These teens love public transport. And their followers do too

8 hours ago 3

At 1am, Imogen Buckley is getting a lift with a friend down to the Gold Coast so she can catch the first service from the new Pimpama train station.

Before sunrise, Buckley – aka immyonboard – films a video for social media outside the station. Later she joins Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg’s press conference, asking about rail to the Gold Coast Airport.

Mickelberg is not the only politician she’s interviewed – others include opposition leader Steven Miles and councillor Trina Massey – and she’d like to interview Premier David Crisafulli next.

Afterwards, she travels back to Brisbane city for her paid job, in food service.

Train or bus spotting is no longer a niche: English personality Francis Bourgeois has 2.5 million followers on Instagram and 3.3 million followers on TikTok.

And 18-year-old Buckley, who founded the inclusive South-East Queensland Transport Association community, is one of several Brisbane teenagers avidly creating content about public transport.

Speaking to us on a bench outside the King George Square busway station, Buckley is clearly passionate about improving Brisbane’s public transport, and deeply informed.

Buckley said Brisbane’s Metro needed to be expanded, while the city also needed more orbital routes because not everyone wanted to travel into the city.

“And I’d recommend investing in half-sized buses to go around the suburbs at a higher frequency,” she said.

Buckley said she was proud of what she, SEQTA and other transport creators were achieving, but there was more to do.

“We need to stoke the conversation, advocate for a more positive transport future and start standing up against shortcomings and cuts to our transport network,” she said.

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Buckley takes her role seriously. Not so much, freakybrisbanemetro, who shares absurdist meme reels with his 12,100 followers on Instagram.

The 19-year-old creator has been mistaken for a woman before – thanks to his profile picture, an image of an American YouTuber with a Brisbane bus photoshopped on her head.

“Best.dressed (Ashley) no longer creates content, but it’s unequivocal that she’s left an indelible mark on the YouTube fashion scene. And I definitely want to have that same legacy on Brisbane’s bus spotting community,” he said.

Freakybrisbanemetro, who prefers to stay anonymous online but is “carefree” about his identity “in real life”, studies property economics and urban planning.

His great love is the BUZ (Bus Upgrade Zone) – the high-frequency bus routes that run every 15 minutes or less – and his biggest pet peeve is the whittling down of the 60 CityGlider to 13 to 14 minutes on weekends.

“On weekends, the 60 should be running every 10 minutes at a minimum, as it services high-density suburbs including West End, Brisbane City, Fortitude Valley, New Farm and Teneriffe,” he said.

He’s also annoyed printed bus timetables are no longer available in libraries.

Asked about his handle, freakybrisbanemetro said he really did love the Brisbane Metro.

“However, I will concede that there may be one too many four-seaters, creating an awkward commuter experience for some,” he said.

“Personally, I would love to see more grab handles installed, to increase safety for standing commuters, as the two hand-rails in each of the two articulation joints doesn’t seem to suffice during busy rush hour.”

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Aidan Ameer began his buses_of_brisbane account in 2021, taking photos of buses on his phone and later a camera he received as a birthday gift.

He’s been passionate about public transport for a long time, and as a child used to collect paper timetables and design his own bus routes.

But in September, Ameer decided to put himself in front of the camera after the “disappointing decision” to scrap Gold Coast light rail stage four.

Ameer said he’d been thinking about doing videos for a while because he has a “lot of thoughts” about public transport, but he was worried people wouldn’t like it.

He was wrong – his reel got more than 3500 likes.

Ameer believes there’s been too much focus on the inner-city and big, flashy projects, when outer areas, like Park Ridge and Logan Reserve, still need basic transport infrastructure.

He said that if urban sprawl continued, governments would need to invest in projects like the Salisbury to Beaudesert rail line and more cross-town services.

“The Great Circle Line, Brisbane’s main cross-town route doesn’t even run on a Sunday!” he said.

“If you want to get from Acacia Ridge to Sunnybank Hills Shoppingtown, a 10-minute drive on a Sunday, it takes over an hour and requires a change at Mater Hill.”

Lately, he hasn’t taken many photos of buses. He’s been busy in his first year of an urban and regional planning degree.

“I’d like to go bus spotting again, after my exams are done, and get some photos of buses after the network changes,” Ameer said.

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Aaron Wei, aka Brisbane’s Bus Nut, started his Instagram account queenslandpublictransport five years ago after spotting a pink bus in Yeppoon while on holiday with his family.

“I thought to myself, ‘wouldn’t it be nice if I had somewhere to share this?’” he said.

Aaron Wei, aka aaronw_private aka Brisbane’s Bus Nut.

The 17-year-old, who is sitting his final Year 12 exams, said he had been passionate about buses for as long as he could remember.

He enjoyed trips with his grandma as a child, and appreciated the independence public transport brought as a teenager.

“Whenever I feel overwhelmed from school, I know going on buses for a few hours to a new place will cheer me up,” he said.

Lately, he’s been collaborating with Councillor Penny Wolff.

Their reels together have featured the new Adelaide Street tunnel’s open day, a behind-the-scenes look at the Toowong bus depot, and his favourite seat on the bus.

For social media researcher Dr Susan Grantham, from Griffith University, it’s no surprise that politicians are keen to engage with content creators like Wei to help get their message out.

“They are getting engagement, and they are getting followers, and they are creating a community, which is ultimately what social media is about,” she said.

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