Perth’s version of the GCL runs every 15 min, and Melbourne Smartbus has a similar setup. These routes are highly patronised.
It shouldn’t be a show stopper but from what I’ve seen the third track isn’t idle. I’m not a particularly regular Cleveland line user but there does seem to be a westbound holding on the dual gauge between Coorparoo and Buranda during the morning peak until about 08:30 the times I have gone through.
Excuse my shocking quality picture:
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The Circleroute works because it also serves universities. It wouldn’t take much to split the GCL so you can serve UQ Chancellors Place and Griffith Nathan.
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Agreed - and in the scheme of things such an easy thing to implement! If at the very least this as well as Shorncliffe-Manly was done this could still be implemented so quickly. It’s a no brainer to me.
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Brisbanes transport system is an absolute mess.
Combined with how expensive it is to live here and it’s gotten to the point where I am planning to move abroad soon (and prob won’t return/only come to visit family once in a blue moon).
This city needs big improvements and I think stuff like cost of living here is a ripoff
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Ain’t much cheaper elsewhere in the western world, especially in larger cities.
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I know this is a side note from the forum, but unfortunately the cost of living situation is a worldwide thing, unless you want to live somewhere like Vietnam.
I live in NZ and I can assure you it’s worse here. Fuel is approximately $2.50/litre for regular unleaded and closer to $3 for the higher grades. A block of cheese is $14 if it’s on special. Butter is $9-$10. Regular beef mince is $28/kg. Salmon is $73/kg. The local council just raised our rates bill by 12% after multiple years of hefty increases. Power is approximately 50% higher than it was 5 years ago. I went to treat myself a coffee at my favourite coffee place recently which I don’t do often because of the cost of everything and when I went to pay the price was $8.50. I haven’t been to visit family and friends in Brisbane for six years because I can’t afford to.
It sucks but I don’t know if moving overseas is necessarily going to make a difference. But I wish you all the best as you figure out what to do.
Two separate advocacy groups have put forward differing options for how to improve public transport in one of Brisbane’s most densely populated suburbs after the controversial removal of the 27 bus route from Kangaroo Point in 2024.
Jane Layton, chair of the grassroots local Kangaroo Point Transport Action Group (KPTAG), believes the suburb is underserviced by public transport.
“We’re getting a really raw deal. Everyone else has a couple of different options for how to get places, and we get nothing that in any way is really viable public transport,” Ms Layton said.
She would like to see either the 27 bus to the CBD return, or an increased frequency and extended hours for the 234 bus route, which currently runs from Woolloongabba to the CBD, as well as the return of a CityCat instead of the smaller cross river ferry service.
Meanwhile, statewide advocacy group Better Transport Queensland (BTQ) is taking a broader utilitarian approach, suggesting an extension of the 29 bus route from the University of Queensland to the Royal Brisbane Hospital with more frequent services, which would eliminate the 234 bus.
BTQ President Rowan Gray said: “Unfortunately, the 234 in its current form is unlikely to see a frequency increase due to the small catchment and the duplicative service it provides.”
“We see the proposed extension of the 29 as a beneficial trade-off to make in order to see increased frequency to Kangaroo Point.”
Ultimately, both groups have the same goal in mind: better transport.
Ms Layton hopes they can have a conversation about the best way to improve Kangaroo Point’s public transport.
“We can work together and be better for it,” she said.
Read more in our February Peninsula edition at New Farm Print Editions - Village Voice - Everything Local
^^Kangaroo point bus proposals
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^^From the Village News today
Yeah but there are some cities in western areas that are still more affordable than we are.
Also wouldn’t mind a culture shock anyways.
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I will be endorsing BTQ’s decision on this matter.
We’ve got a nice map, which is doing wonders for communication.
KPTAG is trying to make a fairness argument, but the situation in Kangaroo Point isn’t unique in Brisbane. Plenty of places in Brisbane don’t have frequent service - most of the city actually. This is where their fairness argument falls down.
So while it’s not ideal, it’s also not unfair when viewed within that context, a new pedestrian bridge, 2 ferries and cycling options that other Brisbane middle and outer suburbs don’t have.
The other thing is their proposals only seem to consider their suburb in isolation to the wider network. Short high frequency bus shuttles generally work well between universities, airports and large hospital complexes which generate consistent all day passenger demand.
Although high density, Kangaroo Point is mostly residential. I suspect therefore it would have a peak-oriented passenger travel demand profile. This means demand will drop in the off peak significantly and will not support high frequency - unless the bus route is longer to include more ‘all day’ destinations such as PA hospital, UQ and RBWH.
In contrast to what KPTAG is advocating, our proposal is the one that meets both their needs AND Translink’s.
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If Kangaroo point are disappointed with their transport at least they are still close to the city and have a green bridge to the city.
Send them out to Bracken Ridge, Inala or North Lakes if they really want to know what crap transport is
Speaking of the ferries would it be feasible to extend them to Indroopilly via Tennyson, as well as to the new Cruise terminal via pinkenba.
No. Upriver of Yeronga is far too narrow and shallow, and the Cruise Terminal only gets much traffic when there’s a cruise ship in. It would be pointless having a regular service there.
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I do wonder if some sort of cruise special service could work? Seems like a nicer way to enter the heart of the city than taking a bus through an industrial area and then getting stuck in traffic
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Ferry Services are expensive. The total cost of ownership of extra ferries just for cruise ship runs would be very high and they would be slow. Citycats are pretty well utilised and you would need a lot of them to serve a large cruise ship.
Buses servicing the cruise ship could come from a variety of sources in the same way rail replacement buses do, and could have a faster trip into the city and Southbank using Airport Link and the Northern Busway. Having the cruise terminal out where it is necessitates a bit of a trip into Brisbane unfortunately.
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I can’t recall travelling on a train (or a bus, tram or ferry) in SEQ that “reeks of urine and vomit”. If anything, it would be limited to the occasional random who smells of ciggies, is vaping on board or isn’t wearing deodorant, but nothing related to the train itself.
On my last trip to Sydney, I can’t say I found their trains or trams to be noticeably cleaner than our trains here (not calling them dirty, just of an equivalent standard), but the buses I used down there I found to be noticeably dirtier than ours.
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