Journey times decrease under Brisbane's new bus timetable

Brisbane bus passengers have shaved an average of two minutes off their journeys in the first three months of the new bus timetable, new figures show.

The new bus network — the biggest change to Brisbane's timetables in two decades — started on June 30 this year.

Patronage has increased by 17 per cent, while journey times have decreased by 7 per cent between July and September this year, when compared with the same period last year.

Both the state government and the city's council have lauded the early success of the new timetable, but transport advocates say improvements show the drastic need for a transport overhaul across south-east Queensland.

Data supplied to the ABC shows comparative analysis of patronage, journey and trip times for Brisbane buses between July and September 2024 and the same period this year.

The data includes a period before Queensland's former Labor government brought in 50-cent fares in August 2024, which was found to have increased patronage.

Data at the end of the six-month 50-cent trial showed patronage increased on all public transport by 18.3 per cent, with bus travel up 15.8 per cent.

Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg said the new bus network was giving commuters more frequent, reliable and connected services that actually worked for them.

Since the new timetable, the proportion of buses that were on time increased by 5 per cent, up to 81 per cent.

Mr Mickelberg said Queenslanders had saved about $236 million on 114 million trips since 50-cent fares had been made permanent.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the new network would deliver 160,000 extra trips every year and faster journeys for more than 45 million passengers.

"With more than 600 people moving to our city every week, we need to keep growing our transport network to keep Brisbane moving," he said.

'No silver bullet' for congestion

Despite the early success, peak motoring body RACQ said the new network had not had a meaningful impact on congestion, although it had not expected it to.

RACQ head of public policy, Michael Kane, said the scale of congestion issues in Brisbane and south-east Queensland was such that there was no silver bullet.

"The bus network review should be considered as stage one of a much deeper and longer process of reform and change that is needed for public transport," he said.

Mr Kane said the organisation's member surveys since the new timetable launched showed that there was strong support for the Brisbane Metro in Brisbane and Logan.

"We can see the Brisbane Metro is very popular, but it's only two routes, mainly through the inner-city, and so what RACQ has been calling for … is a transformation of the bus network across the whole of south-east Queensland," he said.

The Adelaide Street tunnel, a dedicated connection for busways in the city, opened on September 29 and will affect the data in the future.

Cr Schrinner said the council's focus had "always been on helping residents get home sooner and safer, and these results show that's exactly what's happening".

Translink's customer experience surveys for south-east Queensland bus passengers in 2025 showed an overall rating of 3.7/5 in July, 3.6/5 in August and 4.1/5 in September.

But council opposition leader Jared Cassidy said community feedback in surveys conducted by Labor painted a different picture, with the average rating of the network at 1.4/10.

Of 361 responses, 70 per cent of people said their commute had increased, and 50 per cent said the number of transfers they had to perform had increased, while 70 per cent said they were not happy with the changes.

"Adrian Schrinner and his LNP council are pulling the wool over Brisbane's eyes," he said.

With south-east Queensland's population expected to reach 6 million by 2046, Mr Kane said current planning would not meet demand.

"We're going to catch up with Sydney's population in 20 years' time and Sydney has far greater levels of public transport and road infrastructure, which they've built over many decades, and in that 20 years, we will not be able to build the infrastructure that Sydney has today," he said.

"We are not going to be fixing congestion overnight."

Calls for active transport links

Griffith University transport and planning adjunct professor Matthew Burke said the new figures were in line with the expected outcomes of the new bus timetable, but it was great to see improvements in patronage and journey times.

"Anecdotally, there's been confusion for people in the changeover, that's always going to happen, but the department and operators seem to have done a reasonable job explaining the changes," he said.

However, the Bicycle Queensland chief executive said there was still a lot of "mess in the system" and authorities needed to address the disconnected and disjointed active transport network.

"[The new network] is proof of what's possible without a lot of money," he said.

"The southern bus network review was done without big additional investment into services; it was done through tactical planning and thinking about the system, not through mega projects and building.

"Buses on the north side will need a similar level of restructuring, and we shouldn't be afraid of doing that in a large hit like we did on the south side."