Five new Brisbane bus routes, changes to dozens more in network shake-up

Buses could be more frequent, more reliable, less crowded and come closer to home – though a trip to the city might involve transferring at the closest busway stop – under a plan released by Brisbane City Council on Tuesday.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the long-awaited changes to bus routes would ease bottlenecks and reduce congestion, and would take Brisbane “from public transport to mass transit”.

After hearing from passengers and crunching data on customer patronage and popular travel patterns, 12 routes have been redesigned to end at metro and busway stations, and others redesigned based on community feedback.

The council said the new plan would come into effect when services along the Metro 1 and Metro 2 routes launched.Credit: Brisbane City Council

The new network would make it easier to get to suburban destinations like Mount Gravatt Plaza, Fairfield Gardens, and Greenslopes Hospital, as well as major university campuses, the council said.

It said 85 per cent of routes would be faster or similar during peak periods, and would mean an extra 160,000 services a year.

The five new routes are:

• one connecting Upper Mount Gravatt to RBWH through Woolloongabba and the Valley;
• one between Indooroopilly and Fairfield Gardens;
• one between Upper Mount Gravatt and the busway at Holland Park West, through Wishart and Mansfield;
• a loop through South Brisbane;
• a new peak-hour service running along Ipswich Road from Acacia Ridge.

The announcement comes a week after the new Brisbane Metro vehicles took their first trips along the 169 route between Eight Mile Plans and UQ Lakes.

The council said the new plan would come into effect at the same time as the launch of services along the Metro 1 (Eight Mile Plains to Roma Street) and Metro 2 (the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital to UQ Lakes Station) routes.

No date has yet been set, but Schrinner said the council hoped to meet with the Crisafulli government’s new transport minister to discuss timing.

“David Crisafulli has been a long-time supporter of Brisbane Metro and we’re excited by the prospect of being able to work with the new government to make long-overdue improvements to Brisbane’s public transport network,” he said in a statement.

Documents from council showed that three routes that cross the city between the western and northern suburbs – the 375, 379 and 470 routes – would be split into two to improve reliability.

Three routes that the council said had low customer demand – the 28, 145 and P151 – would be cut entirely, while another three pairs of routes – 124/125, 174/175, and 184/185 – would be merged.

Under the changes, more bus passengers would have to transfer. For example, the 110 from Inala, the 112 from Griffith’s Mount Gravatt Campus and the 113 from Mount Gravatt Central would all terminate at the PA Hospital busway stop, and city-bound passengers would then transfer onto another service for the second leg of their journey.

Fewer buses would travel over the Victoria Bridge, in a bid to reduce congestion at the Cultural Centre.

Bus stops in the CBD would also be moved. Several peak-hour services in the city would change to run along Elizabeth Street, Edward Street and Alice Street in both directions.

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