The Brisbane Metro and changes to the city’s bus timetables have cut congestion on Victoria Bridge by almost a third.
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said more than 2.6 million passenger trips had been taken across the M1 and M2 since services launched this year.
Lord Mayor Schrinner said since launching on June 30, alongside the New Bus Network, the M1 route has had 334,124 passenger trips, with the M2 clocking up 2,315,412 passenger trips since its launch on January 28.
“This new network is working as planned with the long-standing problem of bus congestion over the Victoria Bridge already reduced by 30 percent.”
He said when the Adelaide Street tunnel opened this year more than 1390 bus and Metro trips would be taken underground every day.
“The new Adelaide Street tunnel will provide a faster and more direct connection for buses travelling between the southern and northern suburbs, improving reliability.”
Lord Mayor Schrinner said the New Bus Network was the biggest boost to bus services in generations with 160,000 new trips each year and faster journeys for more than 45 million people.
“Brisbane’s New Bus Network and Metro services have laid the foundations for future stages of turn-up-and-go services, with the South East Busway capacity increasing by 30.4 million passengers by 2031.”
He said plans were underway for a business case into the expansion of Metro north to Carseldine, south to Springwood, east to Capalaba and the Brisbane Airport Metro.
“More than 600 people a week are moving to Brisbane and our bus network must grow with our city, or we risk more cars and more congestion.
“While we recognise this is a big shift, it’s the only way to grow our network and ease congestion for everyone and we’re already seeing the positive changes of this network.”
