An unstable and unreliable bus network is one of Logan’s achilles heel problems as the city bounces back from the pandemic and the population continues to soar.
On Friday, Translink data revealed Logan (Southern Bus Region) has the worst on-time running performance in South East Queensland for the fourth quarter.
Just this month, it was revealed that patronage on Logan bus and train services had returned to 82.7% of pre-Covid patronage.
But, with population set to grow more (by percentage, and along with Ipswich) than any other council region in Southeast Queensland in the next 20 years, the public transport problem becomes exponential.
Two of Queensland’s “priority development areas”, Greater Flagstone and Yarrabilba, are set to be home to 170,000 people in the next 20 to 30 years– slightly less than half of the city’s total growth.
While Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey made the announcement this month that the Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail project and Cross River Rail will be going ahead, what is missing, however, is a roadmap to resolving Logan’s bus operator shortage.
“The bus network throughout Queensland is in tatters,” Robert Dow, key spokesperson for public transport advocacy group Rail Back On Track, said.
“Even with the reduced service timetables, in last eight days there has been 1,018 reported bus service disruptions – mostly cancellations, and normally in that period you’d expect about 50.
“Bus operators are having trouble attracting and retaining drivers so we have a major problem.
“People in Logan need quality, reliable public transport.”
Mr Dow said it was incumbent that the state government and Translink solve the bus driver shortage and any “specific micro-reform at the moment is not going to happen”.
“I think trying to do any bus reform at the moment is is not going to be effective because there isn’t enough bus drivers,” Mr Dow said.
“I think Translink and government, they’ve got to look at strategies for helping the bus operators re-establish adequate pools of drivers.”
Mr Dow said federal government’s plans to ease earning limits on pensioners, which were announced earlier this month, may help give incentive to a pool of senior or retired drivers to conduct the school runs for some extra cash.
“The route services which are what everyone uses get knocked around because they have to keep the school runs going. It’s priority,” he said.
“There’s also a problem with federal immigration. The bus drivers are not given the high priority under immigration status, which is a bit silly because by services are considered to be essential community service.”
According to a Translink spokesperson, the aim is a single integrated and accessible public transport network that meets the needs of the growing Southeast Queensland region, including the City of Logan.
“We will continue to work with our delivery partners in Logan to monitor the bus network to ensure it meets the needs of the city and follows the direction set out in Translink’s Creating Better Connections for Queenslanders 10-year passenger transport plan,” the spokesperson said.
“The Pacific Motorway (M1): Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill upgrade will extend the South-east busway to Springwood, and will pave the way for a new bus station and park ‘n’ ride at Rochedale which has recently commenced construction and will bring further improvements to Logan residents travel experience.
“Improvements to the Logan bus network include the extension of route 587 (Yarrabilba to Loganlea) to deliver services to Logan Hospital and the TAFE campus at Loganlea, and the introduction of route 535 from Flagstone to Browns Plains.”
But Mr Dow says the 587 route to Logan Village still has some issues.
“During the day it runs every two hours, it’s just not compatible,” Mr Dow said.
“The extension of the SEQ busway is a big-picture item, and it’s a very good item but it is contingent on having enough people to drive the buses.”
