Ninety new buses will begin to hit the road in Brisbane from July as part of an annual $13 million
Ninety new buses will begin to hit the road in Brisbane from July as part of an annual $13 million Queensland Government boost in funding for new services says Queensland Minister for Transport, John Mickel.
“These new buses will allow TransLink to provide even more services on highly popular existing bus routes in Brisbane, while also providing an opportunity to look at introducing other services in new areas,” he says.
“The State Government is putting the money in to deal with congestion in Brisbane by providing new services where they are needed.
“But we are also looking for a commitment from the Lord Mayor for the Brisbane City Council to do their bit as well.
“The State Government is pleased to be able to introduce 90 new buses and we are happy to be taking over funding responsibility for the 36 buses being introduced by the Council in the first half of this year.
“We have shown that we treat the interests of commuters seriously and we want the Lord Mayor to sign up to buy buses for Brisbane as part of a shared responsibility.
Mickel says as part of the agreement, the State Government is prepared to take over responsibility for funding and owning the new buses.
The Brisbane City Council would then operate and maintain the buses under contract to TransLink.
Brisbane City Council Transport Chairperson Victoria Newton said it’s the strong view of the majority of Councillors that we now have an opportunity to forge a new positive partnership with the State Government to improve the bus network for Brisbane.
“Some of the improvements these new buses will provide include upgrading the 330 from Bracken Ridge to a high-frequency service running every 10 minutes in the peak, introducing a new rocket service from Aspley and increasing the frequency of the 140 from Browns Plains,” Mickel says.
Since TransLink was introduced in July 2004 all new services in Brisbane have been funded by the State Government.
Since that time, the bus fleet across south east Queensland has expanded from 1,493 buses to 1,934 buses, an increase of almost 30 percent. In the 2007/08 budget the State Government provided funding for an extra 148 buses in this financial year.