‘It reeks down there’: Is this city bus stop’s pungent stink finally being fixed?

3 months ago 16

Anyone catching a shiny new Metro to King George Square in the heart of Brisbane knows the scent of sewage that hits you when the sliding doors open.

Ned Perkins runs a cafe at the mouth of the bus station. He said the smell at the underground terminal had been an issue for years, though its intensity ebbed.

“Usually, it’s the smell of urine, pretty much anywhere downstairs,” he said. “It’s pretty strong too, it’s pretty pungent.”

His workmate Brian Pullan said some of the walls on the platform had stains he thought were associated with a leak.

Another clue was what appeared to be a water-affected area above an escalator on platform 1, the stinkiest platform.

Pullan said customers often brought it up, especially tourists and visitors to the city.

“A lot of the side comments, when they come to order coffees, [are] ‘it reeks down there, is that normal?’”

This masthead wondered too, so two weeks ago we sent questions to the Department of Transport and Main Roads, who operate the station.

On Tuesday, they gave us this statement: “The Department of Transport and Main Roads is aware of odours occurring intermittently in the area of the King George Square bus station.”

They said they were using ventilation to limit the smell and working with Urban Utilities, who operate the pipes around the station, to find its source.

Next we called Urban Utilities, who said they had received a complaint about the smell on Tuesday and had sent a crew to investigate.

“We carried out high-pressure cleaning works to minimise any potential odour from the wastewater network,” a spokesperson said, adding Urban Utilities would monitor the station for stink.

Perkins and Pullan said not one person had complained about the smell on Wednesday. They hope it is gone for good.

“Coming into the summer we are really hoping that its fixed, because it is hot, and hot only makes it smell worse,” Pullan said.

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