Angry southside residents take bus route protest to ‘ghost stop’

2 months ago 18

Suffering from cancer and osteoporosis, Sandra now has to walk further to catch the bus.

Her stop on Gregory Street in Acacia Ridge was made redundant as part of route changes introduced last year, with the 117 bus now picking up travellers from Watson Street, about 500 metres away.

“It’s quite a toll on my body,” she said.

Sandra (second from left) with other Acacia Ridge residents affected by route changes on Thursday.

“No one takes it seriously because we’re regarded as a low-income area.

“It’s like [they think] rejects live out here or misfits, and I feel that we’re personally being discriminated against because of our postcode, because we’re a lower-class people.”

Sandra was one of about 10 southside residents who gathered at the “ghost stop” on Thursday morning to protest against changes they say have left them significantly worse off.

While they all declared they were apolitical, the group was brought together by Brisbane City Council’s Labor opposition.

The party has conducted polling since changes were introduced in June 2025, and reported more than 70 per cent of 369 respondents were unhappy with the impact on their routes.

“If the Lord Mayor did get out of his ivory tower in City Hall and came out to the suburbs and spoke to people – real people like we’ve got here today – he would get real-life examples of the decisions that he makes,” Opposition Leader Jared Cassidy said.

“These cuts are affecting communities, not just across the south side – northside commuters have felt them as well.

Acacia Ridge residents protest against bus changes on Thursday at the Gregory Street “ghost stop”.

“He’s really robbing Peter to pay Paul when it comes to bus services.”

Changes were made to about 150 routes, with council saying at the time the move was necessary to integrate the Metro in a growing city and would be beneficial to the vast majority of commuters.

Transport chair Ryan Murphy also conceded about 15 per cent of trips would take longer.

On Thursday, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner dismissed the renewed criticism, saying the opposition’s statistics could not be trusted.

Buses running on the first morning of the new Brisbane Metro services in June last year.

“It’s really quite sad that Labor wants to start off the year criticising a project that has clearly been successful and has seen more people get onto public transport,” he said.

“They are the only people who are not on board with this.

Adrian Schrinner announces the protective barrier rollout at the Toowong bus depot on Thursday.

“They can survey Labor Party branch members all they like, but the reality is, the figures that matter are the figures that show patronage is up … they’re really running a push poll here.”

Many residents who have spoken to this masthead since the changes were introduced have expressed support for the changes, but others have flagged concerns.

Schrinner spoke to the media on Thursday as he announced the rollout of new full safety barriers for bus drivers, with $1 million to go towards retrofitting an additional 50 Brisbane City Council vehicles.

“I think it’s genuinely sad that this is necessary, but it is necessary because of the small number of people that do the wrong thing,” the lord mayor said.