TransLink data shows small rise in Brisbane New Bus Network patronage

The verdict is in. TransLink passenger data has revealed what Brisbane bus commuters really think about the city’s biggest public transport change in years. 153 ROUTES REVEALED

Despite a flood of complaints on social media, more passengers have jumped on board a Brisbane City Council bus since the biggest public transport shake-up in years began on June 30.

But the New Bus Network has also not been a raging success with only 83,000 extra trips, or 3.6 per cent more, TransLink data on 153 routes has revealed.

A TransLink spokesman said the numbers could still improve as they might reflect a “settling in’’ period while commuters got used to the idea of having to change buses under the “hub and spoke’’ model.

The data showed there were 2,190,128 trips before the launch, from June 16-29.

That compared with 2,272,939 trips from July 14-27. That period was picked because the first weeks of the rollout coincided with the school holidays.

Two out of three routes were busier than before the shake up, particularly “trunk’’ routes.

Route 107 (Yeronga to the CBD) was up by a whopping 282 per cent, the 171 (Garden City Rocket) shot up more than 125 per cent and the 205 (Coorparoo to the city) jumped by 88 per cent.

Numbers were down on the other one third of routes, although that was partly due to some being merged, renamed, re-routed or possibly due to confusion about the location of new bus stops.

New routes included the 26, 109, 127, 182 and 197, as well as the M1 Metro service from Eight Mile Plans to the CBD.

Bus union secretary Tom Brown said it was a modest increase which could be put down to other factors such as the M2 launch or 50c fares.

He said the big increases on the 107, 171 and 205 were likely due to realigned services picking up in more places, particularly the 205 “rocket’’ service.

As expected, both the M1 and M2 Metro services recorded large increases in passengers, as the NBN was designed to feed lower-volume services to Metro and other trunk routes.

Patronage on the M2 (Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital to UQ Lakes) rose by 30,443 trips in July, compared to the same period in June.

Almost 500,000 people have taken the M1 since it launched on June 30.

Routes which saw numbers plunge included: the 375 (down 57 per cent to 18,347); the 112 (also down 57 per cent, to 2595); the 172 (down 51 per cent to 3737); the 379 (down 55 per cent to 6909); the 204 (down 24 per cent to 31,239).

“The NBN project encompassed the launch of the permanent Brisbane Metro M1 service, the addition of five new bus routes, increased service frequency to key destinations in Brisbane and simplification of the network to make it more accessible and efficient,’’ a TransLink spokesman said.

“A comparison of the last two weeks prior to the introduction of NBN with the last two weeks of July shows many routes have recorded a strong patronage increase.

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“Several routes experienced an increase in patronage of more than 50 per cent, which can be attributed to route realignments or stop changes that mean these routes now service more stops or create more connections to Brisbane city.

“Some high-volume trunk routes also recorded notable increases in patronage, with route 120 gaining an additional 12,700 trips.

“Where routes recorded large decreases in patronage, like routes 375 and 184, corresponding increases on replacement routes (such as route 375 splitting into 375 and 348 and the 184 merged with the 185) indicate this is due to routes being reconfigured, renamed or merged rather than a change in passenger demand.’’

The design of the NBN was based on analysis of customer data and feedback from a community consultation process led by Brisbane City Council in late 2022.