A new Metro and a huge bus route overhaul start today. Here’s what you need to know

4 days ago 10

The most significant shake-up of the city’s bus network in years takes effect from Monday, with more than 150 routes changing and a new Metro route starting.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has described the latest update to the $1.5 billion Brisbane Metro and the new routes as the biggest improvement to Brisbane’s bus services in decades.

Inspired by world-class networks, the new system will add 160,000 services per year, with Brisbane City Council hoping faster and more reliable trips will support the city’s increasing population.

Brisbane City Council says the latest update to the network will result in faster and more reliable trips.

Growing pains are already being felt, with many commuters angry at the changes. Some were shocked to discover they would have to change buses midway through their journey. Others may lose their service entirely.

One example was the 175 service, which no longer stops at the Mater Hill station on the South East Busway. Corrine McMillan, the state Labor MP for Mansfield, said scrapping routes left her community without alternatives as they were far from train lines.

LNP councillor Ryan Murphy, formerly the council’s transport chair, has conceded about 15 per cent of bus trips will take longer than they previously did.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner says Brisbane’s public transport network must grow with the city.

The changes

As of Monday, the Brisbane Metro will run between Eight Mile Plains and Roma Street. Following the introduction of the M2 earlier this year, the council said total Metro capacity would be nearly 20 million trips per year.

Meanwhile, more than 160,000 additional new bus services will run per year. Some new routes include route 197 from South Brisbane to the city, and route 26 from Garden City in Mount Gravatt to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital station.

While some bus stops would be decommissioned, the council said there would be 44 more bus stops compared to the old network.

A map detailing the Brisbane Metro routes.

New services would connect to the Metro, which runs every five minutes on weekdays from 6am to 6pm. At other times, the Metro will run every 10 to 15 minutes.

The council says buses carry around two-thirds of all Brisbane public transport passengers, but their biggest choke point has been the Cultural Centre, Victoria Bridge and Queen Street Tunnel.

“More than 600 extra people are moving to Brisbane every week and our public transport network must grow with our city, or we risk more congestion,” Schrinner said.

The updates follow changes earlier this year that saw the Metro megabuses starting on the M2 route, taking over from the 66 service.

Under Monday’s changes, the Metro replaces buses on routes 111 and 160, becoming the permanent M1 Metro service and running every five minutes between Eight Mile Plains and Roma Street.

The extensive list of route changes across Brisbane can be viewed on the Translink site, with specific details provided by typing in the route number.

When asked whether there would be commuter chaos on Monday morning, Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie urged people to check their timetables over the weekend.

“People have got to absolutely have a look today [at] Translink, the scheduling, and see how it does impact their local areas,” he said on Sunday.

“Everyone who uses public transport in the Brisbane City Council area ... have a look at those changes, and hopefully the more people that have a look at that today, the less impact it will be tomorrow.

“There’s been a pretty big campaign in the last few weeks about the changes.”

Labor’s leader in council, Councillor Jared Cassidy, was sceptical that the changes would have a positive impact on Brisbane’s public transport system.

In a statement to this masthead, he said each time a new bus review was announced, it had resulted in cuts to services, routes and bus stops.

“This council has all their eggs in the Metro basket and have neglected suburban bus routes,” he said, adding that forced transfers and cuts to bus stops in the suburbs would lead to chaos and confusion.

Cassidy said residents living in Wishart, on the south side, would see their two-hour commute increase by 20 minutes, when they lived 25 minutes’ drive from the city.

“After June 30, Salisbury State School kids won’t get dropped off at the gate from the 124. Now, they will need to walk through the streets from Orange Grove Road in peak hour traffic.”

Changes to routes come a week after the bus drivers union highlighted safety issues on the network, with a 46-year-old driver allegedly assaulted in front of shocked passengers.