Gold Coast Tram Before During and After

[@TBird89]

Awesome video.

[@tressteleg1]

Thanks, and I will be riding it within an hour from now😄

[@TBird89]

@@tressteleg1 I’m from Sydney and every time I come up to Goldie … twice a year I use it almost every day. People in Goldie don’t see it yet, but when another 300k people are living there in the next decade and everyone will bring up one car then you’ll see the benefits of trams. Surfers Paradise ain’t the surfers paradise anymore…it’s growing up fast.

[@tressteleg1]

@@TBird89 People on the Gold Coast have to realise that this is no longer a collection of little holiday villages with just a few hundred people in each town. The days when you can expect to drive from anywhere to anywhere at any time of day, and not get caught in traffic are long gone and you can’t go building more and more roads forever. And the only real alternative is good public transport like the trams provide.

[@TBird89]

@@tressteleg1well said

[@tressteleg1]

@@TBird89. Thanks. On 16 now. Just left Cavill 8:45. Hard to find a seat with people standing

[@scottyerkes1867]

Very interesting before during and after.. Thanks Tressteleg1. 😀💚

[@tressteleg1]

😊👍

[@jrb12487]

Looks so much better now - too many cars back before it was built.

[@tressteleg1]

Certainly there was far too much traffic through the heart of Surfers Paradise. It is now directed to a parallel street slightly to the west which makes the tourist strip more pedestrian friendly.

[@jrb12487]

@@tressteleg1 Pity the Southerners in Palm Beach can't see the benefits of the LR - they want electric buses and more room for cars.

[@tressteleg1]

@@jrb12487 Just a typical NIMBY attitude plus resistance to anything they don’t understand. I think plenty opposed to the original Stage 1 may well use it today, especially to get to the GC Hospital and avoid the exorbitant parking station charges.

[@jaxtar923]

​@tressteleg1 overall the trams have turned out nicely. People think they cause traffic but the whole point of them is to reduce. Yes you might have to wait for one to cross the road, but they don't cause proper congestion If done right. I still wish the tram level crossing at Olsen ave near the hospital was underground cause that's the only intersection where I see the trams backing up traffic.

[@tressteleg1]

@jaxtar923 Re Olsen Ave, you are quite lucky that fairly often, both trams cross in the middle of the road which means that the traffic is stopped only once every seven or eight minutes instead of twice. Before it was built, twice a week I drove all the way to Broadbeach. Now I rarely drive and catch a tram instead. So that’s one car less on the road in the morning peak and twice a week. I expect I’m not the only one who catches the tram instead of driving.

[@ironsword7]

They should have just continued the tunnel 200m under Olsen Avenue. It's a pretty busy intersection.

[@tressteleg1]

Well I didn’t build a tunnel, so it’s not going to happen now. The traffic lights at that intersection have long and complicated cycles which delay motorists for ages even when there are no trams crossing. I know, I use it.

[@sebastianliggieri8411]

Did you capture a lightning strike on the still frame when it says "Looking east, Griffith Ubiversity at right Jan 2011"?

[@tressteleg1]

No, just a scratch on the negative I guess. I should have removed it before using the photo.

[@petertrevena804]

Loved this video.

[@tressteleg1]

😊👍. I still don’t know whether this video will prove to be particularly popular. Most of my regular viewers prefer driver’s view videos of Melbourne trains.

[@jdcreswell440]

Very good, has usual

[@tressteleg1]

😊👍

[@terenceosullivan7846]

Prime beneficiaries were those employed in the massively expensive project. Secondary beneficiaries are students and vacationers The traffic is worse now. Businesses on the route destroyed Colossal cost overruns. This will never return the investment

[@tressteleg1]

Obviously your comments are based on regular observations of its usage as I am, or are they? I rode nearly the entire line today as I usually do on Mondays and Fridays. There was a reasonable load when I got on at 7:25 this morning, and from the hospital on people were getting on or off all the way. Coming home on the 11:58 out of Broadbeach North, loading again was acceptable but a little later there was quite a few people standing. That means over 80 people, 7 minutes behind the tram in front. Before the tram a few times I caught a bus supposedly on a 10 minute headway, but often I waited around 20 to 25 minutes then 3 arrived together and I missed my hourly bus home from Southport. And I always got a seat on the bus which is much smaller than a tram and running less often. True, a lot of users are tourists with their luggage sometimes (easy to get on the tram) during the day when commuters are at a work, but would you prefer them trying to drive their cars on your precious roads, not knowing where they are going and slowing you down? And morning commuter traffic is much heavier than a few years ago. One thing I will agree with - tenderers are duping the naive government into building a ‘gold plated’ extension costing far too much but getting through to anyone to look more closely seems impossible. Politicians of any party are too much isolated from the voters. The Gold Coast tram is the ONLY public transport in Qld, (and likely Australia) now carrying noticeably more daily passengers than any other transport system compared with pre-Covid numbers.

[@terenceosullivan7846]

@@tressteleg1 i like you use it regularly. I see very few regular workers using the service. It doesn’t feed employment hubs. I also contend the great advocates for the tram never use it and don’t want it going through their precincts

[@tressteleg1]

@@terenceosullivan7846 Apart from Helensvale to the Hospital which was always heavily used, especially by trams which met the Trains, commuters beyond hospital were fairly few and far between, but that is no longer the case at least when I travel. The line is successful and the biggest knockers are those who apparently from my observations have never ridden it. It will never be matched by the Brisbane fake Metro buses. People just don’t like riding buses. They only ride them because they’ve got no choice. Those who have any choice drive. I could certainly drive my weekly journeys, but prefer the tram where I can catch up with emails and other iPad Functions.

[@margaretcampbell2681]

You must be living on the Gold Coat now

[@tressteleg1]

Yes, for 12 years. I normally ride almost the entire line twice each week. I could do that trip faster by car, but like the tram ride and it keeps me up-to-date with what they are doing.

[@archmcdonald6170]

Are they 600 volt DC?

[@tressteleg1]

No, 750 V DC which is the normal voltage for new tramways these days..

[@PeterShieldsukcatstripey]

When I go to the Gold Coast I am not sure how to buy a ticket.

[@XavierXonora]

You can get the cards at a convenience store, the airport, or a service station, or buy a one time paper ticket at the machines

[@tressteleg1]

It depends on how long your visit is for and how many trips you intend to make. For plenty of tram and bus rides over 24 hours, this is a good buy. translink.com.au/tickets-and-fares/ticket-types/visitors-and-tourists/go-explore Ticket machines at all tram stops sell paper tickets good for 2 hours. They also sell adult full fare gocards. Brisbane gocards are good here too. 7/11 stores are usually ticket agents, even their servos.