Brisbane has good bus rapid transit. It is a pity that BCC has called the deployment of electric bi-articulated buses on high frequency bus routes running on the busways as the ’ Brisbane Metro '. It is not what the world normally thinks a metro is, it is good bus rapid transit. The sooner it is referred to what it is the better in my view. BERT is my suggested name. It describes exactly what it is: Busway Electric Rapid Transit. The electric bi-articulated buses can be Berties! 
7 Likes
This randomly appeared as a search result for me today. The TfB service change proposal for the Metro route 169 trial: https://docs.brisbane.qld.gov.au/Council%20and%20Committees/2024/11-November/19%20November%202024/Council/Tabled%20document%201.pdf. Seems it was tabled in council 2024-11-19 which is why it’s online.
If they are using Bluey on the City cats, then why not catch the Bertie Beetle bus service.
Or perhaps this Bert?
2 Likes
BERT just sounds lame and a bit childish for what is essentially a major transport asset. It’s “unsexy” on a marketing standpoint.
6 Likes
I’m happy with Metro bus which is likely to eventuate. Most jurisdictions have a metro bus brand, so Metro bus shouldn’t be controversial.
1 Like
Other jurisdictions have more imagination hey … Metro Bus is better than the present name.
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes and 131 miles (211 kilometers) of track.
4 Likes
BRT so we can discuss what’s next!
The M2 – which replaced route 66 – has recorded 2,566,855 trips since it launched on January 28.
The M1 – which replaced route 111 and 160 – has recorded 468,155 trips since it began operating on June 30.
3 Likes
how does that compare to what these routes + the truncated routes were already carrying?
1 Like
Here’s the 66 for last year according to origin-destination data.
| month | total trips (route 66) |
|---|---|
| 2024-01 | 117283 |
| 2024-02 | 229599 |
| 2024-03 | 311386 |
| 2024-04 | 240685 |
| 2024-05 | 267916 |
| 2024-06 | 160401 |
| 2024-07 | 224548 |
| 2024-08 | 324102 |
| 2024-09 | 269425 |
| 2024-10 | 300142 |
| 2024-11 | 206158 |
| 2024-12 | 121863 |
If you sum February through August '24, you should get about 1,758,637 trips, even allowing for 50c fares that’s still 1.7M to 2.5M, a big jump.
(Note that we can’t directly compare the data for 2025 as that excludes Smart Ticketing for some godforsaken reason.)
Similarly for the 111:
| month | total trips (route 111) |
|---|---|
| 2024-01 | 103605 |
| 2024-02 | 121606 |
| 2024-03 | 129191 |
| 2024-04 | 123366 |
| 2024-05 | 131961 |
| 2024-06 | 115799 |
| 2024-07 | 138864 |
| 2024-08 | 156166 |
| 2024-09 | 146504 |
| 2024-10 | 149192 |
| 2024-11 | 143862 |
| 2024-12 | 121333 |
Summing July & August 2024 for the 111 gets you 295,030 so an even bigger jump to 468,155 - probably seeing the impact of some journeys which now involve transfers?
7 Likes
Sydney had Metrobuses which I thought was a good way to put it.
1 Like
Encouraging to see the positive data. Now to increase frequencies on much of the rest of the network…
6 Likes
We will also get the frequency increase on the Metro to every 3 minutes soon-ish. That will be very interesting to see how well they keep to it.
1 Like
No services (or very minimal) have been cancelled so far so they are on a good record for a while. They should be able to keep to this commitment for a little while.
1 Like
The Lord Mayor fights back against Jimmy Rees …
Ego couldn’t handle it
2 Likes
Adelaide Street tunnel
The new Adelaide Street tunnel will provide a dedicated connection between the Inner Northern Busway and South East Busway and address congestion bottlenecks in Brisbane’s CBD. Tunnel testing and commissioning works are underway to prepare the tunnel for bus and metro operations. The Adelaide Street tunnel is expected to open to bus and metro passenger services in late September 2025.
Looks like the second week of the school holidays that the tunnel should be open.
8 Likes
2 Likes
There is more from Jimmy Rees ….
8 Likes
He’s awesome, and almost everybody commenting seems on his side. And I kinda like the name ha.
3 Likes