The Tasmanian Planning Commission Report into the proposed Major Stadium at Macquarie Point has highlighted the vast disparity between the wishful thinking of the State Government and the reality of Hobart’s public transport needs. The report stated that an additional eighty buses would be required to move six thousand people, only just over a quarter of the total planned seated capacity of the stadium.
Hobart Northern Suburbs Rail Action Group (HNSRAG) would like to remind the apparently oblivious State Government of the stark difference between the capacity of rail and buses.
The same amount of people could be moved by just six trains!
HNSRAG President Toby Rowallan said,
“Rail has a far higher capacity to move people than buses. It requires far less drivers, a problem which has plagued Metro for some years now.”
“It would also be on an entirely separate right-of-way, thus avoiding any traffic jams. The busway will utterly fail to get commuters out of their cars, it will utterly fail to encourage higher density residential development and it will utterly fail to get enough people to and from their major stadium. Every other AFL stadium in the country has rail!”
“If the State Government was serious about public transport they would go with rail. If the cost is so high that they can’t afford the busway and must ask for Federal funding, then they may as well go for rail. The stadium will fail without rail.” finished Mr Rowallan.
