Brisbane Metro link to airport not cleared for take-off

The Queensland government has poured cold water on Brisbane City Council’s plan to extend the Metro bus system to the airport, just hours after the premier and lord mayor appeared together to spruik the project.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner on Wednesday released the council’s Olympic transport plan, the Race to Gold: Brisbane’s Games Transport Legacy, which identified 18 “achievable and affordable” projects that could be rolled out in time for the 2032 Games.

Central to the plan was a major expansion of the soon-to-be-operational Brisbane Metro, with 22 new stations proposed – including to Brisbane Airport.

Transport Minister Bart Mellish (left) and Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner with a Metro bus in July.Credit: Annette Dew

Schrinner joined Premier Steven Miles and Transport Minister Bart Mellish at the media conference on Wednesday morning, in a joint plea for federal support to expand the Metro by reallocating $450 million committed to the Gabba Metro station through the South East Queensland City Deal.

Mellish said the state wanted to work with all levels of government to improve transport outcomes, but by the end of the day, he was tempering expectations of a new Brisbane Metro airport link.

“The state government does not initially believe these will be viable when you consider the existence of the current rail line and infrastructure,” he said in a statement.

“However, as council is keen to consider these options, we are prepared to have them examined during the business case stage.”

Mellish said there would need to be consultation with Airtrain, the private company that has an exclusive contract to run public services to the airport.

That contract was due to expire in 2036, but there have been unsuccessful attempts to negotiate a premature end, to fully integrate the airport line into the Citytrain network, with the same fare structure.

Brisbane Airport Corporation chief executive Gert-Jan de Graaf, who has long called for a public transport solution at the airport, described the council’s Brisbane Metro proposal as “music to my ears”.

“Brisbane Airport needs more transport modes to and from the airport,” he told a Committee for Brisbane lunch on Wednesday.

“Just to give you an indication, 45 per cent of all passengers that are travelling Brisbane Airport are being picked up and dropped off by private vehicles, 20 per cent by taxis and bike shares.

“That’s a lot of traffic movements every day on the road that could be taken off the road if there were more alternative options.”

Schrinner said a Herculean task lay ahead to ensure Brisbane’s transport infrastructure could cope with the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, as he launched the council’s vision of deliverable transport projects.

“While much of the talk has been about stadiums, the challenges of our transport system are absolutely critical for us to deal with,” he told the lunch.

He said the city’s current public transport system could only cope with half the expected Games demand. He said when south-east Queensland’s Council of Mayors first pitched an Olympic bid, it was billed as a catalyst for region-shaping transport projects.

“It was about the ability to move around our growing region,” Schrinner said.

“Our transport network today is not Games-ready, and in fact, our transport system as it stands today couldn’t even hold 50 per cent of the trips required to host the Games – not even half – so that’s the size of the task that we have ahead of us.”

One proposal was to replace the Doomben train line with Metro services that would continue through to the airport, something with which Greens MP Michael Berkman took issue.

“It is laughable that council and the state government can claim Brisbane will be Olympics-ready in 2032 when even their giant Olympic Village and future residential precinct [at Hamilton] will have zero public transport under this plan,” he said.

“Labor and the LNP want to replace the Doomben train line with a bus, instead of just upgrading the existing line so it’s a real option – like running trains on Sunday, for a start.”

Schrinner said while “many people romanticise rail”, the advantage of bus rapid transit was that it could be delivered more quickly.

“How much rail do you think we can build in eight years?” he said.

“Anyone can tell me precisely how long it’s taken to get the Cross River Rail project from start to finish – it’s more like 20 years, so we need to be realistic.”