THE commitment by the Queensland Government and Gold Coast City Council of around $650 million towards a Rapid Transit System (RTS) for the Gold Coast should be welcome news.

Infrastructure investment, particularly in areas of transport and public transport, has been sadly lacking on the Gold Coast for many years. While an RTS similar to that being considered by Translink will prove attractive to the tourism market, it will do little to address worsening transport and parking problems facing local business owners, commuters and regular visitors to the Gold Coast's primary business centres.

Translink's Rapid Transit Project Group has been charged with considering (for the section between Helensvale Railway Station and Southport), two alternative route options and, ultimately, whether rapid bus or a light rail system should be adopted.

The route options under review are whether the corridor should pass initially via Parkwood or via Harbour Town, and in the Southport CBD, whether the course should follow Scarborough Street or Marine Parade. If a rapid transit system does come to Southport, I firmly believe the Marine Parade option through the CBD should be preferred. The existing traffic and intermittent congestion along Scarborough Street and the prospect of complications with property owners from unsightly overhead power requirements, make that route an unattractive one.

The Marine Parade option, only one block away, would provide the opportunity for an RST to service both the business district west of the street and provide ready access to the planned Southport Broadwater Parklands redevelopment for recreational and event use. The opportunity beckons for the creation of an iconic system along the parklands to reflect the glory of the Broadwater and the lifestyle opportunities that it offers.

Construction of a rapid transit corridor through the Southport CBD will result in the loss of substantial amounts of centre parking along the route and bring obvious disruption during construction. In return, local business is entitled to anticipate that the RTS, once up and running, would prove a major boon for Southport enterprise, and for the precinct generally.

In considering the current plans under review, that is certainly open to conjecture. In planning the implication of such a substantial transport system, surely the fundamental starting point would be to identify who will be using the system and to where those customers will travel.

The present route under proposal - from Helensvale to Southport and then along the beachside suburbs to Coolangatta - joins most of the city's main business and tourist nodes. The route will be very popular with visitors, both for Gold Coast Airport transfers and for connections to the heavy rail service to Brisbane City and Brisbane Airport. If RTS is intended to be used by tourists, its success in that regard will be undoubted. But, surely the Gold Coast needs to be equally concerned at catering for local residents? The substantial recent, and continuing, increase in the Gold Coast's permanent population demands an efficient and comprehensive public transport network. The economic benefits are obvious and the social benefits would be equally compelling.

The Southport area, while still the Gold Coast's primary business centre, is also a major medical and educational precinct. Planned expansion for both Griffith University and Southport Hospital facilities, highlight the importance of providing public transport options to Southport from all other parts of the city, rather than just from Helensvale and the beachside strip. Long-term future thinking is called for in such a substantial infrastructure development. The coming decades will see the beachside suburbs become even more exclusive to residential and tourism enclaves. Fewer local residents seeking transport to Griffith University or to the medical and hospital precinct will be living in the beachside strip.

The proposed rapid transit route will be patronised by commuters and students living in the suburbs along its route, but what about the vast majority of our suburbs that are not on the route? Where does the proposed RTS go? Apart from along the beachside strip, it goes to the heavy rail at Helensvale. Where does the heavy rail system go? It goes to Brisbane.

The heavy rail system is obviously crucial to the Gold Coast, in that it provides a link to Brisbane and the Brisbane Airport. The rail is, however, effectively useless for residents needing to travel from one part of the Gold Coast to another. The RTS will be of little benefit to the majority of commuters travelling from western and northern suburbs to the Coast's primary employment centres. Little has been seen so far of any proposals for park and ride facilities to be established as part of the RTS.

Helensvale Railway Station's park and ride facilities are already under strain. In the absence of substantial park and ride facilities, I can't see local residents making much use of the RTS at all.

The limited options presently on the table for consideration by Translink are simply not enough. A broader review of the full public transport needs of Gold Coast City needs to be undertaken. Full use of our extensive waterways by comprehensive ferry services, including that proposed by Gold Coast Solar Cats for commencement later this year, is essential. East-west connections, by way of bus links, are a fundamental requirement. Why can't the heavy rail system be brought into Southport, and a true regional transport hub created, with ready links to a RTS servicing the beachside strip, to ferry systems plying the Broadwater and to comprehensive east-west bus services to other suburbs?

Why can't an RTS provide buses to service northern and western suburbs and connect seamlessly to a rapid transit bus corridor linking the major centres from Southport down the Coast? The opportunities are boundless. If we are planning for a transport system to cater for coming decades, we need to fully consider our needs and options and plan with vision and ambition.

The proposed RTS is not the answer to our city's present, let alone future, public transport needs. An RTS is likely part of the answer, but does Government even fully understand the question?