Fears have started growing that recently touted expansions to the Brisbane Metro project won’t be complete before the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner says the Metro rapid bus network won’t grow into outer suburbs without federal funding, with a leaked document obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald suggesting the expansion most likely won’t be done before 2032.
“I can absolutely say that without federal funding, there will be no extension of Brisbane Metro, that’s a certainty,” Schrinner said in a press conference yesterday.
“Brisbane City Council shouldn’t be expected to pay for a Metro expansion to Logan or to Redlands.”
This comes after the federal government last allocated an extra $50 million to the Brisbane Metro’s expansion into the northern suburbs in February 2025, taking the government’s total contribution to the project past $400 million.
The funding at the time allowed Schrinner to announce planned Metro expansions to Carseldine, Capalaba, Springwood and to Brisbane Airport.
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Brisbane City Council opposition leader Jared Cassidy says this news marks a “transport planning disaster for Brisbane”.
“The wheels have fallen off the metro. It now seems that the LNP Council and LNP state government are going to deliver no new public transport infrastructure ahead of the Brisbane Olympics,” Cassidy says.
“We were promised that the games would fast-track the public transport we need as a growing city. But instead it’s delaying it. I warned about this months and years ago even.
“The priority must now be on boosting bus services to fill this massive gap. Only problem there – the state LNP government has capped funding for Brisbane.”
Schrinner said yesterday if there’s no federal government deal for Metro funding in the next 18 months then the Council may have to create temporary bus transit lanes ahead of the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics.
“I wish and I hope the state government will stump up some witches hats for temporary bus lanes – this is abysmal for Brisbane,” Cassidy says.
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