[bikeqld] Are Brisbane Councillors and state politicians serious about public transport?

[mich rolling]

Years ago Brisbane City Council had a press release about how BCC was 
trialling proximity-activated traffic lights to speed buses. Nothing more.

A couple of years later Queensland State government had a press release 
about how QT/MR was trialling proximity-activated traffic lights to speed 
buses. Nothing more.

A couple of years ago I asked MR and BCC how the trials were going. Not. 
Can't agree on who controls the intersection where BCC and MR cross.

Christmaas situation now. Buses pile up in traffic queues. CanDo and 
TheBorg would say that it is equality at work for forty people on a bus to be held up by six people idling in cars at lights. 

Lack of commitment.

Some places do it differently.

 Zürich, Where Transit Gets Priority on the Street
by Ben Fried http://www.livablestreets.com/streetswiki/zurich-switzerland

Ready for some transit system envy? This week's StreetsWiki entry comes 
from Livable Streets member Andrew Nash, who fills us in on how surface 
transit became the mode of choice in Zürich, Switzerland: 
Photo: Nicholas Kibre/WikipediaThe first thing one notices about Zürich is
 that trams are ubiquitous downtown. The city considered changing its tram
 network several times (either placing the trams underground or replacing 
the trams with a metro system), but voters rejected spending money on 
these ideas. However, in 1977, Zürich voters did approve an initiative to 
make the existing surface transit system work better by providing transit 
priority for trams and buses. 
Transit priority means that public transit vehicles are given priority 
over other forms of transportation through such measures as traffic signal 
control, transit-only lanes, and traffic regulations. Watch carefully as a
 traffic signal changes from red to green just when a tram arrives at the 
intersection. Transit priority was not a new idea, but Zürich has 
succeeded in implementing it to a greater degree than almost any other 
city in the world. Zürich's public transit priority program is described 
in Implementing Zurich's Transit Priority Program.

Combined with Zürich's regional rail network, the extensive implementation 
of transit priority techniques enables the city to provide subway-like 
service without a subway, Nash explains. If the Zürich article interests 
you, check out Nash's entry on optimizing traffic signals for surface 
transit -- he's looking to add information about other cities that have 
implemented such systems.



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