DISGRUNTLED residents of Flagstone have spoken out about the continuing postponement of bus services in the suburb, situated approximately 10 kilometres west of Jimboomba.
The issue came to a head in 2015 when Flagstone Community Association members took the issue up with state member for Logan Linus Power.
Warren Tennant contacted the Times this week after noticing signs indicating a 2017 start to bus services were recently removed.
“When we went to buy our land in 2013 we were told the bus was coming in 2015,” he said.
“I emailed Jackie Trad’s office back in 2015 and said how disgusted I was that someone could allow a developer to build in the middle of nowhere and not put any infrastructure in for public transport.
“About six months later, the response was that the developer had to put an interim bus service in.”
Fairfax Media has seen the email Mr Tennant received from Minister for Transport Jackie Trad’s electorate office on January 27, 2016. It states: “… as part of development approval conditions, the developer is required to provide an interim public transport service until there is suitable level of demand for formalised TransLink services. I wish to assure you, TMR will work closely with the developer to provide advice in this regard.”
Since 2015, Peet Limited has developed land on the western side of the rail corridor that traverses Flagstone, with a Queensland government passenger rail service listed on the recently removed signage.
However, no interim bus service has been implemented.
“If you drive around the eastern development, there’s actually nowhere in any of the side streets for a bus to pull up... but I notice on the western side, they’ve put in spots for bus stops,” Mr Tennant said.
“The people on the eastern side have just been forgotten about.”
Peet responds
Peet Limited CEO and managing director Brendan Gore said the population of Flagstone Rise, on the eastern side of the railway corridor, is nearing 6000. This is close to the threshold required for a new public bus service.
“However, that decision rests with Translink and we are working closely with them as we are keen to see a service introduced as quickly as possible.
“Under current development approvals, Peet is required to help subsidise a bus when the 200th resident moves into the new western development area. That’s likely to be around the middle of 2018.”
According to Mr Gore, Flagstone Rise is governed by very different approvals which date back many years.
“Those approvals don’t include any requirement for a bus. Instead, residents pay normal infrastructure charges which go to fund government-provided services,” he said.
Survey says?
Peet recently conducted a postal and online survey to assess the demand for bus services in the whole Flagstone area, seeking to identify the key destinations and times of day services are likely to be used.
“The results of this survey will be shared with Translink and the community,” Mr Gore said.
“The survey closed last week and results are expected to be collated later this month.”
The survey was posted on the Flagstone Life Facebook page on May 15 this year. According to Mr Tennant, he did not receive a survey through the post.
Walk or hitch-hike
Mr Tennant said connecting bus services are much needed for Flagstone residents.
“At least to Jimboomba, so you can get a bus to Browns Plains, instead of having to walk, or hitch-hike, over ten kilometres,” he said.
“They keep moving the goalposts.”
