney had ripped up 2 massive tram networks on both sides of Syd Harbour too & then most trams became charcoal & smoke to make sure it was irreversible.

[@tom420guitar]

@yesbeautyfly so shit!

[@dembrey]

Something that often happens in conversations about the greater Brisbane area is that the conversation becomes about the Brisbane Council (the weight of numbers perhaps). There is some quite good infrastructure outside of the Brisbane LGA, though the surrounding Council areas do suffer from the same active transport connectivity problems and are even worse for public transport. The biggest Local Government Areas in Australia (by population and area) can be found in south east Queensland, which does beg the question “If some smaller Councils elsewhere in Australia are building better active and public transport networks … what are they doing that we are not?”. Should you ever run low on ideas on what to make videos about, perhaps you could interview the other Councils around Brisbane about what they are doing about public and active transport. “Brisbane: is not just Brisbane. Thanks very much for doing this vid. I thought it was quite good.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Thanks. Yes, I had originally planned to include the four other LGAs in Greater Brisbane in this video, but time and resources limited my ability to realise that goal (it's not easy when it's just me, and this is just a side-hustle). I do intend to focus on building my connections with other LGAs and also increasing the amount of attention given them on this channel. It will be a gradual change, but I hope that within the next 18 months this channel has become a solid source of information for a range of topics relevant to all 5 LGAs. I am hoping to include some stakeholders from Logan in my video on youth crime that is in the works, for example. And I am sure I'll be speaking with both council and organisations in Moreton Bay for another planned video on homelessness in Brisbane. It won't happen overnight, but rest assured this channel will not always be so limited to the Brisbane City LGA.

[@TheGapSustainabilityInitiative]

Thank you for this excellent video

[@dancumberland6215]

A difficult connection is from Grange to Downey park. Lots of faded painted bikes on the road but most of it is a ‘suicide lane’ where the suggested road position is in the where parked cars open doors.

[@paulf7757]

You pretty much summed it up. Brisbane has great biking infrastructuce sometimes and scary roads for biking everywhere else. If they do bring in 30K speed limits they should also allow ebikes to be limited to 30Kph instead of 25 otherwise what is the point cars will drive faster than 30 and bikes will still be considered in the way.

[@jimmyboy2]

Veloway 1 needs to connect all the dots ASAP. Birdwood tce getting it's overhead bridge funding is great but does not start construction until end of 2025. This has lots of gaps all the way to GC. Once done, that'll put lots of peeps on it 👍

[@geoffspencer529]

Great video, many thanks. My issue with active transport is how bicycle and scooter riders interact with pedestrians. They need to be separated. Try walking across the Story Bridge where it’s not separate and you’ll understand why it’s unsafe. Some riders are going too fast on shared pathways. Interesting to see how fast that e-scooter was travelling towards the end of your video. Sure, Pedestrians need to take care. But like it or not, pedestrians have ultimate right of way.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Yes, separated lanes for pedestrians and wheeled devices are ideal - either on paths or as a physically separated lane on roads for cyclists and e-scooters. If only one could regulate dangerous riding effectively, as that's definitely a concern for pedestrians in particular.

[@18voltmofo]

As someone who has commuted to work for the last 23 years my biggest issue is having trucks and bicycles in the left lane.

[@user6]

One point that was not raised is that Brisbane is a CBD centric business hub, which is a major mistake imo. More and more high rises are going up in the CBD forcing even more demand on the already over-utilised traffic network. If the businesses located in the CBD were instead relocated to hubs all around the greater city then the roads would be better utilised / be more efficient, which in turn would pass on the benefits to all parts of life.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

That kind of thing is something I'm saving for another video. Hoping to arrange some interviews with some relevant academics for an in-depth look at how Brisbane's city planning contributes to some of the challenges we face, and to what extent it can be improved and how.

[@Wofinet]

The stage we are at in Brisbane is BCC builds little bits of fantastic and expensive infrastructure that doesn’t link up to anything - and then get angry because no one uses it.

[@kapparill]

Great video. I do think that simply reducing a speed limit would not make people dirve slower; instead, it would be better to repaint road lines to be thicker and closer together like the UK does, or redesign the road to be narrower to encourage slower driving, because many of the 50 and 60 zone streets I know in both Brisbane and surrounding LGAs are far too wide to encourage people to drive slower and increase pedestrian activity

[@BrisbaneChannel]

I guess that's where "traffic calming" comes in. Definitely something most people in this video advocate for.

[@becsterbrisbane6275]

As someone in the Moreton Bay region who commutes to the CBD, I just wish councils would talk to each other more to create a seamless transition between LGA's with the public transport. We do not have any buses to the CBD & it's like hitting District 12 when you get to Bald Hills!! The best option I have is either the park n ride at Strathpine- Chermside (& travelling all over yonder via Bridgeman Downs!) then a bus from there, not very seamless & complicated connections. Or, train to Carseldine, bus at the station again (again, all over Bridgeman Downs and way out to the RBWH before finally hitting the CBD). If there's "police incidents' or the endless bridge strikes that happen on a weekly basis at Beams Road (Carseldine) there's no real alternative way into the city.

[@davemail66]

Well explained and delivered Adam (thank you). I'm sure most would agree, that this would apply and benefit the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast regions as well.

[@CZTachyonsVN]

Big ups to you for bringing up this issue. Cities need to move towards pedestrian friendly infrastructure rather car focused. Growing up in Europe I never neede my family to drive me to school. Primary schools (recreational parkslands) were 90% of the time in walking distance. Otherwise public transport is practical and safe option for women and children. I lived in the Brisbane CBD and commuted to Uni by bike. Now I live with my own family in Moorooka either biking or public transport feel unsafe or impractical. They should not be the last resort option in commuting, but the first choice.

[@CrackingGate]

The comments from BCC building special corridors for access (Legacy Way, Clem 7 etc...) being filled up are not true. There are these really great transport links available but not being used enough because the infrastructure is sold to a private company and then endless tolls are attached to them. They are restrictive and people are avoiding them which is a direct cause to the congestion, yet being overlooked. These special access corridors should be available to all road users, not just those who afford to pay tolls.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

The prohibitive cost of tollways that would help ease congestion is definitely a significant factor. These being free would definitely help things, at least short term. Not sure how long it would take before induced demand along with population increase leading to them becoming congested as well, though. But I do agree that the privatisation of roads like this does nobody any good apart from the corporations that are profiting from them.

[@notanengineer]

I'd love to cycle to places (in winter at least) but i know so many people who've had bikes and scooters stolen so I'm really not comfortable leaving it anywhere that isn't right in front of me

[@TheProteanGeek]

I think that they need to actually finish the connections for the Brisbane North Bikeway to the city. I know locals didn't like what was proposed (or at least a loud enough section of them) but having to share the road, especially in high traffic areas, dissuades a lot of people from using these paths. Painted lines and "awareness zones" is not enough. Grade separated should be the minimum. Another thing I think that isn't really considered here that would vastly increase active transport option use is more prevalence of local shops, facilities, and third places that are within walking or riding distance.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Yes, decentralising and focusing on building hubs throughout Greater Brisbane is part of possible solutions, but I already had to omit so much to make the video manageable that I didn't even try to bring that in. I think it's something that would suit a dedicated video that looks at city planning more broadly.

[@TheProteanGeek]

@@BrisbaneChannel yeah I totally get that, most people aren't probably going to sit down and what a two hour long video about urban planning and transport 🤣 Great video and it was certainly good thought to focus in on what you did. When you start looking at one topic around how a city develops and its people live within it is crazy how much interconnected everything is.

[@ChrisCoxCycling]

@TheProteanGeek I've done several videos about the North Brisbane Bikeway and recently published a video showing the whole route from the CBD to the Airport, which shows just how bad this missing section is. Hopefully Council finds their courage this term and delivers the last 500m of a safe bike route from Brisbane to Redcliffe.

[@dwaz]

The eastern suburbs of Brisbane are curious what these bikeways are?

[@eventhusist6969]

If you want to go to a car friendly and car centric city, come to Adelaide. Sad, but true that there is nothing for regional commuters. At least school zones are 25km/h here

[@DanielleA2023]

Only one ♀️ was interviewd in the "Good" section. And she was absolutely 💯 spot on re King Street. The men were all over the place and taking only their individual need into consideration

[@mataph7805]

Old mate at 19:03 going for the land speed record! 😂

[@stoatio8682]

So many idiot drivers I'm terrified to ride on roads. Would absolutely be encouraged if there were safer local access to the main bikeways.

[@michaelbradbrook9575]

This is an excellent video! Well laid out and I hope more BCC and Qld Gov representatives see this 🤔

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Cheers!

[@AKA001]

We need more focus on slowing traffic down. 25kmh school zones like in Adelaide, 40kmh suburban limits, bicycle super highways along major arteries like Kelvin Grove Road. Cut one car lane and transform it into a bike lane. This will really work on the psyche of motorist when cyclists and e-scooters pass them at 25kmh during peak traffic. Anyone living within 5 to 10 km of their destination, should be able to cycle safely.

[@ricky2516]

We are too big of a city to think of slowing down or reducing lanes, in saying that adequate bike paths are essential. We have a group who think bikes are an issue and a group who think cars are an issue. My opinion is we need to work out coexistence, i want to ride an E skate board to work (throw back to high school for me) but thats incredibly dangerous to ride into eagle farm and realistically we can't remove the trucks or reduce their lanes. But i see bikes/scooters and bus's (busses?) Adding to congestion on the roads and on the same thought we can't reduce them. The biggest problem over all is housing and living across the city from your work place. Further to drive is more time on the road, more cars to congest the lack of lanes. The more congestion the high risk for bikes/scooters. So if we build bike paths separate from the roads we can move a big chunk of traffic and if it becomes free flowing enough we can add more busses into the mix. Though this is my opinion from my drives over the last few years, i like to think I've got it worked out though this is the first time I've ever put it to text 😂

[@AKA001]

@ true we are a big city. However, anyone within 5 to 10km radius of the CBD should be able to ride, scooter, skate and walk into work safely. There are approx 1 million households in greater Brisbane, say that 250,000 of those live within the radius range and 10% of those decide to micro transport to work. That’s 25000 cars off the roads. Reducing car lanes doesn’t reduce capacity, as most motorists drive across all 3 unnecessarily anyways. So they’re stuck already. Psychologically those who chose to drive from Annesley or Stafford into the city will wonder why they’re not riding into town on a beautiful sunny 25 degree day.

[@anubizz3]

​@@AKA001Then we need to make sure this 25000 less car working place have end of journey facility and parking for bike... Yeah I live within 10km Sydney cbd with bikelane and that bikelane almost empty everyday... You know why? Because at least 1500 people inside a train every 7 min.

[@djsUltra]

As much as I'd love to have great active transport access, Brisbane can get very hot, and I feel like active transport can't really help that much for the majority of travel which is work related or long distance. Honestly, I think the heat is an overlooked aspect of transport in Australia, and something most western cities don't need to deal with as much. Yes, a little sweat never hurt anyone, but sometimes it's just out of the question.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

That's certainly a factor for me, although electronic forms of active transport could help with that (as Andrew from BQ mentioned). And improved shading is another thing that comes up a lot when it comes to making getting around more pleasant for pedestrians.

[@brianpearson8782]

Brisbane has no gridlock, only traffic jams. There is a difference. Grid lock is when all roads in a broad sector are jammed and not one car can move. A traffic jam is contained to a small area where traffic queues but traffic can move

[@BrisbaneChannel]

True. I admit that sometimes I'm a little loose when it comes to video titles. But I try to be accurate in the video descriptions and content.

[@mushy111]

Great content as always. What amazes me with Aussie cities in general, but particularly Brisbane, is the relatively low density housing around railway stations. I think there should really be a push for high density on all lines as far out as Yeronga, Coorparoo, Wooloowin, Newmarket and Toowong. We should look to Europe for inspiration.

[@ahkl77]

Cooparoo and Toowong are already high density hubs, if you’re from here and seen it.

[@mushy111]

@@ahkl77Coorparoo is hardly high density housing around the train station. It's almost exclusively low density industrial sheds and single family houses. Toowong could be a lot more dense.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

I'm in the process of investigating plans to develop areas that are close to public and active transport infrastructure that incorporate higher density housing in the plans. In fact, today I'm interviewing the first person for that video.

[@HyperHorse]

We need more buses. Good luck trying to get any investment in infrastructure from a lnp state government and council.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Well, the council has pretty much always been LNP, and they seem to be coming around. But we'll see what happens as far as state funding goes...

[@Steve211Ucdhihifvshi]

We dont need more busses, we need a wipe out of the current ones and a new private providers that can modify routes to enable people to actually get places. For example a mate of mine that was a pilot would of have to have gone to the airport daily for work from his suburb of chermside west it would have taken over 2.5 hours on public transport and cost a fortune.

[@sanitygone-l9y]

@@Steve211Ucdhihifvshi Privatising essential public services is never a good idea.

[@lukebm5555]

@@Steve211UcdhihifvshiThe airport train line IS privately owned, which is why it is so expensive. Privatisation can be good when you have a proper competitive market but public transport is a natural monopoly so would only get worse.

[@clubgus07]

Adam i can vouch for the B Ridge wonderful Bike paths, Walking path might be some uneven surfaces but there be Tree roots growing under those particular paths. But yeah my requirements in wanting to go out for a walk or bike somewhere is there going to be a toilet along theway is there going to be water bubblers. A Bottle of water hots up so quickly in the Qld sun. if none or some of this conditions are met its ok I understand a toilet cant be placed everywhere. The only other condition that prevents me from biking is Magpie/Butcher bird season once or twice bitten I can't do surprises anymore it hurts my ego. but I do hope more connective bike paths pop up so there's less traffic on our roads.

[@the.parks.of.no.return]

I love walking in the hot sun and rain carrying stuff

[@colinmay151]

The last guy gets it,,,, Its the growth in SCHOOL traffic, as for the Lady,, remind her that GOV already spend expediently more on active transport infrastructure based on usage and the unproductive loss of the turn left lanes on many intersections due to pedestrian crossings

[@MrBlompod]

Great vid 👍🏼 I really think the bike ways need to be policed as crazy speeding is rampant..

[@jimmyp1433]

There's an awesome bike way along the gateway , I was going to consider utilising so I didn't have to drive.. but what to you know, I'm just north of the pine river, with no way across to bald hills.. Driving is my only practical option

[@tehjaxor]

Good overview

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Cheers.

[@aussiebloke51]

Think Brisbane is bad? - Try the Sunshine Coast. In Maroochydore there are three big Boxes - the green box (Bunnings), the blue box (Officeworks) and the Orange Box (Anaconda). They are all grouped closely together but you have to drive from one carpark to other because the pedestrian infrastructure is missing or poorly designed and makes walking too dangerous. You cannot reach them easily but public transit either!

[@adamski-l5w]

People who insist on driving should be the most incentivised to encourage their fellow drivers off the road. Look around you as you’re stuck on the SE Freeway and wouldn’t you prefer that a quarter of the cars blocking you to not be there?

[@anubizz3]

Yeah buy making great public transport not by making bike lane... Do even notice almost no one even use the expensive bridge in the end of the video?

[@adamski-l5w]

@ that bridge isn’t open yet hence zero use thus far. I would suggest connecting kanga point to the city is long overdue. And a pedestrian connection specifically is what has been lacking. I can’t wait for it to open. Coming from the south I will be regularly using it. But given popular venues either side of the river around that spot that bridge is needed just for entertainment purposes alone. Of course grade separated public transport would be best I won’t argue with that. Cheers

[@mrbaker1739]

What are the average distance people cycle in cities with well developed active transport systems. Then consider topography and climate. You can’t make a direct comparison without looking at all the issues. Exactly how many people have the time and the fitness to cycle large distances up and down hills in 35 decree heat.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

@@mrbaker1739 Certainly factors that need consideration when comparing.

[@ownyourcrazy8734]

Where I live, the entire housing estate is a 40 kph zone with streets narrow streets.

[@suzekendall4841]

We went to The Gabba from Springfieild Central. Took a long round about way to get there. Going home we realised we wouldnt get back til 1.40 am. We ended up calling for a ride home.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

You mean you were originally using public transport? If so, that's not surprising, as that's a significantly lacking area in Greater Brisbane.

[@suzekendall4841]

@ yea we started ok (1st time to Gabba) We didnt realise it doesnt work the same going home.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

It gets a lot worse as you go into later in the night too, which may have been part of the challenge.

[@chrisprickett255]

Here's an idea! If we want to reduce the amount of traffic, let's address the causes not the symptoms. ie urban sprawl, centralization, job portability etc which I believe means that today people have far more distance to travel on a daily basis than they have in past years. Public transport sprawl won't be viable.

[@Croz89]

I don't think active travel by itself usually ends gridlock, if the city doesn't also invest in mass transit. I think sometimes active travel infrastructure is seen as a cheap investment over something like light rail or metro, which can result in really long bike routes that barely anyone uses because it's too far for most commuters.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Agreed that active transport is one piece of the puzzle, but it's a 5000-piece puzzle. Public transport makes up far more of the pieces.

[@ChrisCoxCycling]

@BrisbaneChannel and active transport is crucial for that "last mile"... getting to and from PT. What we don't want is endlessly growing fields of asphalt for carparks at train and bus stations which would be land better used for housing, retail, hospitality and services.

[@anubizz3]

​@@BrisbaneChannelit's not even a piece of the puzzle in Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo.. Just look at Tokyo biking they are great even without this bullshit special bike lane and reduce speed crap.

[@syco50]

As soon as you get out to the burbs on a bike it is a Deathtrap

[@blakeshaw3679]

I find this attitude from BQ a little disappointing. They mention a lack of investment being the barrier to a connected network. I disagree. We will never be able to afford gold standard separated infrastructure everywhere. If we keep raising this as the main barrier to a network, nothing will materially change other than a few pieces here and there. Whilst these facilities are great, the biggest potential for cycling is to reprioritise existing road space for cycling infrastructure, or otherwise make existing roads more cycling friendly. It's a shame BQ doesn't push this more.

[@CA999]

Yiu should be asking why Brisbane (South East Queensland) even needs more population. It's not like its a region with value-added industries. More people is leading to more (transportation) poverty.

[@ApeOnABike]

Economics and demographics hold your answer. Whether you like it or not, whether we ‘need’ it or not, whatever industries are centred here, Brisbane is growing and absolutely will follow those growth trends. So you can ask “why” all you want but it won’t stop the population increasing. The remaining question is how do we deal with it or turn it to our advantage.

[@yesbeautyfly]

The video was filmed mostly during cloudly days. QLDers know 6 months of a year just sitting is hot enough to sweat if no rain.

[@user-fy1hr6zv7p]

A lot of people drive car because public transport network is terrible. I can drive to work in 15 minutes, but if i use buses it is 1 hour and 20 minites. If there is decent public transport network that runs every 5-10 minutes and not once or twice per hour, people will use it. Also in Europe bicycle helmets not being mandatory makes rent bike/ e-scooter schemes very popular among commuters.

[@christophernicholascarter6865]

I agree with everything except the speed limits. Maybe in built up areas I guess, but there are far too many arterial roads that have a speed limit of 60kmph when they should be a minimum of 80kmph

[@mickeyd8606]

Cr Ryan Murphy is at best misleading when he states the majority of the community are against the stage 5 design, the community consultation had majority of support. He appears to be narrowing his view of consultation community to the people that own property in the streets stage 5 will flow through. Honestly I think the LNP councillors want to say they support active transport but when it comes time to negotiating tough situations they are happy to fold.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Yes, when I sent a link to the unlisted video the day before it went live, Chris Cox sent me a screenshot of a report from BCC saying 60% were in favour, but they then removed that detail from anything available to the public online.

[@cascascacscascas]

@@BrisbaneChannel That 60% detail has most likely been removed as it was incorrect. The project team apparently counted all survey submissions as in favour of the project, regardless of whether the comments in those responses were against the project.

[@TheTouras]

I have soo many issues with the active transport options, but it comes down to 2, safety and lack of information. I can't find information about the best way to cycle/e-scooter from my home to work. Google maps does a terrible job for cycling. Even using what i know of the local area I still have to spend a considerable percentage of the trip cycling on a footpath less than a meter from traffic on busy main roads. The outer north of BCC gets really nothing in the way of trunk connection.to the city

[@petrusrossouw6018]

Lower speed limits will not fix the problem. You want people to leave their car at home, and that means getting people who live 20-30ks or more out to have an efficient, fast and easy way to work and back, and if it storm in the afternoon, have a backup to get home again. Biking in Europe works, for various reasons. Very good public transport and well connected transport on high frequency. You can take the bus, the train, the subway, a bike. In most Euro cities you can walk less than 1 city block and be at a metro station. Here I live in morningside, 4km from city, and on a friday, if I wanted to go into the city to a bar, to eat out, to clubs, the latest bus I can take is 7pm, anything after that there is no option, but to take the car or an expensive taxi. Taxi fairs is out of this world expensive. A uber from Kangaroo Point to my place is $25, I could have walked the 3km if I wanted to. What do you do with the bike once you in the city or wherever? Do you leave it on the pavement? is there a bike rack/park? And what do you with the stupid helmet our laws require us to wear? Europe does not require helmets for push bikes, escooters, ebikes etc. The buildings have several bike racks in many locations where you can park a bike. Where is that in Brisbane? In Europe the train stations, bus stations etc, have places to keep bikes so it makes transfer between your bike and public transport easy, instead of putting the bike on the bus or train and many europeans have several bikes on their name kept at several locations. So you want transfer stations or places close to reliable well serviced bus and train depots, so people can transfer there to/from their walking/biking to public transport. You want people to walk? No pedestrian will walk for more than 2km and even that is pushing the limits. So what other transport method will they then use? Bikes? Easy and cheap bike rentals? Bus? train? What about people who can't get onto a bike? There are tons of pedestrians in Africa and in Europe simply because they rely on Busses, trains to get them mostly where they need to be reliably, and that is not the case for Brisbane. Here bikes is a recreational tool for those who like exercise, no more than that. The whole idea of lower speed limits for "safety" is ridiculous. If you going to limit anything under 40, you might as well just block off the road to cars all together. I don't feel unsafe at all crossing roads here even with cars going 60, when back in africa, all local roads and streets is 60 and you have literally 100s of people jay walking in the middle of the street cris crossing. In Australia the anal police will book you a ticket if you did not cross the road at the traffic light or a designated crossing, so where then is the argument for reducing the speed limit then? If you do allow people to freely cross the road anywhere when it is safe to do so, then that is fine. And I emphasise, it is the responsibility of teachers and parents to educate people how to cross a road safely, and simply change a law which says whatever is in front of you have right of way, does not matter who or what it is. Cars, trucks do NOT have right of way just because they are in the road. Roads are shared surfaces.

[@tangiers365]

Brisbane needs an underground subway. A metro perhaps 😂

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Haha. An ACTUAL metro!

[@CA999]

But Brisbane is broke. Where is the revenue to fund it (really) coming from?

[@rmar127]

@@CA999well if the politicians weren’t so busy lining both their own and their friends pockets, there’d be a lot more money in the coffers to fund decent infrastructure.

[@anubizz3]

​@@CA999well if Brisbane broke then why make multi million dollar bike path that don't even used like the one in the end of the video.

[@DavidWilliams-zf1vb]

I enjoy the content-thank you. However, I am concerned about any loss of vehicular access to the CBD and its surroundings as I am disabled and rely on being able to access the city and find adequate parking. I have noticed over the years a marked reduction in proper disabled parking, with considered easy access. As I discovered recently when I had to visit the Brisbane council, the disabled parking under King George Square is approximately 50 metres from the lift, and the distance to the council is over 120 metres. I also note that the disabled bay, which was next to the Queen Street Mall entrance, has been relocated much further along the street, making it totally impractical. Perhaps you might consider doing a piece on what the government, city, state and federal are doing to accommodate the needs of a disabled and ageing population when it comes to city and building access. Till then keep up the good work.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Yes, I have a range of videos planned looking at aspects of life in Brisbane for people with various disabilities. I'm absolutely shocked that we don't even have wheelchair access to every train station platform in an Australian city in the 21st century for a start!

[@DavidWilliams-zf1vb]

@@BrisbaneChannel Many thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I look forward to your next videos, especially ones that address the plight of those with mobility issues, especially those who don't use wheelchairs but still have difficulty getting around. Many thanks and have a great day.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

@DavidWilliams-zf1vb You too.

[@ausblue1]

when new suburbs are built, there needs to be decent safe room made for bikes ..it seems too late now for the city unless public transports coming into the city really gets much better than what it is ,not crowded buses and trains so heaps more buses and trains BUILT to deal with all the people...ps.....them e scooters are dangerous for pedestrians cause they go way to fast ..speed should not be that fast !!

[@Deanius3D]

Decreasing school traffic would have a very positive impact on the city. This traffic seems to have increased immensely in the past 20 years. Why is this so?

[@sanitygone-l9y]

Because children don’t really have options to get to school safely without being dropped off by a parent. That many cars on what are usually local roads leads to a lot of unnecessary traffic.

[@Deanius3D]

@@sanitygone-l9y Hi. I appreciate the safety concern, but what is the safety issue?

[@sanitygone-l9y]

@@Deanius3D The fact that they’d be cycling barely a metre and a half away from 3 ton metal boxes going over 60kms an hour where just one distracted driver or one mistake would mean their death most likely? is that an environment most parents would be comfortable putting their kids in?

[@franciscoshi1968]

We have yo choose between very compact living (places like HK) where you can walk anywhere and public transport gets you anywhere and a less dense living style. I could not possibly walk or cycle where I live and where I work no matter how well developed paths are. When my kids went to school it would have taken them 1hr to ride a bike to school each way. I also lived in ShenZhen for a few years where I could do anything I needed to do without a car. I could go from my flat to the shopping centre and back without living the building. We need to decide what style of city we want. You really can not have all the benefits of both. If you slow down the speed of traffic you reduce the rate people are being moved and that number of people can not be moved by cycling or walking. What we need to do is separate walking, bikes and cars so they can both travel at the appropriate speed for each type of movement. However this may not be possible without some major changes to the city which may not be possible. I always avoid going into the city because I depend on a car. I am sure people living in the city that dont have a car also avoid going to the outer suburbs.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

I lived in Guangzhou for about 7 years, and could get everywhere I needed to quickly and easily by public transport or walking. I've reflected on the differences between there and Brisbane, and yes, it largely comes down to population density and distances. But also a well-developed metro system, but the buses would still have been fine to get around by. And then HoChiMinh City, where I also lived, was completely different, but still easier to get around than Brisbane, as long as you had a scooter, which was pretty much essential. But again, the distances were nothing like they are here. Our cities are far too sprawling to get around easily without a car. That said, it's not so much about getting rid of cars entirely, it's finding ways to give alternatives for some trips that will improve the situation. Even if it's making it easier to get to public transport, as one thing I learnt making this video is that most of the people using park n ride carparks are driving from one or two suburbs away. I can't remember the figure, but I know that the majority of car trips taken are not the long commutes, it's short trips around people's home and workplaces. They're the easiest to start improving alternatives to, I imagine.

[@franciscoshi1968]

@BrisbaneChannel I really have thought about this problem and I can't think of a good solution that doesn't involve high density housing or a monumental and expensive change to our cities. It was amazing to take the lift down and eat at a restaurant or do some shopping and then get the lift back up and be done. But I also didn't enjoy living in a small box. I don't see how we could have a house with a small garden and not depend on cars for transport. I once worked out that one apartment tower had more people in it that the entire Strathpine Gardens (a town house estate) If every apartment in that tower had a 400m2 block with a house in it the area needed would be huge. I have also noticed what you meant about people driving to park and ride. Most people driving cars parked at train stations live too far to walk or even ride a bike to the train station. We also have the issue that not everyone can ride a bike. Some people just don't have the skills to ride a bike or may not be prepared to put up with the weather inconvenience. One other issue with riding bikes is that when you get to your destination you are all sweaty. Imagine people riding bikes to work and then having to take a shower and get changed before starting it just isn't viable for most people. I drive about 80km per day and when I look at where I go, I drive between Bald hills and Narangba. There is no way I can think off that I could do that without a car and public transport would take too long. Ubers or taxis would be way too expensive and I would have to wait too long.

[@AnarchyEnsues]

every australian city has a huge urban sprawl issue. if you want people no not use cars, you need a mass transit that can deliver people door to door without a massive wait. it needs a combination of uber app technology, last mile on demand mini buses and express buses between major suburbs, it requires a vision that sadly only china can do.

[@jamesbthejoke5614]

The problem with Brisbane is no one wants to ride in the heat and humidity. Pedalling and sweating doesn’t appeal. Look at e-scooters, no pedalling, very popular! :) Honestly though, Australia does have a car problem, but it’s more to do with everyone buying massive utes/cars and on-street parking. Bigger cars block vision, reducing other drivers ability to see the road and hazards effectively (pedestrians and cyclists mainly, they disappear behind those huge vehicles). There needs to be more expensive rego for cars over certain sizes registered and driven in urban areas. If you want a huge Ute, pay big rego. On-street parking however, reduces the utility of the road. So many people park their boat/caravan/trailer or 3rd, 4th, 5th car all up and down their streets. Effectively blocking lanes, reducing flow and taking space away from cyclists. The fix for that is council specifies how many cars can be registered/parked at a property within its boundaries. For example: you have a double garage and enough room for 2 cars on the driveway. You can only register 4 cars to that house. Any car/trailer/etc… registered to that house, parked on that street gets a fine. Garage full? Can’t fit a 5th car? You cannot rego/buy it. If you want it, you need to pay for an off street parking spot. But what about visitors staying a while? Easy, they go online, put their rego in, put the address they’re staying at and they’re recognised as a visitor. 3/5 days free, after that, you pay. You could manage this easy now numberplate recognition software is out there. Just one or two council ranger loops through a suburb and the camera records all vehicles parked on street and on footpaths/nature strips. Fine goes in mail. This would change attitudes and reduce some houses having excess cars/trailers/caravans/boats/jetskis clogging up our narrow roads forcing cyclists to weave into traffic to get around them. It clears up the view of the road making it safer.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Some interesting ideas.

[@Gocajoca]

Well I live in Redlands, They are building Housing everywhere and Not upgrading Roads at all

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Unfortunately I didn't get to extend the scope of this video to the other LGAs, even though I did ask the advocates to speak about Greater Brisbane, it ended up being just the Brisbane LGA that was focused on. I do think it's pretty similar everywhere, though (although state funding seems to be quite different from LGA to LGA).

[@RamSham-q2w]

I recently moved to Brisbane and I found Brisbane has the worst public transport in Australia. I have lived in Sydney for 5 years and Perth 2 years. But Brisbane was the worst among them when it comes to public transport. The trains are never on time 😖

[@BrisbaneChannel]

@@RamSham-q2w There's a video specifically examining the public transport here planned. But yeah, it's not the best so far.

[@darrenhaines1]

King street could be improved if we had raised pedestrian crossings. It's really not that pedestrian friendly to cross the road.

[@FreeSeoul]

The answer is obviously, no. But that doesn't mean getting half way to a yes is a failure.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Or even 1/4. There's always improving public transport also.

[@FreeSeoul]

@@BrisbaneChannel Public transport still sucks in higher density areas of Brisbane. It's okay if it sucks a lot in the very low density places. The geography relies on cars for a good reason.

[@jdmderick]

Common sense and courtesy will go a long way with traffic congestion

[@skrobotov]

I'd love to see those tradies going on their jobs on bicycles in the morning. What percentage of people in Brisbane are actually office workers who can take showers at the workplace? What about parents dropping off in and picking up their kids from kindies and schools? And what percentage of them are taking public transport? Bicycles are not going to solve any problem at all because there is only a tiny proportion of population who can actually use them.

[@cascascacscascas]

The north brisbane bikeway should have been built years ago, to Chermside, as designed by TMR. It all went downhill when Ryan Murphy and Mark Bailey gave the design reigns to the BUGS and they designed a route that connects to their front doors, rather than what would be best for the immediate and surrounding communities. It is now 500m longer, putting it in front of more complaining residents, adding two sets of traffic lights when the existing ones on junction rd could have been utilised. It now goes to the wetlands, instead of providing a great commuting corridor for commuters all the way to Chermside. Dickson st will become more dangerous for a large number of cyclists that use it to head down Dawson st to the surrounding suburbs, crossing Dickson st before the junction rd lights, as planned, will leave all of those cyclists without a bike lane, making Dickson st more dangerous for them than it currently is. This design only benefits riders heading in one direction, it is useless for everyone else. It is a poor design that should be abandoned. The BUGS are as much to blame for holding this project up as the residents complaining about it. If council listened to resident and business concerns and tweaked the initial design to suit, and the BUGS didn't push for their own design, we would all be riding on the north brisbane bikeway already.

[@electro_sykes]

I am working on planning a MRT Line for Brisbane. Here are the current stations it will have. Northshore Hamilton Portside Wharf Breakfast Creek Teneriffe New Farm Kangaroo Point City Botanic Gardens Musgrave Park St. Lucia Tennyson Rocklea Salisbury Archerfield Acacia Ridge Willawong Algester Parkinson Forestdale Hillcrest Boronia Heights Greenbank New Beith Pebble Creek Flagstone Central Probably won’t be ready until well after 2032 though.

[@BrisbaneChannel]

Underground?

[@electro_sykes]

​@@BrisbaneChannel yes. itw only underground between Hamiltion and rocklea though, the rest would be above ground or elevated

[@electro_sykes]

I have altered my idea to now also make it go out to Easton’s Hill via Chermside and also Capalaba via Carindale so it’s now two lines