Sunday 29 November 2009

The Helter Skelter Clifton Bus Shelter

This is the beautiful Clifton Beach bus shelter.
You can see it on the highway, on our main tourist route along the Cook Highway.
Local resident Jim, thought it was from a third world country. I have to agree.
"This shelter didn't just look like this yesterday, it has been like this, with the broken, falling off roof, since March 2008," Jim told CairnsBlog.
"I've emailed Julie Wright at Cairns Regional Council, but emails are now ignored. The only one to respond was Margaret Cochrane," Jim said. "She promised action 'immediately', then she palmed the problem off to State government."
Councillor Cochrane says that bus shelters are State responsibility.
"She has refused to respond any further these last few months," Jim says.
Bus shelters on the Cook Highway are owned and managed by Adshell. Many are broken or damaged, yet they continue to install and replace various the movie and product advertisements to collect advertising revenue, all along not honoring their contract.
Why is it that Council seems to wash it's hands of any responsibility in dealing with those companies that have contractual responsibilities?
UPDATE:
Here's the bus stop shelter that Bryan emailed through.
Curitiba is 400km southwest of Sao Paulo.
The city is well-known in urban planning circles for the care with which its growth has been planned and directed on a model for cities in developing countries with limited resources.
Cairns springs to mind.

13 comments:

Smithfield Sam said...

Bus shelters in Smithfield are in similar condition.

You'd think a company required to provide bus "shelters" would be in breach when they do no such thing?

I like others have been in contact with Cochrane (Bonneau ignores virtually everything). I too have gotten doubletalk.

More inaction from the Clownschool.

Miss Chief. said...

You should see bus stop outside the Caltex at Gordonvale! It's just a council provided seat but it lists badly to one side. It's sort of like riding a slide side-saddle. It's a popular spot for local teens - well they don't HAVE anywhere else except the bandstand in the park. The bandstand's not a kool spot though, because it's just across the road from the Police Station.

Hmmm...it appears that we are to be encouraged to use public transport but not given decent places to sit until it arrives - fashionably late.

hieronymus bosch said...

Think themselves lucky to even have a bus shelter. We live in the tropics and people are expected to stand in the rain to catch a bus. Combine this with all the bullshit about sustainability, why would anyone catch a bus during the wet season?

As a side thought, what about the footbridge in Dillon St Westcourt? It's been closed since the end of June due to a small piece of concrete that broke away on the bridge!

Bryan Law said...

Cairns Regional Council doesn't get to design the public transport system, and has little capacity to require better performance from the Queensland government and Queensland Transport. So we've got crap.

If you go here : http://thomaslockehobbs.com/2005/curitiba.html

you'll see some photos of bus infrastructure in Curitiba, Brazil. Notice the covered "tubes" where folk wait for a bus. It's a basic, cheap design that not only works well as a waiting place. When the bus arrives it greatly simplifies and speeds up loading/unloading. Helping buses keep a time-table.

Makes you wonder what kind of hick backwater kind of city we have in Cairns.

Bryan Outlaw said...

Bryan Law Sez: "Makes you wonder what kind of hick backwater kind of city we have in Cairns."

The kind where an ignorant, serial arsehole good-for-nothing protester can garner 6.7% of the vote for election. Before finally being barred for his criminal convictions.

You're right. It's a hick town.

Counciller Rob Pyne said...

Councils must build bus shelters,- it is not simply a 'state matter'.

Bryan Law said...

Hey Rob, I didn't want to let CRC off the hook completely, but if you want - as I do - a sustainable, enjoyable and resource-efficient city the transport services and town planning have to be integrated in such a way as to promote decent public transport.

In Curitiba they have a town plan which forbids high-density residential apartments more than 100 metres from trunk bus routes.

Sure, build a few bus shelters. It won't hurt. But wouldn't it be nice to know that the dollars you're spending now will still be useful to Cairns public transport services in 30 tears.

I remember the trouble you had organising wheelchair access onto a few buses in Cairns, back when you were a disabilities services advocate.


With a ramp instead of stairs, the Curatiba bus tube makes every bus wheelchair accessible.

KitchenSlut said...

Curitaba also appears as a top 10 bicycle friendly city of the world on this askmen website which be warned is exceedingly clunky, possibly politically incorrect and browse unfriendly with multiple page views required!



"Curitiba is perhaps the most well-planned city in the world, and bicycle integration is at its core. The city has been pushing cycling as the go-to mode of transportation for more than 40 years and the result has been the ubiquity of bike lanes."



Dutchie especially will be thrilled to know that Amsterdam scores Numero Uno on this link as the global bicycle friendly winner!


Fiona Tulip said...

We also need more bus shelters.

About two weeks ago, I saw a young woman with a toddler, and a baby in a stroller, waiting for a bus along the Captain Cook Highway. At that particular stop, there is no shelter at all.

It must have been about 32 degrees in the shade in the middle of the day, and there was no bus in sight. I really felt sorry for her and if I had been going in her direction, I would have stopped and offered her a ride.

Also the other morning, I was driving into town, along past that new intersection at North Cairns, near the independent Gas station.

It was pouring cats and dogs, and there was a young boy waiting and trying to flag the bus, no doubt getting completely saturated in the process.

To my horror, I realised that the bus was actually in the right hand lane and sailed right passed the boy.

More needs to be done to protect travellers from our heat and rain, and a proper service needs to be run if you want to encourage more people to take the bus.

Unknown said...

KitchenSlut said...

"Dutchie especially will be thrilled to know that Amsterdam scores Numero Uno on this link as the global bicycle friendly winner!'

Maybe the next time our councillors and local "business leaders' are due for a junket, they should go to Amsterdam instead of Guam.

They could educate themselves on how to create a successful bicycle network, as well as have a look how car traffic is managed in residential areas.

They could also witness one of Europe's best highway systems in a state of total gridlock much of the time. Just building more and bigger roads solves nothing.

The Essence of Good Taste said...

My 15 year old gets it. His comment listening to ABC Radio news this morning during a discussion about new transport methods and infrastructure - you don't need a brain to build another road. Out of the mouths of babes...

CBD Warrior said...

Yo, Essence

You don't need a brain to think of economically unfeasible pipe dreams, either.

There is NO WAY any responsible government is going to give Cairns a dollar for rail. Even in high-density locations, rail requires a substantial government subsidy to operate. The numbers don't stack up, not even close.

An expanded bus system with dedicated busways is the most cost effective and workable solution.

Your 15 year old needs substantially more eduction. How about a book on the subject? The generation now getting their "facts" from wikipedia are doomed to a life of ignorance.

Simon said...

The subsidy a governement pays to a railway is less than the extra funding required for road infrastructure when you dont have a railway. And this does not include the huge social and finacial burden of the road toll. Let us also not forget that buses are subsidised as well.