Greens propose 15 new bus routes, 10 upgrades, 13 added corridors to boost Brisbane transport network
An ambitious plan to overhaul Brisbane’s bus network so school students can catch a bus rather than parents and carers being “unpaid taxi drivers” has been proposed by the Greens. SEE THE MAP
QLD News
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The Greens have announced an ambitious plan to add 15 new bus routes to Brisbane’s transport network to save commuters from travelling through the city centre.
Under the plan, 13 priority lanes would be created to allow buses to skip through traffic and 10 existing routes would be upgraded or expanded to bring them to “high-frequency” capacity.
The 15 new proposed routes and 10 upgraded routes would cover 395km, while the number of high-frequency routes would increase from 21 to 43, which the Greens claim would “allow residents to get nearly anywhere by bus”.
The 15 new services would operate from 6am to 11.30pm, arriving every 10 minutes in peak periods and every 15 minutes off-peak.
New services would include routes connecting West End to Bulimba, another between The Gap and Northgate, and a service from Chapel Hill to Capalaba via the UQ Green Bridge.
Greens’ candidate for Walter Taylor Ward, Michaela Sargent, said the plan would help connect residents to local schools across Brisbane without having to travel through the city centre.
“Many of these new high-frequency routes will connect directly to local schools, so that students can catch a bus rather than parents and carers having to work as unpaid taxi drivers,” Ms Sargent said.
“Everyone knows traffic evaporates on school holidays, which shows we need more suburban bus routes.
“We are open to feedback on our proposal ... everyone should be able to get where they need to go, regardless of whether they can drive or afford to run a car.”
The Greens have also proposed new bus corridors to help buses beat congestion and skip traffic.
Roads where priority lanes would be added include Kelvin Grove Rd/Enoggera Rd, Lutwyche Road/Gympie Rd, the Centenary Motorway, Coronation Drive, Moggill Rd, Old Cleveland Rd, Ipswich Rd/Main St, Logan Rd, Mains Rd, Stanley and Vulture streets, Montague Rd, Lytton Rd/Wynnum Rd, and a new Inner West Transitway via Sir Fred Schonell Drive and the University of Queensland campus.
The Greens bus plan would require an additional $169m of funding on top of the existing $465m budget, which the party hopes will be half paid for by the state government.
Greens mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan said the bus network expansion would be “the biggest in most people’s lifetimes” and was a better congestion-busting solution than the Gympie Rd tunnel.
“Right now, the major parties’ main response to traffic congestion is to waste billions building more car tunnels and widening intersections, but all the evidence tells us that improving public transport should be the priority, and that building more roads creates more traffic,” he said.
“Wasting $9bn on a tunnel under Gympie Road is a ludicrous idea when we could revolutionise public transport coverage and access for a fraction of that price.”
The $169m a year would include $27m for upgrades and $142m for the 15 new service routes.
Upgrades and extensions for existing routes:
To be upgraded to high-frequency: 175, 192, 220, 235, 380, 470
To be extended: 100, 196, 444
To be extended and upgraded to high-frequency: 390
New bus corridors:
Kelvin Grove Rd/Enoggera Rd
Lutwyche Road/Gympie Rd
The Centenary Motorway
A new Inner West Transitway via Sir Fred Schonell Drive and the UQ campus
Coronation Drive
Moggill Rd
Old Cleveland Rd
Ipswich Rd/Main St
Logan Rd
Mains Rd
Stanley St and Vulture St
Montague Rd
Lytton Rd/Wynnum Rd
New routes:
B1: West End to Bulimba
B2: Annerley to Hamilton
B3: Milton to Teneriffe
B4: Yeronga to Coorparoo
B5: Fig Tree Pocket – Indooroopilly – Long Pocket
B6: Enoggera to Indooroopilly
B7: Enoggera to Hendra/DFO
B8: Bulimba to Corinda
B9: The Gap to Northgate
B10:Chapel Hill to Capalaba via the UQ Green Bridge
B11: Indooroopilly to Pallara
B12: Hamilton to Upper Mt Gravatt (Garden City) via the Gateway Bridge
B13: Riverhills to Upper Mt Gravatt (Garden City)
B14: Eatons Hill to Banyo
B15: Wacol to Springwood
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