You might need to divide by two, this is boardings and alightings, but it doesn’t change the conclusion.
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A mapping exercise for the Western Suburbs ideal bus network is in order.
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That’s not primarily the reason. Remarkably, there are significant boardings at Queensland Theatre and Cultural Centre for people wanting to get to Toowong.
The 450-460 all leave from the same stop at the Queen Street bus station. Therefore there is a decent frequency which equates to a Buz from that stop to Toowong and Indooroopilly but that’s not where people want to board.
Regarding Centenary services and despite a decent frequency from Indooroopilly, I have only seen a handful of people on those buses coming in and out of Indooroopilly bus station. Centenary suburbs have a real car culture up to 3 cars per household in that area. Increased bus services are unlikely to make a dent in mode share in those suburbs. They are pretty lucky to have the Nightlink though. I reckon an N444 would do better than the current N449.
There’s little benefit to catching a bus when you’re stuck in the same traffic on the Centenary Motorway as everyone else.
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I do generally believe that a lot of people in the centenary suburbs still utilize PT, just in the form of the Springfield/Ipswich lines, than 453, 454, 460, etc.
Heavy rail is king over BRT in the Centenary suburbs.
The fact that their local Darra and Oxley train stations’ have a train bound for the City every <6 minutes during morning peak hour (most of the time) is hard to resist.
I would say more serious investment into 103, 451, 452, and 467 is needed, as they are the Centenary suburb’s only true feeder buses to their heavy rail.
Yes, a BUZ for the centenary suburbs would be golden, but whenever I’m at Mt Ommaney Shopping Centre, I have to wait for the hourly 467 if I want to access Oxley train station.
Or the hourly 103 Mt Ommaney to Inala, if I want to access Darra train station.
The centenary suburb’s feeder buses need work.
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^ Interesting article. Figures give trips cf. journeys.
Data supplied to the ABC shows comparative analysis of patronage, journey and trip times for Brisbane buses between July and September 2024 and the same period this year.
Year Trips ('000) Journeys ('000) Trip time (mins) Journey time (mins) 2024 22,072 15,900 18.2 31.6 2025 24,727 18,642 16.6 29.5 Per cent change 12% 17% -9% -7%
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Indeed. She gave me a call early on and asked me about data. I told her that the public data only provides trips which means a forced transfer is now 2 trips under the new network. I suggested she request journeys from Translink instead, so it’s great to see they were able to provide it. I wish they published journeys publicly though…
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I am wondering if it might be worthwhile at ask for regular publication of journeys and trips!
Certainly makes it more interesting. I note they haven’t updated Translink Origin-Destination Trips 2022 Onwards - Dataset - Open Data Portal | Queensland Government since June. But they must have data and with EMV transactions as well hopefully now. Public data timeliness is something they are very slack with.
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Griffith University’s transport planning expert Matthew Burke writes:
“Buses on the north side will need a similar level of restructuring, and we shouldn’t be afraid of doing that in a large hit like we did on the south side.”
YESSSS! Finally. Let’s get a Northside Bus Network Review going.
I think, for instance, routes such as the 348 hold dubious merit, as it duplicates essentially the 338, and then branches off to Stafford City.
Why not restructure it so then it becomes 348 McDowall to Eagle Junction via Stafford City?
Another suggestion is for 360 Brookside to City (via Everton Park and Everton Hills) to terminate at Enogerra train station, improving on-time performance and reliability. And to open up the idea of a more frequent 360 (averages hourly headways).
Low hanging fruit, of course, is to give the Great Circle Line a Sunday timetable, and increased daytime frequencies (to maybe ~20 minute frequencies?)
And finally, hopefully we get northside rockets restructured so then they terminate at Alice St. 
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A Northside Network Review is in the works, although I don’t know many details about it yet.
I hope they have the ambition to completely rethink the Northside network. Little touch-ups around the edges will do very little imo. Beyond the 369 and GCL, there’s not a single primarily orbital route. Some act as orbital routes for a portion of the journey, but that’s not much of a substitute. Maybe if we had proper East-West connections, we could be rid of some of the absurd rat runs (looking at you 322 
). Hopefully it also comes with some better bus priority too…
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It is a cultural issue, in the sense that blaming the passenger (existing or would be) has become the norm and acceptable. Instead of doing that, everyone concerned should acknowledge that TMR and the Queensland Government has the power to fix the quality service undersupply in this area they wanted to.
A trial of HF bus services in the Centenary Suburbs would provide objective data that will either support the service becoming permanent or not.
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The BNBN changes within Acacia Ridge have certainly been problematic, forcing the infirm, frail, and old to further complicate their journey plans.
I get that the removal of the 117 Acacia Ridge to Woolloongabba was to absorb it into 115 Calamvale to Griffith University (via Acacia Ridge). This change honestly had merit (to reduce bus route duplication within the suburb) and open up new connections to Griffith University and the SE busway.
But the transport planners behind the BNBN failed to properly engage with the older demographic in Acacia Ridge whom relied on the 117, as niche of a bus route it was (not to mention all the truncations with the 110 and 115 that used to go to the CBD).
But Acacia Ridge from a public transport perspective? It ranks fairly okay.. (I would grade it a C+), with its smorgasbord of infrequent bus routes to various southside places of interests (namely Inala Plaza, Sunnybank, Calamvale Central, Sunnybank Hills Shopping Centre, Garden City, Salisbury station, Moorvale, Annerley Junction, PA Hospital).
For one, I believe that the 110 (currently 110 Inala-PA Hospital Express) should’ve kept its old alignment into the City or at least had partial BUZ treatment (every 15 minutes from 7am to 7pm).
Nevertheless, I will concede that the 110 running every 30 minutes (post-BNBN) has been a positive step, as this now includes weekends.
Admittedly, 122 Inala Plaza to Garden City (via Acacia Ridge) still needs a lot of work, as I personally have found it to be too unnecessarily windy, for such a key southside cross-town route. It needs to be more direct, and made significantly more frequent (currently its hourly from 6am to 6pm). And maybe a bus lane along Kessels Road?
I think 126 Heathwood to Sunnybank Plaza (via Acacia Ridge and Pallara) has the most potential though. Extend it to Richlands train station in the west, and out to Garden City in the east. Boost its frequency to every 30 minutes (currently its hourly with limited operating hours), and I think that’d make a solid bus route.
On a more optimistic note, Acacia Ridge is in a very small list of suburbs (Archerfield, Moorooka, Annerley, etc) that did get a new rocket service this year (the 109 City Rocket). So I guess its lucky in those respects.
Personally, I think Acacia Ridge could punch above its weight if some of its aforementioned bus routes were streamlined (made more direct) and were made more frequent.
But I can definitely see how two-seat journeys can be undesirable (even painful) to the Acacia Ridge elderly featured in the 7NEWS video.
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My concluding remarks is that I don’t mind waiting for the 110 Inala Plaza outbound at PA Hospital or Boggo Road busway stations.’
Both stations have very low foot traffic off-peak, making it easy to hail the bus driver, compared to say South Bank, Mater Hill, or Cultural, where it honestly feels like you’re getting shoved around at times.
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“What should be a 15km journey can now take an hour”. What kind of miserable excuse for journalism is this, comparing distance to time? It’s entirely possible for a 15km journey to take an hour, if it’s sitting in peak hour Beaudesert Rd and Ipswich Rd traffic.
And why give credence to the gripe about routes being truncated at PA and Griffith? Both only need single transfers on the same platform to “Metros” to get to the city or Mater Hill, which arrive more frequently than any other bus route. It may not be a single seat journey, and I understand some people have mobility issues, but it’s hard to find a better transfer service than that.
Really, there should be more truncations, not fewer. Once 15 minute all day services come in for both the Beenleigh and Gold Coast lines, an interchange at a train station and a “Metro” station should be enough for most suburban bus routes.
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Did they mean “15-minute” journey?
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