I'm another Brisbaneite, and I can see a problem with traffic numbers. Brisbane is rapidly becoming overwhelmed by toll roads and bridges, and many people (including me) are understandably reluctant to pay to use roads that they argue should have been paid for out of the registration fees they pay per vehicle.
The Clem7 tunnel will be $4.80 per car each way. That's almost $10 just to duck over to the Southside and back. And if you want any alternatives, then the new Hale St bridge will also be an expensive toll bridge. The Northern Link will be a toll road/tunnel system, the Gateway bridge(s) are currently tolled, the Logan Motorway is a toll road, and the Brisconnect airport link will be tolled.
So you will understand that many - perhaps most - Brisbaneites will baulk at paying to use roads and bridges. I certainly won't, and I have shares in RCY!
All these toll roads will do very little to ease the traffic congestion, due to the reluctance to pay tolls.
THe Brisbane City Council have promised that they WON'T use road closures and "funneling" to direct traffic into the toll tunnel, but we all know how reliable political promises are. That would be the only way that RCY would come up anywhere near the numbers, I suspect. Taxis have already said that they will avoid the tunnel if possible - they make more by taking longer anyway. And many passengers will object to having an extra $5 on top of the taxi fare for using the tunnel.
So, I see problems ahead with traffic numbers, and I suspect that RCY will be the classic share to "buy the rumour, sell the news" when the announcement is made re the tunnel opening.
Currently, however, it's a 'BUY' as anticipation builds.
RCY Price at posting:
32.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
