Brisbane transport: Lord Mayor Graham Quirk’s $1.54b “Brisbane Metro” plan

BRISBANE Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has revealed his first major election commitment – a radical shake-up of the city’s public transport system. See the map

$1.54b plan to change the way we travel

BRISBANE would be home to a first-of-its kind subway system in a $1.54 billion shake-up of public transport, under Lord Mayor Graham Quirk’s first major election commitment.

Under the plan, the new “Brisbane Metro” system would run high-speed, high-frequency services in an underground system through the CBD between Woolloongabba and Herston.

The Queensland capital would be the first Australian city to use the rubber-tyred metro rail system, already used in international cities such as Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Montreal and Miami.

It would see major changes to the way the bus system works in Brisbane, as well as turn Victoria Bridge into a green bridge with cars banned from using it.

Passengers taking public transport from the suburbs into the CBD would catch a bus to Woolloongabba or Herston before changing services to the high-frequency Brisbane Metro.

It is a bid to fix the busway bottleneck at the Cultural Centre station, which has a bus passing through every 15 seconds at peak times, while freeing up buses for more services in the suburbs.

Cr Quirk said it would remove 200 buses an hour in the morning peak from Victoria Bridge and drastically cut travel times.

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“The growth of our city and the demand on the bus network to feed this growth is looming as one of the greatest challenges Brisbane is facing,” Cr Quirk said.

“Brisbane Metro will offer a comfortable, high-frequency, fast, time-reliable and high-capacity link between the suburbs and inner city using a subway system that is quick and easy to get on and off.

“People’s journeys from the suburbs to the city and home again will be faster.”

Brisbane Metro would run from the existing Herston ­station to Woolloongabba ­station using the southeast and inner northern busways.

A new underground portal would be built under Adelaide St to link the King George Square busway and North Quay, from where the system would head down the Victoria Bridge. It would turn off the Victoria Bridge, heading under Cultural Forecourt and South Brisbane rail station before linking up with the southeast busway.

Brisbane Metro would stop at existing stations along the busway route, with a new underground station added at the Culture Centre.

The proposed Brisbane Metro map.

Cr Quirk said it would be segregated from the road network and carry up to 30,000 passengers an hour, which is 10 times the potential capacity of the Gold Coast light rail.

“Travel times from Woolloongabba to the CBD are ­estimated to take 6½ minutes compared to the scheduled 12 minutes, but they often take up to 20 minutes because of bus congestion,” he said.

“Similarly, the Metro will provide travel times of 5½ minutes from Herston to the CBD compared to the current scheduled 9 minutes in the morning peak. As we know, this often takes much longer and will only get worse if we do nothing.”

Some buses, such as services from West End and the Blue CityGliders, would continue to use Cultural Centre station. Funding for the $1.54 billion project will be sought from council, and State and Federal Governments.

Public transport is shaping up as a major issue in the council election, with Labor’s lord mayoral candidate Rod Harding pledging earlier this month an investigation into a light rail system for Brisbane, linking the CBD to South Bank, Fortitude Valley, Newstead, West End and the University of Queensland.