From my understanding historically there were more public coach services using the new England highway with Greyhound having had a run between Sydney and Brisbane via the new england highway, stopping in Tenterfield, Armidale, and Tamworth that ended in 2016, that there hasn’t been a service since as far as I am aware, at this point the only cross border public transport outside of SEQ is a weekly run to Moree from Warrick by crisps coaches. I think that this situation has to be rectified as the new england and southern downs are economically and socially interconnected enough that it justifies some kind of subsidised coach service for those unable to drive.
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Another reason why we need to have public transport. Not privatised transport masquerading as public transport.
I would support NSW tranlink doing a newcastle - toowoomba-brisbane run in addition to extending the current service to tenterfield that connects with the armidale XPT.
I say newcastle as if you then require to get to sydney, you have rail based options
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That is also my understanding of the situation at present.
I remember as a child my dad would sometimes take the bus down to Muswellbrook to a friend who was a horse trainer based out of Bylong, so these buses definitely did exist (but this was back in the early-mid 90s) and people did actually use them.
The recently-published Draft New England/North West Transport plan highlights this issue and includes in the medium-term initiatives (5-10 years) to implement day-return between Armidale → Glen Innes → Tenterfield → Warwick → Brisbane. So the NSW government is definitely aware of this issue. As to whether the QLD government cares much (if at all) is a separate question, as the primary beneficiaries would be those NSW towns who would have public transport access to services that are much closer than Sydney (or from Armidale, maybe about equi-distant to Newcastle in some circumstances).
The existing bus from Armidale to Tenterfield that meets the XPLORER is poorly timed for a connection to/from Brisbane, as the bus gets into Tenterfield around 8:30pm, and leaves there for Armidale at 5:40am. Without stops and under optimal conditions, it’d be about a 3.5 hour drive (probably closer to 4 hours with facility to pick up/set down at Wallangarra, Stanthorpe, Warwick, maybe somewhere in Ipswich and the constant roadworks on Cunningham’s Gap). So an extension of these services to Brisbane would arriving/leaving Brisbane between midnight and 2:00am. Hardly ideal. Under those circumstances, I’d almost rather repair/re-gauge Ballandean (the current terminus of the line) to Tenterfield and put a slow-running overnight train on to meet that (into Warwick around 1am hold until about 2:30am, Toowoomba around 5am and into Brisbane around 9am). You could double the amount of service Toowoomba gets in a week running it 2x a week on days the Westlander isn’t running 
(a pipe dream to be sure - nothing will happen on the rail line without a clear freight opportunity, but hey, I can dream).
But back to reality
The posted travel time on the existing NSW Trainlink bus from Tenterfield to Armidale is 2hrs 40 mins, so the total travel time to Armidale would be in the realm of 6.5 - 7 hours. So a viable bus service to go one-way in one day would probably optimally have to leave by around midday in either direction (preferably somewhat earlier - things close early out here in the regions, including local public transport where it exists (only Armidale and Warwick in this case)). In addition, at that length, it may be commonplace for NSW Trainlink buses to add a comfort/meal stop also (the Moree - Grafton bus runs about 6 hours and has such a stop at Inverell). The idea of ‘day-return’ as identified in the draft NSW Transport plan seems… optimistic (but the statement is used in the context of a list of bus services that are mostly shorter, so perhaps this would be an exception).
Our state governments are notoriously bad at being willing to lift a finger to help people across state borders (for the most part, some health services being an exception), so I hope the QLD government is open to idea, because it sounds like NSW already know it’s a problem.
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To me this is a bit silly for the state government to be hung up on, it’s not like health services where interstate visitors making use of those services could burden residents, people in new England visiting Brisbane instead of Sydney would be spending money here not in Sydney so I don’t see why the state government shouldn’t just take the initiative and coordinate some kind of service as far as Armidale, NSW does it with buses from broken hill to Adelaide so I don’t see why QLD can’t. It’s hardly revolutionary.
Tjeres greyhound email about new england services returning since 2014
Surprised no tamworth to newy but whatever. Xpt fills in for now x_X
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