Brisbane council election: Greens mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan’s transport pledge

Public transport across Brisbane would be free for kids, and off-peak travel free for everyone under a bold election pitch by Greens mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan.

Public transport across Brisbane would be free for kids, and off-peak travel free for everyone under a bold election pitch by Greens mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan.

If the Greens win power at the March 16 Brisbane City Council election they would also do a three-month trial during which public transport would be free for all across the city.

Mr Sriranganathan said they hoped this would ease cost-of-living pressures already weighing heavily on Brisbane families.

“Public transport fares in Brissie are obscenely high. We want to start with free fares for kids, and free fares off-peak for everyone, including weeknights and weekends,” he said.

Greens Brisbane mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan. Picture: Richard Walker

“Household budgets are tight, and we know that free public transport could be a game changer to help residents save money and encourage more people to switch from driving to public transport.”

“Our goal is to ensure every Brissie resident has a fast, frequent and reliable bus or train service within easy walking distance, and that’s why we announced our Brissie Bus Boost late last year.”

Mr Sriranganathan said funding required to implement his public transport plans could be found within the council budget, with an estimated cost of $338 million over four years.

“Making public transport free for kids will cost about $13.5 million per year, which is a relatively small component of the council’s annual $4.3 billion budget,” he said.

“Free off-peak transport for everyone will cost $80 million per year, and the three-month trial of universal free transport is a one-off cost of $45 million.

“This initiative will save money in the long-term by reducing road congestion and the impact on existing infrastructure.

“We can fund it via a reduction in spending on non-essential road-widening projects, and by making developers pay their fair share through infrastructure charges.”

The state government covers 75 per cent of Brisbane’s public transport bill, while the council funds the remaining 25 per cent, although this agreement is currently being renegotiated.

He said the three-month free fare trial would hopefully convince the state government to abolish fares altogether.

“Our three-month trial of universal free fares would be a real-world experiment to give Brisbane residents a taste of the freedom to leave their cars at home. We’re confident it would help convince the State government to abolish fares for good,” Mr Sriranganathan said.

“Free public transport trials have been extremely successful in Sydney and Noosa, and could boost ridership by 40 per cent overnight, without a single new bus route or train service.”

“The LNP dismissed the Greens’ first plans for free public transport back in 2016, and then almost immediately implemented it just for seniors.”

If elected, the party would also implement the previously announced ‘Brissie Bus Boost’ to create 15 new and 10 upgraded high frequency bus routes.

Another cornerstone of their pitch is a ‘Streets for People’ plan to create 200 pedestrian crossings, 200km of new footpaths, 15 corridors with protected bike lanes, implement 30km/hr speed limits for traffic in the Brisbane CBD, and pedestrianise Albert Street.