The Hobart Northern Suburbs Rail Action Group say that a plan for a new, $750 million, multi-purpose stadium in the city must include a rail service to ‘avoid traffic chaos’.
Toby Rowallan, the Rail Action Group President, is cautioning the State Government that choosing a busway over a rail system would be a ‘significant mistake’, given the high number of people the stadium is designed to accommodate.
“It is a fact that any busway that is built will be completely incapable of handling the enormous number of people that the major stadium is designed to hold,” Rowallan said.
“Studies show that a rail service can move up to twenty thousand people in an hour, more than twice what a busway can.”
“If there were thirty thousand people at that stadium, a really good busway might, under good conditions, be able to move eight thousand people in one hour.”
Rowallan added that with over twenty thousand people using their cars to get to and from the stadium, “Hobart’s biggest ever traffic jam” would quickly be created.
“It is no coincidence that every other AFL city has passenger rail services.”
The Federal Government is expected to approve funding for the stadium, which will have a capacity of 23,000, this weekend.
This development will clear the way for Tasmania to be awarded the 19th AFL license.
