GLink trams running last weekend.

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GLink trams were running on the Gold Coast last weekend but only for driver training and public awareness. They were quite frequent and came by every 15 minutes or so. They were going as far as Ocean Avenue Surfers, using the reverse crossover and returning on the other track, maintaining the correct running direction. Some tram sets have the AOA safety message on the side; others have yet to be signed with the G:Link badge on the front. I could not see any unit numbers displayed on the outsides of the tram sets. The track is 1435mm gauge. The stations are not yet complete and landscaping and street works still far from complete.
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[vernbale]

Great looking tram sets, will be a great asset for Queensland

[Bedford-29]

First trams back on the streets of a Queensland city in 45 years since the last tram left Brisbane streets 13th/April/1969.

[Dial 000]

Tender documents obviously called for the fugliest design possible! What were they thinking?

[crazyturbo76]

The new trams look great-IMO they look just as good (or a bit better than) the new trams Sydney are getting for the impending opening of the Dulwich Hill extension.

[Bedford-29]

Looking at GLink Flexity 2 trams and the new Caf trams in Sydney I reckon 10 Flexity 2 trams like GLinks trams would of been a better option for the Inner West extension.

[howlerbus]

They look great, thats for sure, better than Adelaide's Flexities (which I assume are an older model)

[crazyturbo76]

They look great, thats for sure, better than Adelaide's Flexities (which I assume are an older model)

Adelaide's Flexities are of the Flexity Classic variety, delivered in 2005-06 and 2008-09 and definitely a world apart from these new beasts.

The Gold Coast's Flexities are of the Flexity 2 variety (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexity_2). G-Link might be the second operator (after Blackpool Transport) that gets to operate this tram type.

[davemail66]

This was spotted down at the Port of Brisbane last Sunday (16/2/2014)

[busmadrod]

They do look a very nice set of equipment, will people use them, I'm not sure they will, maybe for the first month or so to try them out but after that it will become a white elephant..............

[dude]

Tender documents obviously called for the fugliest design possible! What were they thinking?

They're an off the shelf design undoubtedly. One of the disappointments if there is one with most German cities retaining their trams is how uniform they tend to look today because of the modern, low-floor off the shelf designed light rail vehicle, which started mostly with the Combino's

Though this is still light-years ahead of an all (non-trolley)bus city in my opinion, so why wont the State capital take notice and start converting those silly busways into light-rail lines.

[08 XDi]

They do look a very nice set of equipment, will people use them, I'm not sure they will, maybe for the first month or so to try them out but after that it will become a white elephant..............

It won't unless people suddenly decide they no longer need to use public transport to go between Southport and anywhere to the south.

The competing buses will all be removed and redeployed to other parts of the coast so there won't be any question about people using it for novelty only.

The only single-seat bus journey from Southport to Surfers will be the 731 (runs via Ferry Rd, Bundall Rd, Evandale and Chevron Island and only hourly), and the only single-seat bus journeys from Southport to Broadbeach will be the 731 and the 741 (both hourly and indirect).

If people are truly desperate to avoid trams, they will be able to catch a bus from Southport to Main Beach and then from Main Beach to Broadbeach, which would be faster than the 2 remaining direct bus options. All of these options will be 2-3 times slower than just hopping on the tram.