Convenience and comfort for passengers

Let's face it; it is difficult to get Australians out of their cars so a public transport system can only compete with cars if it can offer equivalent ambience and convenience.

They have managed to do this in of all places the world capital of Oil, Houston Texas. The Houston METRORail started operating in 2004 and its 40 millionth boarding occurred in November 2007, with 45,000 boardings each weekday - a number METRO didn't expect to achieve until 2020. And it's not only a shift from cars; six hundred buses have now been removed from downtown streets each day.

METRORail ridership continues to grow. In the March Quarter 2008, METRORail reported that its ridership is up 7.3% from the same period last year to 6.2 million.

On 18 June 2008, The Houston Chronicle reported that "The Houston City Council approved the addition of five new light rail lines Wednesday to help ease congestion in the nation's fourth-largest city... ...The rail lines would give the city 30 additional miles of light rail - up from the current 7.5 miles", said Metro spokeswoman Sandra Salazar.

Research indicates that the most popular activities participated in by visitors during their trip to Australia are; eating out in restaurants, shopping for pleasure, going to the beach and visiting pubs, clubs and discos. All are in abundance along the Gold Coast strip and what better and safer way to travel than by light rail, especially when it is in close proximity to these destinations and can be easily integrated into commercial and pedestrian precincts. Light rail is:

Quiet - Modern Light Rail glides quietly through streets, pedestrian malls and dedicated corridors. Electric motors are nearly silent. No diesel engines, no tyre noise, no acceleration roar, no air brakes.

Comfortable ride - No swaying, no bouncing over poor road surfaces, read a newspaper, read a book, contoured seats, and multi-use space.

Accessible - Easy to Board - Low floors, level entry, no steps to climb, roll on in a wheelchair.

Smart Card - Integrated Ticketing, buy one ticket from Brisbane to Burleigh and use it on the QR system, the Light Rail and the Buses. A day ticket for the tourists, go anywhere on any mode, one ticket one price.

Economical - Fares not tied to petrol prices and likely to decrease in relative terms as GreenPower usage increases and oil reserves decrease.

Safe in pedestrian precincts - Vehicles are guided and predictable in their movement path, they do not alter direction arbitrarily. As any visitor to Europe knows, Light Rail is the only transport system which happily coexists with pedestrians.