Gettin g Out a n d A bout

In Beaudesert S h ire

Access and Mobility Plan

for

Beaudesert Shire

2005

Background

The Community – Transport Network (BSCTN) formed in 2004 in response to the lack of action occurring on addressing transport, access and mobility issues in the Beaudesert Shire. ( Appendix A is a listing of the BSCTN participants.)

Centacare and CADDIES convened a meeting that bought together key community agencies and members to discuss this issue and determine what process would be used to begin working on an issue that impacts and underpins EVERYTHING in our life.

Each person’s quality of life and access to goods and services is affected by his/her ability to get out of home - ‘do something’ and then return home. It is also acknowledged that solutions to these problems are not 1 person’s or agencies responsibility – it is a shared responsibility.

This Access and Mobility Plan is the community’s attempt to bring together the various issues and determine an agreed course of action that arises through collaboration and is owned by the community.

Access and Mobility is used in preference to ‘transport’ as this word instantly limits every person’s thinking to vehicles – in reality the barriers and solutions are not always about having a vehicle.

This plan also excludes the Canungra / Tambourine village and Mt Tambourine areas of the Beaudesert Shire as these communities tend to access the Gold Coast.

Access and Mobility in Beaudesert Shire

Beaudesert Shire is situated approximately 65klm south of and approximately 70klmwest of the Gold Coast. It is 2854.4 sq. klm and has a rural/residential setting. According to the 2001 Australian Bureau of Statistics it has a population of 53,241 people however there has been, and continues to be, a significant influx and growth within most areas of the Shire.

The Shire consists of several business districts including Beaudesert, , Canungra, Logan Village and . There are numerous villages or hamlets throughout the region that access these centres and include:

Rathdowney Gleneagle South Maclean and Kerry Valley Woodhill North Maclean ……………… Tamrookum Tamborine Chambers Flat Laravale Village Sandy Creek Boyland Flagstone Greenbank Wonglepong

There are many different localities throughout the region, each with their own identity and culture. For example, Beaudesert and Southern areas have a long historical farming culture and residents tend to identify as rural people. They have maintained a level of self- sufficiency over the years and most could easily say “we know everyone within the valley or over the mountain”. However, the Jimboomba and Northern areas are relatively new having particularly developed over the last 10 -15 years. Many residents have relocated from southern states with either their small children and/or their elderly parent(s). It is also an area of considerable growth in both population and business districts. Logan Village and the eastern areas of the Shire are somewhat similar to the Jimboomba districts however due to

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Access and Mobility Beaudesert Shire Community – Transport Network December 2005

the area being closer to Beenleigh and Logan areas, residents (with vehicles) are able to access services more easily and may experience a more residential type of lifestyle.

(Of course these are only generalisations and there are exceptions to all of these descriptions/scenarios).

Current transport options within Beaudesert Shire include: • The “Road Runner” public bus service to Brisbane City Monday to Friday departing Beaudesert township at 6.15am, 9.00am and 3.00pm with return trips departing Brisbane at 7.00am, and 1.00pm 5.00pm. • 2 Yellow cabs plus 1 maxi taxi (wheelchair accessible) • A 3 month trial council cab project in Beaudesert township and the Flagstone to Jimboomba areas (to be evaluated December 2005) • St Mary's Community Services and Jimboomba’s Transport Assistance Subsidy Scheme funded by Home and Community Care (HACC) to provide medical and social transport to HACC eligible clients • Ambulance funded non-urgent medical transport through Beaudesert RSL for patients to access services in some Brisbane hospitals • Two Day Respite centres funded by HACC to provide transport to their client groups to access day respite services. • Beaudesert RSL, Beaudesert Hotel and Jimboomba Hotel have courtesy buses for patrons to access their premises. • Local school buses throughout the Shire • Tamborine Mountain has a Monday – Friday subsidized taxi service using Yellow Cabs to commute passengers to the Beenleigh rail station.

Barriers to Access and Mobility

Appendix B is a complete listing of the barriers to access and mobility, compiled from various reports that have been conducted in the Shire in recent years, plus input from attendees at a community forum convened by the BSCTN in November 2005.

Three key barriers were identified from this listing, namely: 1. Lack of a worker for whom this area of work is their sole focus and who knows what is already available 2. Lack of access outside of the Shire to the identified hubs of Loganlea, Beenleigh, Southport and Browns Plains, 24/7 3. Lack of options to move within the Shire

Priority was given to barrier 1

These three barriers will be the focus for BSCTN’s subsequent work, along with the need to oversight two initiatives commenced earlier in 2005, that is, Council Cab trial and Information Directory (both related to barrier 2). Nominating these three focus areas doesn’t limit the BSCTN to take up any issue or opportunity that emerges in the future.

Principles to underpin solutions

It is vital that when working on addressing the above barriers the community aspire to deliver solutions that meet as many of the following as possible:

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Access and Mobility Beaudesert Shire Community – Transport Network December 2005

√ Non-segregated solutions – has to be open to the broadest community members not just a select sub-group eg aged or youth only √ solution has to be financially sustainable √ affordable to users √ shared responsibility to address barriers √ no 1 person or agency is the sole lead in this process

Possible resources / opportunities

In every community there are not only barriers to access and mobility. There are also a range of resources, services and opportunities which may assist in finding solutions to the identified barriers, namely: ″ lots of community organisation buses around which may be used by other agencies. An audit of these vehicles conducted by CentraCare and Caddies in2004 was poorly responded to. ″ Park Ridge buses sit at the Beaudesert and Jimboomba High Schools between the morning and afternoon school bus runs – maybe these could be used to do 1 morning and afternoon around-town run ″ Lots of informal transport arrangements are happening that we don’t know about and which might be tapped into ″ Beaudesert Shire Council is opening its thinking to addressing these issues ″ School bus services which can be tapped into by the outlying smaller communities ″ Couriers and mail contractor runs are an untapped resource ″ Education Training Reform (ETRF) has both $ for transport and a transport focused worker ″ Chamber of Commerce (Beaudesert and Jimboomba) might be interested in being involved ″ Programs often have $ but they are only available to that program’s clients – need to work on gaining flexible funding guidelines to permit use of spare seats to others ″ Community traineeship program could be source of labour for BSCTN initiatives ″ Bromelton and Delfin developments – what can they contribute ″ Community Renewal – can Beaudesert go higher on the list ″ Some services eg TAFE will come to Beaudesert if there are numbers- there are $ available ″ Partnerships and working collaboratively is already happening – so there is a willingness to co-operatively find solutions

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Access and Mobility Beaudesert Shire Community – Transport Network December 2005 Action Plan

Issue Strategies Actions Timeframes

1 Creating a Transport 1.1 BSCTN members to explore 1.1 Research funding options 1.1 by February 1, 2006 Development Worker position for funding options to see if can the Shire have multiple sources of $ 1.2 Determine role of this worker – what 1.2 confirmed June 06 contributing to the position’s have other places in Qld done funding 1.3 Convene working party to oversight 1.3 ongoing this project and report on progress at each BSCTN meeting

2. Lack of options to move within 2.1 Oversight of Council Cab trial 2.1 Convene working party to oversight 2.1 decide Feb the Shire this project and report on progress at 2006 – work each BSCTN meeting ongoing

2.1 Creation of information 2.1 Convene working party to oversight directory this project and report on progress at 2.1 decide Feb each BSCTN meeting 2006 – work ongoing

To be discussed at February To be discussed at February meeting To be discussed at 3. Lack of access outside of the meeting February meeting Shire to the identified hubs of Loganlea, Beenleigh, Southport and Browns Plains, 24/7

Appendix A

Beaudesert Shire Community – Transport Network Participant List 17 November 2005

Sharon Redmond Centacare - St Mary's Community Services Lynn Bartimote Jimboomba Community Care Association John Fronis Beaudesert Shire Council Peter Tilney Beaudesert Shire Council Anne Carlin Logan TAFE Cathy Laidlaw Department of Employment Training Jodie Mears Centrelink Brett Bricknell Health Vince Vernick BeauCare Bob Helyar Department of Communities Madelyn O’Malley-Jones Mununjali-Jymbi Centre Shelly Currie Mission Australia Dave Johnson Beaudesert High School Elspeth Jeffrey Beaudesert High School Trevor Marett Beaudesert High School Jude Fox Flagstone High School Judy Brennan Department of Communities Tim Eltham Delphin Lend Lease

Appendix B

Gettin g Out a n d A bout

In Beaudesert S h ire

Access & Mobility

An Issues Paper

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Access and Mobility Beaudesert Shire Community – Transport Network December 2005

The focus of this document pertains to the western corridor of the Beaudesert Shire and is exclusive of Tamborine Mountain and Canungra areas. This is because Tamborine Mountain/Canungra communities tend to relate towards Gold Coast and Beenleigh regions and often exclude themselves from wider community activities and/or consultations in the Beaudesert area preferring to identify with the Eastern Coastal areas.

EDUCATION • Limited TAFE/tertiary education opportunities (Logan Tafe provides Business Administration, Information Technology, and a couple of hospitality) • Lack of literacy-numeracy development courses available within the Shire • Almost a 3 hour trip on 3 different buses with considerable walking distances to use public transport to access Logan Tafe and Griffith University despite these facilities being s a 40 minute drive “as the crow flies”) • Students needing to access alternative education options (particularly those who are no longer engaging positively in education and may have been expelled or who are early school leavers) depend entirely on private vehicles and adults to attend (Kingston Community College, Centre Ed, The Shed), or they simply cannot attend. • At risk young people needing to access alternative education options. These are young people are of a compulsory school age (as of next year that is 16 years) that are no longer engaged in the mainstream education system, they may have been expelled, or are involved in the juvenile justice system. At the moment these young people depend entirely on the very limited resources of a few non-government organizations, private vehicles and volunteers to attend (Kingston Community College, Centre Ed). This may be a small percentage of young people, however, unless their needs are addressed and opportunities provided for them the negative impact of this neglect will be felt by the community through increased crime rates, drug abuse, and other anti-social behavior. • Changes in government policy will mean that young people will need to be “learning or earning” next year. Any proposed bus link will provide schools, TAFE, parents, and young people with the flexibility to provide a wider range of realistic and practical options for our young people. • The District Youth Achievement Plan (DYAP), along with every other major survey and study has identified a lack of suitable transport as one of the main barriers young people face in accessing suitable education, training and employment opportunities. • Cost of car travel to Loganlea TAFE is also out of reach of some students

EMPLOYMENT • Lack of employment opportunities in main township areas (or regional areas for that matter!) • Most employment opportunities are inaccessible. For example, most larger employers such as Bush’s, Davis Gelatine, Cement works etc are situated many miles from townships, which requires private vehicles to access • Private vehicles generally required to access all employment within the Shire. • Any employment outside the Shire depends mostly on private vehicle as public transport only travels on Mt Lindsay Hwy (deviating slightly in some areas). • To access employment in areas along the Roadrunner line (for example Browns Plains), workers need to leave at 6.15am (the 9.00 is too late) and then need to wait over an hour for shops/businesses to open. Buses returning to Beaudesert are at 2pm and 5.30pm. This particularly raises safety issues for young people and female workers. (This makes part-time employment very difficult to access, and even an 8 hour work day turns into a 13 hour day including travel)

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Access and Mobility Beaudesert Shire Community – Transport Network December 2005

• Boystown work experience program on Thurs and Fridays for Beaudesert and Jimboomba based teenagers can’t get to work experience venues as there is NO public buses in off-peak times

HEALTH • Logan Hospital is inaccessible by public transport other than an almost 3 hour trip on 3 different buses with considerable walking distances. This has implications for all patients in Beaudesert Shire and particularly ante-natal patients. • Residents wanting to visit family/friends in hospital also require a private vehicle to access Logan Hospital • Significant rises in the demands being made of local HACC medical transport services (most have waiting lists) • Changing procedural requirements by HACC for vehicle changeovers has impacted the length of time for agencies to change vehicles over. Changeovers can take in excess of 3 months to complete making it difficult for agencies to budget appropriately • HACC transport services are under-funded and under-resourced. Ie. Demand outstrips supply • No access to Community/Mental Health services at Mt Warren Park is other than by private vehicle only. • Community Health Centre will be constructed by 2007 at Browns Plains and will provide multi-programs. Negotiating to have public bus stop outside of the building • Can’t get access to Southport hospital using public transport

HOUSING • Lack of emergency housing services and people needing to access any services in Brisbane/Gold Coast areas have limited transport opportunities (other than taxis) • Social isolation is a major issue for many people throughout the Shire particularly if they find themselves confined to acreage living. • This is often seen in scenarios where the elderly widowed mother sells up her house to live with her adult children and their family on their acreage properties either in a self-funded granny flat or invest in the adult childrens’ homes. ‘Mum’ may often be expected to provide child care but then over time her physical capabilities/health deteriorates and she finds herself unable to cope alone. The adult children usually work fulltime and subsequently mum finds herself, alone and isolated for most of the daylight hours. (This scenario is seen far too often throughout the Shire by HACC services)

LOCAL TRANSPORT SERVICES • Taxi subsidy scheme – older taxi passengers harbour a fear of using their TSS vouchers because when presented to previous taxi operators they encountered abuse and were told they “can’t use those things here”. This has also had implications for agencies trialling their own ‘taxi voucher’ schemes as older people fear the same reactions from the new operators. • Taxi availability – Numerous complaints have been received by agencies from passengers where taxis are not returning for pick-up at the booked time. Example 1 - an 87 year old man books a cab (3 times a week) for a return trip from visiting his elderly wife in a Beaudesert nursing home. Most days the taxi does not appear and he is forced to walk 6-7 klm to his home. Example 2 – A 58 year old woman with a physical disability uses a booked taxi to return home after her fortnightly shopping. Taxi shows up an hour later with the driver stating his “had to come from Browns Plains”. Her frozen/cold foods were completely destroyed. (She is a pensioner with limited finances)

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Access and Mobility Beaudesert Shire Community – Transport Network December 2005

• RoadRunner – the timetable has not changed in 30 years. Ie 6.15am, 9.00am and 3.00pm to Brisbane Mon-Fridays. It takes 2.5 hours to travel from Beaudesert to Brisbane City as opposed to an hour in a vehicle.

LOCAL SOCIAL SERVICES • The limited number of local social services are tackling a number of emergency type issues for example, youth chroming, juvenile justice, emergency relief, emergency housing, aged care, disability issues, and are unable to respond to transport issues alone. The transport agenda seems to slip off the agenda as crisis social needs must be met. • Local service providers may not have workers skilled, knowledgeable or confident enough to tackle whole of community transport issues. • Services outside the Shire that are funded to provide outreach services within the Shire will often only stay in the area for a 3 month trial period. When clients do not access their services, the ‘mother’ agency will withdraw the outreach service without exploring the reasons why people did not use it, or without exploring clients’ barriers to access.

GENERAL ACCESS & MOBILITY BARRIERS • No local transport services (other than two taxis) either within townships or to/from townships • No weekend transport services in the Shire at all (apart from 2 taxis which are often located at Browns Plains and then travel to Beaudesert for individual jobs – making for excessively long waiting times) • Young people usually rely entirely on parents and/or grandparents to transport them to all activities including social, educational and employment • Young people are very often stranded in both northern and southern parts of the Shire unable to access any weekend activities (there are no structured social/recreational activities within the Shire to access and no transport out of Shire to access any in metropolitan areas) • Satellite areas/urban geography within the Shire are not connected other than via private vehicle with nothing linking them. • Almost a 3 hour trip on public transport to access Loganlea train station. (Beenleigh train station is 30 minute drive in car) • No public or private transport services to Gold Coast (other than taxi) • No public or private transport services East, West or South (other than taxi) • Significant migration of youth population from aged 16 onwards to Brisbane/Gold Coast etc. to access education/employment • Fixed income areas (pensions, low income) • Lack of transport/access/mobility education/awareness – people may not know what limited services are available • Areas with limited incomes or opportunities to increase income (eg. Flagstone = many 1 income families) • Attitudinal mindset – Different attitudes of residents between geographical areas. For example, the Northern end of the Shire is made up of a lot of ‘migrants’ from Southern states who may come to expect the same level of services they may previously had access to when living in urban areas. Northern Shire residents may not know neighbours on five acre block next door. Southern districts tend to be made up of long term residents, perhaps many generations of families. People know everyone in the whole of district and even on the other side of the mountain. • Rising fuel costs severely impact on peoples’ abilities to travel for social/recreational/employment/health etc

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Access and Mobility Beaudesert Shire Community – Transport Network December 2005

• Poor physical state of local road networks makes for expensive up-keep of any vehicle • Lack of suitable volunteers to compliment funded transport activities and inappropriate vehicles for client accessibility and legal compliance (e.g. fewer women staying at home and able to volunteer. Volunteers are often retirees with diminishing driving skills. Volunteers may have large 4 wheel drives which are inaccessible, non- insured vehicles) • Limited internet access opportunities (eg Broadband not available in all areas of the Shire and lengthy waiting lists in areas which can access) • Poor home-delivery services throughout the region (may get very limited local home delivery services in Beaudesert/Jimboomba, but none available in regional areas such as Tamborine Village, Rathdowney, Kerry etc) • The only transport out of the Shire (to Brisbane City), can take shoppers to Jimboomba but the extended and lengthy time between buses means passengers are less likely to use this facility. (The time table for this service has not changed since the mid 1970’s) • Greater expectation by government departments that funded non-government organisations will work collaboratively/in partnerships together with each other to address social issues, but when agencies attempt to work together, the government red-tape often slows down the processes. Government departments’ own rules and regulations often impede these same departments’ abilities to work together, once again slowing down community processes. • Road Runner service goes in a line from Beaudesert to Brisbane instead of shuttling between Beaudesert and Browns Plains • Accessing the Road runner service by others resident in outlying townships outside the major towns of Beaudesert and Jimboomba is problematic • Park and ride may need to be at Park Ridge and some type of shuttle bus runs to Browns Plains • Road Runner timetable has been the same since the 1970’s • General lack of local recreational opportunities pressures youth to want to move outside of the Shire. • People would go to the Gold Coast or Beenleigh or Loganlea for health, education and employment opportunities if only there were public transport to these hubs • Concessional vehicle registration status could be lost by loaning of vehicle to other agencies.

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Access and Mobility Beaudesert Shire Community – Transport Network December 2005