Better public transport helps everyone, by reducing the number of cars on the road, and creating quieter, safer streets. It also cuts climate pollution and revitalises local shopping precincts.
Brisbane residents deserve free, frequent and reliable buses while providing a practical and well-connected bus network. For too long, the west side has been underserved by public transport, being almost completely ignored in Council’s last review of the network. Meanwhile, bike paths and pedestrian infrastructure have also been left behind. We need bus routes upgraded to high frequency, and to provide additional routes between suburbs, so more people have the option to leave their car at home.
Currently, our public transport system is inefficient, which unsurprisingly leaves many Brisbane residents reliant on their car. If public transport was a real option, thousands of residents could forget about the stress and hassle of parking, increasing petrol prices and traffic congestion.
In the last 10 years, the LNP-led Council has created just one new frequent bus service (in the Gabba Ward), and only because of sustained Greens pressure. During their 20 years in power, the Council have wasted billions of dollars on road widening and toll road projects that only worsen congestion.
It’s clear that the LNP and Labor don’t have a serious vision for addressing our public transport network. We want to create practical solutions that allow people to move around our city with ease without depending on their car.
Brisbane Bus Boost
Our Greens Council team will be campaigning to boost Brisbane’s bus services would increase cross-suburb bus routes and encourage more public transport usage by making it free and more frequent for everyone. We could easily scrap expensive ticketing systems and fully subsidise fares so that people can take the bus, train, or ferry without having to pay. This will save people money and leave fewer people caught in traffic congestion, creating more time for family, friends and recreational activities.
A Greens-led Brisbane City Council would:
- Create 15 new high-frequency bus routes, doubling the number of high-frequency services to link suburbs directly without needing to go through the CBD.
- Upgrade 10 existing bus routes with frequency upgrades or extensions.
- Let buses skip traffic jams by creating 13 bus priority corridors on key arterial roads, which already carry frequent buses.
New high-frequency routes
New high-frequency routes would serve existing bus interchanges at major shopping centres, suburban main streets, schools, hospitals, universities, and train stations instead of just the CBD.
One of these proposed routes is a long-overdue north-south connection through the Paddington Ward from Enoggera railway station to Indooroopilly railway station, running through Ashgrove, Bardon, and Toowong.
The new routes, like this one, would connect existing high-frequency services, especially train lines and busways, making it easy to change services without ever having to wait more than 10 or 15 minutes for a connection.
By creating new inter-suburban routes, buses will become a genuine option for thousands of people who just need to travel a few suburbs over for work, shopping, or to visit friends. Under the Greens’ bus service expansion proposal for Brisbane, almost 400km of major road corridor will get a high-frequency “turn up and go”' bus service for the very first time.
Funding new bus services
Public transport in Queensland is largely funded by the State government, which also collects all fare revenue.
Our Greens team approach is to propose an agreement with the state government to increase funding for public transport and decrease State government spending on wasteful road widening projects.
The total cost for additional bus services across Brisbane for the Greens ‘Brissie Bus Boost’ would be $169 million per year including:
- $142 million for the 15 new high-frequency bus services
- $27 million for the 10 upgraded bus services.
These costs are based on published per/km running costs for the Maroon CityGlider.
The Brissie Bus Boost would be a 36% funding increase for buses in Brisbane.
The current total cost of operating the Brisbane bus network is $465 million per year, with 77% being provided by the state government, and the remaining 23% coming from the City Council.
By contrast, just three wasteful road widening projects have cost Council almost $1 billion:
- Adding two extra lanes to just 650 metres of Lytton Road cost Council $115 million,
- Widening just 3km of Kingsford Smith Drive cost $635 million,
- The wasteful and disruptive Moggill Rd / Coonan St “upgrade” has blown out again to $234 million.
Since the LNP came to power in Brisbane City Council in 2004, the public and private sectors have spent $10 billion building toll road tunnels. Despite that, leading transport experts have found those tunnels now have “no congestion-busting benefit” because they have simply entrenched car-dependency while starving public transport of funding.1
We can afford to improve public transport by redirecting funds from ineffective road projects to support everyone. Improved public transport reduces vehicle congestion, and creates streets for people that are quieter and safer. It will decrease climate pollution, and rejuvenate local business precincts. Let’s create a positive and healthy future for all of us.