You are not accounting for the cost of stations, which again, are the most expensive part. And you want 4 of them.
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Yes, the concept does have four in them.
Busway stations in the concept would be similar to say Lutwyche or Buranda busway. These didnāt cost anywhere near $1bn/km IMO.
Did you have a reference for an underground busway station that cost $1 billion/km? Iām not aware of any section of Brisbane busway that cost that much.
Exit from Lutwyche Busway station (a below ground station). Gives an indication of what concept could look like.
TOD development next to Lutwyche Busway Station
Part 2 Western Busway: Indooroopilly to Centenary
(Click to enlarge image)
Length: ~ 8.5 km (Priority A, mix of surface, elevated and short sections of tunnel similar to the SE Busway).
Time: About 10 minutes from Indooroopilly Shopping Centre to Sumners Rd Interchange (assuming 90 km/hr speed limit plus some padding for station dwells etc)
Stations: Up to five new busway stations. These are Indooroopilly Shopping Centre, Fig Tree Pocket, Jindalee, Mt Ommaney. There is probably space for another one between Indooroopilly and the Centenary Bridge. Suggested locations are indicative only.
Cost Estimate: 250 million/km x 8.5 km = ~ $2.1bn (estimate). Probably closer to upper $3 bn (does not include new Indooroopilly train station + interchange or a Green Bridge from Bellbowrie to Riverhills).
Comments: Bellbowrie-Riverhills Green bridge could be opened to cars in a flooding emergency to provide an alternative evacuation exit during a flood event. Busway would be more of a feeder model aimed at taking buses out of Centenary Motorway traffic rather than rely on walk-up.
A key decision point in this concept is how to use the Centenary Bridge upgrade. The busway could either have its own bridge to carry it, or alternatively, use an expanded Centenary Bridge with bus lanes (either permanent or peak) to cross the Brisbane River at this point.
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Whilst the need for the current eastern busway to continue through to Indooroopilly or Toowong is a must the solution should be a MVP. Ideally connecting two existing HF routes together.
Long-term rail based solutions that avoid the bus driver crisis (not factored into the discussion above) and provide a far better customer experience that will drive significant shift from driving to public transport need to seriously considered. Whilst the capital investment is high they have far greater ability to drive this change.
Yes, if that kind of money is going to be spent then a busway is not the solution.
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Iām curious to know why a busway wouldnāt be an option under consideration?
Is this just for the St Lucia section, or also the Centenary-Indooroopilly section as well?
The Centenary section has a rail option as well, which we can explore in another thread.
I donāt think itās fair to compare against SEB speeds. Most of the areas with close spaced stations or tunnels are 40-60. I imagine this proposed busway would be more like the current eastern busway speeds given topography.
Mater Hill to South bank is only 50kmph
As in open to the sky? Thatās even worse financially because then it canāt be built over. I was envisioning something like CRR or Sydney Metro where the underground stations will have large buildings on top. The cost of land in St Lucia is pretty high.
Construction costs have soared since Covid. Costs now are not comparable to when the Northern or Eastern busways were built.
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Couldnāt you still have the option to build over it, similar to how Toowong Shopping Centre was built over, Milton and Central Station? These were all open stations.
Iām curious to know why a busway wouldnāt be an option under consideration?
Busways have to work extremely hard to be not so great!!
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Brisbaneās busways do work very hard, as they have attracted the majority of the patronage. Even though not all of the network has been fully separated, like rail is.
QR Rail Network - 47 million (all suburban lines in SEQ combined)
BCC Bus Network - 70 million
BCC buses carry 1.5x rail network patronage.
The key to this is the very high off-peak frequency, and the easy accessibility from local bus stops.
Rapid transit can be provided a number of ways. So there is a need to full explore and outline what a competing bus option might look like, in addition to a potential rail option, through the St Lucia area. This is so they can be compared side by side. (We havenāt considered LRT but it would be an option as well).
Notes
Queensland Rail Annual Report - Entire SEQ Train Network Patronage
QR network patronage is listed on Page 40 of this report. The majority of QR train stations are located within BCC boundaries.
BCC carrying more people than QR is because BCC has a vested interest in not transferring passengers to trains and state doesnāt want to fund a proper turn up and go rail network.
QR could easily carry more people than the BCC buses with the state giving a damn about getting people onto trains. But they donāt.
The big loser in all of this is us as residents, because we are paying more than we should for services that are worse than they should be.
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How could we test this idea?
Its true that busways, BUZ and CityGliders are much a response to the rail network being the way it is, which is under State Government stewardship. Bus-Rail interchanges would also be on State land, and thus a state responsibility.
Howeverā¦
For interest though, the BCC Bus Network is also carrying more passengers than Perthās train network. Now, that is a train network that features 15-minute service all day everywhere and excellent bus connections to train stations.
Perth buses also carry the same or more passengers than trains do in Perth as well.
All of this suggests that even with an improved rail network in Brisbane, you will still have very high bus demand. Even if its role changes to funnel people into the rail network (which is a key purpose of a busway under UQ to Indooroopilly - to connect and feed the rail network at Boggo Rd and Indooroopilly train stations).
See here
This image shows Perth trains are carrying about 60 million passengers per year. BCC buses are carrying more than this.
And Perth buses are also carrying more passengers than Perth trains:
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Metro also has a point in that there are plenty of areas that receive excellent off-peak patronage that the train network is not appropriate for. Inner city, west end, new farm, mount Gravatt, Sunnybank, all spring to mind
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I have carefully reviewed responses in this thread; one thing that perhaps I could clarify a lot better is how a Western Busway through St Lucia actually complements and feeds the wider rail network.
Here is a redone map to make this much clearer:
(click to enlarge)
A rail option (heavy or light) should also be scoped to provide competing alternatives.
That said, a busway between the Ipswich/Springfield train line and also the Gold/Coast Beenleigh line would all be fed by buses going via the link.
Buses from Eight Mile Plains, Carindale, the CBD could flow through this as a single trip to the rail lines on either side. Passengers would not need to change vehicles to then get onto a rail based metro or tram to travel across to the opposite rail line under the Busway option.
If a rail-based metro is desired, there could be other corridors in Brisbane where this mode could be better used and get much more patronage IMO. Chermside-CBD for example.
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Look, youāre right. I should have been more considered in how I worded that response. Our public transport network will always have more people on buses than trains just because the way our region is set out, even with proper connections and integrated networks.
That being said, I donāt think more busway mega projects is the right way forward. I donāt want to write a 90 page thesis on thesis, so Iāll get my thoughts together and come back with a concise response.
Edit: I appear to have replied to myself rather than to @Metro.
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Well, would you perhaps consider outlining the other potential alternative modes with maps etc for connecting these two train lines in another thread?
The short answer is that I donāt think thereās sufficient demand for the kind of capital involved in this project unless itās part of some other necessary project.
I support the cross campus link tunnel idea (see my thoughts above) and also support bus priority infrastructure for Mount Ommaney to Chapel Hill (following the M5) as well.
Your point about other corridors as more suitable for rail is my main argument against this particular proposal as a standalone project. A busway tunnel as proposed (or any other project here) will be wildly expensive and the opportunity cost will impact other projects.
Iāll also add that Iām not trying to be critical of you or the idea at a fundamental level.
Thereās a clear problem in cross town travel in this city and (in my mind at least) youāve picked a very good corridor to try and bridge the gap. I just donāt think, as a standalone item, it will stack up.
It is appreciated 
. This is a concept thread for exploration.
Low Demand
In terms of demand, it is worth reflecting on what came before the Eleanor Schonell Bridge and UQ Lakes busway station. The main access to UQ was via Route 412 from Adelaide Street and the route 407 Rocket which went from Adelaide Street non-stop to UQ Chancellors Place.
Prior to the UQ Eleanor Schonell Bridge and UQ Lakes being built, there was the Dutton Park Ferry, a wooden monohull ferry, which you paid a few dollars to cross the river. This was considered sufficient back in the day, running for ~ 40 years.
It looked like this:
(Image from UQ)
Someone could have easily pointed at that wooden monohull ferry and said a busway link to UQ was not justified due to low demand.
The ferry was one of the original fleet of the St Lucia to Dutton Park ferry service, which was launched in 1967 after 4000 petition signatures were collected the previous year by the UQ Union and presented to then-Lord Mayor Clem Jones.
Key Reflection
If an Eastern busway link to UQ was justified on demand grounds, why wouldnāt a link approaching from the West be justified too? There are two rail lines and a major shopping centre on the western side, and UQ is the second largest destination after the Brisbane CBD.
Is it because there is low demand, or is it because there is low demand for the options that are currently being provided now?
Notes
UQ Stories
UQ Welcomes linking of Bridge sections across Brisbane River (2006)
āSince that time, the St Lucia campus has become the second largest traffic generator in the Brisbane area, with up to 40,000 people a day visiting campus at the beginning of first semester.ā
Professor Hay said the Bridge would help ease access problems for students, staff and the wider community living on the south side of the Brisbane River, many of whom had to go through the City to get to campus.
At a meeting on October 9, 2003, the University Senate set out stringent conditions on which it would support the construction of the bridge to, but not through, the St Lucia campus. Senate noted the worsening traffic congestion on Coronation Drive and Sir Fred Schonell Drive in St Lucia and supported a bridge that would encourage the use of public transport to the campus.
Senate also affirmed there would never be a connection to the campus road network, and no through-running bus services to preserve the amenity of the area.