New bus services to ease the squeeze

Published Friday, 11 January, 2008 at 11:39 AM

Minister for Transport, Trade, Employment and Industrial Relations
The Honourable John Mickel

Minister for Transport John Mickel and Brisbane City Councillor Victoria Newton today announced a $4.6 million commitment to provide new bus services for Brisbane.

From February 18, the joint commitment will provide 96 additional weekday services catering for almost 6500 passengers a day travelling on Brisbane's busiest bus routes.

The project, which will include the provision of 31 new buses, will be funded by the Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council.

Minister Mickel said public transport patronage numbers in Brisbane were continually increasing in line with population growth.

"Record numbers of Brisbane residents have been leaving their cars behind and getting on board public transport,’’ he said.

"Since TransLink was introduced in July 2004 public transport patronage across the TransLink network has increased by 30 per cent.

"The number of passenger trips provided in 2003-2004 was around 123 million, a number which increased to 163 million in 2006-2007 – a rise of around 40 million trips.’’ Mr Mickel said.

"These new services have been targeted at the routes under most pressure, with increased services for the South East Busway, the busy Mains Road corridor, the Western Suburbs and for people travelling to the University of Queensland.’’

Under the package, the Queensland Governmenthas contributed $2.25 million funding from the TransLink Network Plan and the Brisbane City Council has contributed $2.3 million funding from its ``Call to Action’’ project.

This is the first time since TransLink was introduced that Brisbane City Council has contributed operational funding for new services.

As part of the funding several routes will receive articulated banana buses to provide more capacity. Minister Mickel said more new services would be introduced when the $333 million Inner Northern Busway opened in mid 2008.

The new services include:

137 (new Rocket)	Calamvale – City	New high frequency peak hour rocket operating between Sunnybank Hills Shopping Centre and CBD via Mains Rd. Operates non-stop between QEII park n' ride and City. Operates every 10 minutes between 6.20am and 8.30pm (14 inbound trips/weekday) and between 4.04pm and 6.04pm (13 outbound trips/weekday). Introduce articulated buses on this route. Route 137 will increase capacity by 2,349 passenger trips per weekday - a significant boost to address overcrowding in the busy Mains Rd corridor easing pressure on the popular 130.
200	Carina - City	Additional short tripper services from Carina departing at 7.16am, 7.37am and 7.57am. Additional outbound services from Cultural Centre busway station departing at 5.40pm, 6.10pm and 6.30pm.
204 (all stops)	Carindale - City	Additional outbound trip at 5.05pm
207	Carina – City	Introduce evening peak services. Route currently only operates in the morning peak.
444	Moggill – City	Reduce morning peak frequency to every 10 minutes, instead of every 8 minutes, to help fund a faster, new rocket service from Moggill (route 443). Extra outbound trip at 5.40pm. Routes 443 and 444 combined will provide a combined peak frequency of every five minutes and an extra seven morning peak trips and six evening peaks trips.
443 (new Rocket)	Moggill – City	New peak period rocket between Moggill and CBD, operating every 10 minutes. Route 443 will provide a faster trip compared to route 444, providing travel time savings of 10 minutes. Route 443 will operate non-stop between Chapel Hill and the CBD.
169	Eight Mile Plains – University of Queensland St Lucia	Commence services from Eight Miles Plains at 6.45am. Increase morning peak frequency from every 10 minutes to every 7-8 minutes until 10am. Commence evening peak 10 minute frequency at 1.56pm. Provides an additional eight morning peak trips and four additional evening peak trips.
412	University of Queensland St Lucia - City	Provide four on-demand buses during Semester 1 to provide sweeper services as demand warrants.
109	City – University of Queensland St Lucia	Commence services from City at 6.50am. Increase morning peak frequency from every 8 minutes to every 5 minutes until 10am. Commence off-peak 10 minute frequency from 10am instead of 10.20am. Additional four trips from University of Queensland at 1.55pm, 2.05pm, 3.55pm and 6.05pm. In total eight additional morning peak trips and four additional evening peak trips will be provided. Running-time adjusted to some peak trips to improve service reliability.
160	Garden City depot – City	Additional three inbound trips at 7.28am, 7.48am and 8.08am. Additional three outbound trips at 5pm, 5.10pm and 5.20pm.
150 (BUZ)	Browns Plains – City	Introduce articulated buses on route 150 all day. Commence inbound 10 minute peak frequency at 5.30am instead of 6.20am (additional 2 trips). Extra four additional outbound short trippers from Cultural Centre busway station commencing at 3.35pm, 3.55pm, 4.35pm and 4.55pm.
156 (Rocket)	Fruitgrove – City	Introduce articulated buses on route 156 all day. Commence extra short trippers from Fruitgrove at 7.07am, 7.17am, 7.49am, 8.08am and 8.20am.
186 (Rocket)	Wishart – City	Additional trip at 8.02am. Move existing 8.10am trip to depart at 8.17am to provide an even spacing between trips. Running-time adjusted to improve service reliability.
116, 117,120, 124, 125, 129, 131, 135, 136, 155, 161	Various	Minor timetable adjustments to improve service reliability.

January 11, 2008

Media contact: Nathan Moir 3235 4060