South East Busway

The South East Busway is a grade separated bus-only road running south from the Brisbane central business district to Eight Mile Plains in Queensland, Australia. The busway was completed to Woolloongabba in September 2000 and to Eight Mile Plains in April 2001. An extension of the busway to School Road at Rochedale was completed in 2014.

South East Busway
Cultural Centre busway station with the Victoria Bridge in the background in February 2016
Overview
System	TransLink
Operator	Brisbane Transport Clarks Logan City Bus Service Mt Gravatt Bus Service Transdev Queensland Park Ridge Transit
Status	Open
Began service	13 September 2000 (2000-09-13)
Route
Start	Queen Street
Via	Pacific Motorway
End	Eight Mile Plains
Length	13.2 km (8.2 mi)
Stations	13
Route map Northern Busway Queen Street bus station to inner city Victoria Bridge over Brisbane River Cultural Centre South Brisbane to West End South Bank South Bank Mater Hill Pacific Motorway Woolloongabba Eastern Busway Buranda Buranda Eastern Busway Norman Creek Greenslopes Zone 1 2 Holland Park West Griffith University Upper Mount Gravatt Eight Mile Plains Gateway Motorway School Road Rochedale (proposed) Springwood Pacific Motorway ←      →

History

Busways were considered as one of the options when the Queensland Government developed the 25 year Integrated Regional Transport Plan.[1][2][3] Other methods such as light and heavy rail were also considered. It was recommended that a 75 km (47 mi) network of busway corridors to complement the existing Queensland Rail City network would suit best.

Busways would allow buses to serve low-density communities and bypass peak hour congestion. Busway stations could be developed at key nodes to serve major activity centres, and combining different routes would create high frequency services.

In 1995, plans for a network of five busway corridors were conceived, linking with the rail network to improve public transport connectivity across the city. The busways would improve the operation of the bus fleet, reducing maintenance and running costs and maximising the effectiveness of the region's investment in buses.

In August 1996, the Queensland Government approved the South East Transit Project to manage the construction of both the northern section of the Pacific Motorway between Mount Gravatt and Logan City and a dedicated 2-lane, 2-way road for buses between the Brisbane CBD and Eight Mile Plains.

The first section of busway between the existing Queen Street bus station and Woolloongabba was opened to services on 13 September 2000 to coincide with the start of the 2000 Olympic football tournament, for which some matches were held in Brisbane.[4] It initially opened for outbound services only, with inbound services commencing on 23 October 2000.[5] The second 13.2 km (8.2 mi) section of busway between Woolloongabba and Eight Mile Plains opened on 30 April 2001.[6][7][8][9]

Construction of the Eight Mile Plains to Rochedale extension to the Busway commenced in late 2012 and was completed in March 2014. The extension was funded by the Queensland Government ($36m) and formed part of the Federal Government's Gateway Upgrade South (GUS) project.[10] The busway extension passes under the Gateway Motorway and terminates at School Road, Rochedale. No new busway stations were added by this extension.

Route

South East Busway tunnel entrance under the Queen Street Mall

The busway commences at Queen Street bus station beneath the Brisbane central business district, crossing the Brisbane River via Victoria Bridge to the Cultural Centre busway station, then paralleling the rail lines to South Bank railway station before passing beneath under Stanley Street. It then runs parallel to the Pacific Motorway to Eight Mile Plains.[11]

Services

Brisbane Transport and Clarks Logan City Bus Service operate services along the full length of the busway while Mt Gravatt Bus Service and Transdev Queensland operate services between Griffith University and Eight Mile Plains.[12]

Future extensions

Currently, the Pacific Motorway enables better connections between the South East Busway, Springwood and Loganholme with additional stations in between at Underwood and Paradise Road, for the benefit of Logan City Bus Service services travelling to the city.

As part of the Main Roads Pacific Motorway Transit Project,[13] plans have been made to extend the South East Busway as far as Springwood bus station, including construction of the proposed Rochedale busway station.[14]

Passenger information

Real Time Passenger Information is displayed at each station, with fixed LED signs suspended above each platform. These signs present four lines of real-time estimated bus departure times, with data provided by Brisbane City Council's RAPID system.

References

1. "Integrated Regional Transport Plan". Queensland Government, Department of Transport and Main Roads. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
2. "South East Busway, Brisbane". Road Traffic Technology. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
3. "Integrated Regional Transport Plan (Part 1)" (PDF). Queensland Government, Department of Transport and Main Roads. p. 29 (PDF page 46). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 March 2011. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
4. Bridge changes slammed The Courier-Mail 14 December 2000
5. South East Busway services to start on Monday Queensland Government 22 October 2000
6. "Busways". Queensland Government, Department of Transport and Main Roads. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
7. Shunter, Loose (30 October 2010). "A decade of Australian Public Transport Projects". TransportTextbook. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
8. South-east Queensland transport infrastructure rollout since 1975 Brisbane Times 6 July 2010
9. Brisbane busway turns 10 Australasian Bus & Coach 3 May 2011
10. "Gateway Upgrade South (GUS) project and South East Busway extension". Queensland Government, Department of Transport and Main Roads. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
11. "South East Transit Project". The Harrison Group. 2007. Archived from the original on 27 May 2011. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
12. "South Eastern Busway Network Map" (PDF). TransLink. January 2017.
13. Main Roads Pacific Motorway Transit Project Archived 2009-06-18 at the Wayback Machine
14. Translink South East Busway Extension Archived 2009-04-25 at the Wayback Machine

External links

Media related to South East Busway at Wikimedia Commons