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Travelling by bus is probably the most convenient way of getting around Brisbane because the train servcies are not available in many areas.
The bus network is improving all the time with the Council investing heavilty in buses (70 new buses hitting Brisbane roads in 2006-2007) and the State Government coming to the party with dedicated roads for buses.
An example is the new Eleanor Shoenell (Green) Bridge at the University
OF Queensland, a bridge dedicated only to pedestrain, cycles and buses.
With the new busways it is expected that bus travel will progressively
become even faster and easier that travelling around Brisbane by car -
which is the most favoured method in the past. That's changing though. The popularity of the service is growing too. In 2005, more than 53 million people used Brisbane buses, the highest number in 31 years!
Most bus services within Brisbane are operated by the Council owned Brisbane Transport. Citybus operate regular all stop services from the city to the suburbs. Services to and from neighbouring cities and shires are generally operated by other transport companies.
Planning Your Travel
There is an online journey planner that lets you specify your start point and destination to get a list of options for public transport travel and a time table. The TransLink Journey Planner
will even tell you what it will cost to make your trip.
Single Ticket System
You can buy TransLink tickets that cover you for your Bus/Rail/Ferry rides covering and area from Gympie North/Noosa on the Sunshine Coast to Coolangatta on the Gold Coast and west to Helidon.
The ticket takes you wherever you want to go within the new network, no matter what combination of Bus/Rail/Ferry you use to reach your destination.
Zones, fares, ticket types and concessions are standardised across the system. There is a wide range of tickets available depending on your
destination and travel frequency needs. See here for a list.
These tickets are bought at a newagent rather than on the public transport like single use tickets. Most newsagents act as agents. If you want a list of 300 plus that resell public transport tickets go here.
BusWays Improve Transit Times
One of the biggest changes in Brisbane's public transport landscape in the last decade has been the introduction of Busways. In the past to travel from North to South you would have to travel into the city and then change buses., but one of the goals of the Busway project is to make it possible to travel on a bus from one side of the city to the other without leaving your seat.
It is a project to sort of fill the gaps in the rail network.
Busways are dedicated roads that only allow buses. No passenger cars are allowed on them even though they often closely follow normal roads.
Even though bus lanes give Public transport buses better access through regular streets, the busways significantly decrease travel times
because there is almost never any congestion even at peak periods.
The Busways projects is still under development though the first stage of a north/south busways is already in place. You can see more
information and a map here.
New High Frequency BUZ Services
On high usage routes the Council has increased the frequency of
services so that you don't need a timetable, you just turn up and a bus
is guaranteed to turn up within 10 minutes at peak times and within 15
minutes off peak.
These high frequency bus services are known as Bus Upgrade Zone (BUZ) services and they operate 7 days a week from 6.00am - 11.30pm. All the BUZ services leave from the Cultural Centre Busway Station near Southbank.
There are currently BUZ services operating at along these routes.
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BUZ route
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Between |
| 111 |
Eight Mile Plains & the City (South East Busway service) |
| 130 |
Parkinson & the City |
| 150 |
Browns Plains & the City (via Garden City) |
| 199 |
New Farm & West End (via the City) |
| 200 |
Carindale & the City |
| 333 |
Chermside & the City (Inner Northern Busway service) |
| 345 |
Aspley & the City |
| 385 |
The Gap & the City |
| 444 |
Moggill & the City |
Free Loop Service
There is a free hop-on-hop off Council bus service that does a loop around Brisbane's CBD. It covers several destinations runing in a loop around Central Station, Queen Street Mall, the City Botanic Gardens, Riverside Centre, QUT and King George Square.
It stops at several places along this route. You can see a map here for route information and find a timetable as a PDF here.
NightLink Services
One of the long standing criticisms of the Brisbane public transit system was that it shut down at midnight - well often before midnight,
With a relatively small population and a huge geographic area, it has historically been a challenge for the Brisbane City Council to sustain
late night services. As a compromise, the council runs the NightLink services all night on Fridays and Saturdays. Designed to help people get home after a late night out in the city (and thereby hopefully reduce the number of drink drivers on the road), these services travel from the Valley and CBD to: Algester, Bracken Ridge, Carindale, Cleveland, Eight Mile Plains, Ferny Grove, Forest Lake, Inala, Loganholme, New Farm, Paddington, Sandgate, St Lucia, The Gap, Upper Mount Gravatt, West End and Wynnum.For more information visit this page on the TransLink website.
Disability Access
As part of the Council's bus upgrade program, more and more of the buses in service have advance disability access design. Now more than
half of the 800 plus public transport buses in Brisbane have low floors and no steps to enable easier access for passengers with diminished
mobility.
Instead of steps, low-floor buses have level access through the bus doors.
The buses also have a wheelchair ramp and space for two wheelchairs (up to 1300mm x 800mm x 300kg).
You can go here to find out which services have low-floor accessible. But if required you might also be able to request one to arrive at your stop at an agreed time by phoning Council on 07 3403 8888 with 24 hours notice.
Bike Racks
Bike racks are available on only a couple of bus routes: 432 Kenmore - University of Queensland; the 444 Moggill BUZ service and the 598/599 Great Circle Line Service.
For more information, contact TRANSINFO on 13 1230.
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Brisbane Shopping
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Here you'll find an extensive directory listing of shopping centres and shopping malls throughout Brisbane suburbs...
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Fun Stuff
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When looking to dine out in Brisbane, it is helpful to understand the different
precincts for
restaurants in Brisbane.
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Before European settlement, Brisbane was originally home to the Jagera and Turrbal Aboriginal clans. The river's abundant supply of food included fish, shellfish, crabs and shrimps. The good fishing places became campsites and the focus of group activities. Then in May 1770 Captain James Cook sailed past