Easy. CBD-Robina is about way more than Robina Town Centre. Robina Town Centre is a very large leisure shopping and entertainment centre at the heart of CBD-Robina. However, given the population distribution within the shopping centre’s all-important 5, 10 and 15 minute drive times it is evident that people will generally not use the train to go shopping. The Station was never intended principally for shoppers. It was intended to help move a large future workforce.
Nowadays, we hear a lot about transport oriented developments - high density developments near, around and even above stations and other transport hubs that are designed to maximize use of public transport and minimize use of private vehicles. Transport-oriented developments (TODs as they are generally called) are a very good idea, and now recognized as a key element in the creation of walkable, safe, human scale sustainable cities.
What good urban planners aim to do is create maximum building densities within a 500 to 600 metre walk of major transport hubs such as Robina Station. Now, if Robina Station had been incorporated within Robina Town Centre, the precincts that would have benefited from the Station are the shopping centre and the area immediately surrounding it. Not such a great result, really.
When considering CBD-Robina you have to think on a larger scale than most urban planners are used to. Robina Station is definitely at the heart of a TOD, but CBD-Robina is not ‘big buildings around a station’ type TOD that tend to become the focus at urban planning conferences.
Located where it is, Robina Station is at the centre of ELEVEN major precincts. It is within 600 metres of all of these precincts and so serves an urban centre far greater than the Robina Town Centre shopping mall.
If the Station had been built within Robina Town Centre it would certainly be nearer to the CBD-Robina precincts to the south of the Centre. But these are retail precincts - principally Robina Automall - and market research still shows that the number of people who shop for a new or used car by train is virtually zero.
THE BIG BIG BIGGER PICTURE
CBD-Robina has always been positioned to be as much a satellite of Brisbane as it has a central business district for Gold Coast City, and as Gold Coast City, Logan and Brisbane start to merge into one giant conurbation CBD-Robina’s potential and original intent become clear.
Robina Station was designed to carry commuters to both CBD-Robina and Brisbane. In its early years the commuters were headed mainly for Brisbane. As CBD-Robina grows and all the new office accommodation in CBD-Robina comes on stream the flow will change.
The location of Robina Station is all about employment opportunities and convenient travel for the overall workforce.
