why does the least efficient mode get to be prioritised whilst more efficient modes have to compromise capacity and safety! If it’s public “opinion” that is the problem then that needs to change with good education and awareness. Just like the idea of driving through a CBD needs to change.
Would Ipswich Road need bus lanes on both sides, or just on the inbound/northbound side? That would make it more feasible in the constrained space. There are problems with bus bunching and difficulty approaching stops amid traffic on the northbound side but perhaps the southbound side has more dispersed buses and traffic which is less in need of a bus lane? Although my observations are shaped by mostly going northbound in the morning peak and southbound later in the evening or on the weekends.
I don’t have the detailed metrics to back this up, but the evening outbound/southbound peak is diabolical and it starts at about 2:30 PM and runs until at least 6.
Outbound buses, especially route 100 are packed from about that time onwards despite being a very frequent service, many of those commuters ride a very long way to Forest Lake.
The class and geographic dimension of this hits very hard when you’re sitting on a crammed, hot bus with the western sun coming in the windows with a whole bunch of people heading for the outer suburbs, and the bus is stuck in traffic dominated by single occupancy SUVs.
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I sympathize with this feeling very much, but we also need to be clear eyed about the balance of forces in society at the moment.
If we were talking about light rail system on Ipswich Road, which of course I very strongly support, then the offer to residents would be stronger, and I’d consider the one-lane per direction proposal a bit more seriously.
the key Q is whether we think “we” or a sympathetic government could win a political struggle to get it built.
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I see outlining proposals like this as a key part of that education/awareness process. The examples from overseas and stats are an important reminder that transport can be different. Govt are likely to implement immediately but slow people start to think there is or call for a better way!!
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In locations where the number of bikes/scooters/pedestrians is low, shared paths are usually OK.
Major arterial routes like Ipswich Road definitely need protected/separated bike lanes. Bikes and scooters move too quickly to mingle with pedestrians (just look at any footpath in the CBD…).
Council’s recently adopted neighbourhood plan for Moorooka envisions Ipswich Road as 6 vehicle lanes through the “magic mile” area, with a protected bi-directional bikeway on the western side. The extra space will be made available through development setbacks.
With momentum building for protected bike lanes on Annerley Road (connecting to Ipswich Road at Annerley Junction), and future protected bike lanes on Ipswich Road through Moorooka (according to council neighbourhood plan) and Ipswich Road at the Gabba (according to the Woolloongabba PDA) the remainder of Ipswich Road will eventually need protected bike lanes through Annerley to connect these sections together.
In the short-term at least, it makes great sense to have bus lanes for the majority of Ipswich Road (remove on-street parking where needed). This would be easy to do and have a huge positive impact on PT!
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This kind of road has no place in an urban setting. FULL STOP!!. So we reduce land available for development including housing all over the city for 1 more lane 
. Main roads should have uni-direction bike lane on each side of the road unless space is constrained. Nothing constrained about this except due to the choice for more traffic.
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Queensland Parliament online petition
Relieve congestion on major roads in our cities
…
Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to examine the possibility of implementing multi-person vehicle lanes either permanently or during peak hours morning and afternoon.
Response
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The suggestion regarding multi-person vehicle lanes is noted. While such measures can encourage carpooling and improve traffic efficiency, they require careful consideration of network impacts, enforcement, and equity. The Department of Transport and Main Roads will continue to examine a range of congestion management strategies, including high-occupancy vehicle lanes, as part of ongoing planning and policy development.
…
Reported on by Brisbane Times:
Car pool doesn’t work.
The average vehicle occupancy is about 1.2. Only about 20% of cars have a passenger in them.
Will only really be useful if bus and taxi is included.
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They’d be T2/T3 lanes, so open to the same vehicles as our existing Tx lanes.
Bus lanes only!! They are the only lanes that truly work
I tend to agree. I live along the Waterworks Road corridor, and I have found that most users of the T2 lanes are either singular drivers who ignore the rules, or drivers with private school, high school aged kids in the car. There’s always a significant build-up of cars waiting to turn onto Gregory Terrace in morning peak.
On the topic of new bus lanes, I would love bus lanes on the outer corridor of Mains Road, all the way down to Sunnybank Hills. I also think bus lanes, or even a separated busway, on Beaudesert Road from Sunnybank Hills to Browns Plains, are needed. Every time I go out that way I see buses stuck in traffic on these roads. When (not if!!) the railway line out to Beaudesert gets built, I’d love to see a clear bus priority link from Browns Plains to Hillcrest station, possibly with a stop at Greenbank RSL.
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This is something I’ve often thought about. The corridor is definitely wide enough here to make it work!
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I think any transit lanes down Mains Road/Pinelands Road will have to be in the form of shared T2/3 lanes, rather than dedicated bus lanes. The sheer number of driveways and side streets that come off these two roads would make a true ‘bus-only’ lane pretty well impossible to implement - private vehicle access to the outer lanes will need to be maintained to some extent. As a T3 already exists on the inbound side between Beenleigh Road and QSAC/Mains Road Park n Ride between 7-9am, and 24hrs between there and the far side of the Klumpp Road intersection, I think it is viable to implement similar to the outbound side, and increase the span of hours, if not go to a 24 hour arrangement.
As for Beaudesert Road, I don’t think the number of buses that use that corridor is sufficient for a full fat busway. However, I think at least partial on-road bus lanes could be implemented. There are already cutouts in place that could be extended into partial bus lanes at least between the intersections. The larger intersections and the interchange with the Logan Motorway may have to remain mixed, and probably the on and offramps to Browns Plains as well.
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Regarding Mains Road, T3 lanes could work. I would shy away from T2 lanes, because I don’t think they really work (from my observations, the bulk of drivers ends up being parents driving their kids to school).
Obviously, if bus lanes were built on the outer lanes, there would be consideration for cars entering/exiting driveways. They currently have peak hour T3 lanes (often used by buses) on the northbound side of Mains Road, and residents seem to do fine exiting their properties in these times. Also, the bus lanes on the northern transitway are an example of this, there’s plenty of intersecting side streets and driveways, including many businesses. I do think peak hour bus lanes (like the northern transitway) could also work. But whatever the solution - T3 lanes, bus lanes or peak hour bus lanes - I think they need to travel all the way down to Sunnybank Hills.
I think something similar to Sydney’s transitways could work on Beaudesert Road. There’s plenty of room beside Beaudesert Road for it. Doesn’t have to be grade separated, or have fancy stations. Just something that separates buses from general traffic (think Sunnyholt Road). I would prefer this method, as there will be a lot more traffic along this corridor in the future as the urban sprawl around Park Ridge continues. I do think having on-road bus lanes from Sunnybank Hills to Drewvale could also work, but I don’t see that as a long-term solution, and knowing the cost and inconvenience of any construction, I would rather any approach be as future focused as possible. And I do think a bus priority corridor would be tricky to put over the Logan Motorway, but the project could easily be staged.
On the topic of bus volumes on that corridor, I definitely think it has the potential for more frequent services. The current 140 BUZ is often full in off-peak times. I caught it at 10:30pm a few nights ago and it was a full standing load. Also, most weekday afternoons see the 140 stuck in standstill traffic along that corridor. There’s also plenty of potential for Transit-Oriented Development around key centres there (Sunnybank, Altandi, Pinelands, Sunnybank Hills, Browns Plains), which would complement increased bus services.
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There are regulations around the use of special purposes lanes, which differs between General transit lanes, bus lanes and Bus Only lanes, which is why I made the distinction.
With general special purpose lanes, which includes transit lanes and bus lanes (not bus only lanes) you can travel in a special purpose lane a permitted distance—of up to 50m in a bike lane or 100m in any other special purpose lane—to
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enter or leave the road
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move from 1 part of the road to another—such as moving to or from a service road
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overtake to the left of a vehicle that’s signalling to turn right
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enter a marked lane from the side of the road.
The difference between a bus lane and a bus only lane is that bus lanes are able to be used by people operating a bike, bus, taxi or limousine - bus only lanes (ie. busways) are only for buses and emergency vehicles.
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I did say bus lanes in the beginning, and that’s what I meant. I never said we should put bus-only lanes on Mains Road. You then said…
any transit lanes down Mains Road/Pinelands Road will have to be in the form of shared T2/3 lanes, rather than dedicated bus lanes.
…which prompted my reply about access.
They should be bus-only lanes!
see the difference between bus lanes and bus-only lanes. Bus lanes allow for turning access, which is needed on a corridor like Mains Road.
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Why? Signalling prioririsation can have left turn red signals displayed when bus needs to traverse intersection. There is no need for vehicles to enter bus-only lane.