Brisbane City Council has revealed that it spent $90,000 advertising the ‘Metro’ Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System in April this year.
It comes after initially spending $71,000 on Metro advertising in July 2025 after the launch of Brisbane’s New Bus Network on June 30 2025.
The data, obtained via Questions on Notice from the Brisbane Labor Opposition, shows that the highest spend in April this year was on ‘Out of Home’ ($43,000) followed by radio ($30,000).
Last year, almost $51,000 was spent on Out of Home, followed by radio ($9,422).
The information was released via an amended agenda released as a heated Council meeting kicked off.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner continued to spruik the Metro, claiming commuters had ‘voted with their feet’ as 10 million trips were clocked on the Metro.
However, Labor Opposition Leader Jared Cassidy challenged the Lord Mayor on who can rightfully take credit for the boost in patronage.
“The most significant investment in public transport patronage over the past 2 years has been 50 cent fares by the former state Labor government,” Cassidy said in a statement.
“Adrian Schrinner redesigned the bus network last year to funnel commuters onto the Metro to complete their journey while slashing suburban bus services and bus stops.”
This comes just 2 weeks after The Courier Mail reported on a new initiative from the Lord Mayor’s office to engage Brisbane-based social media influencers to repackage administration messaging as ‘selling Brisbane to the world”.
The cost of this engagement to ratepayers has not been disclosed.
A leaked draft of the updated ‘Race to Gold’ document now reveals pushed back timelines for the expansion of the Metro, meaning the final Metro network will not be ready in time for the Olympic Games.
The federal government granted BCC $50 million for a Metro expansion business case in February 2025. Despite the original Race to Gold claiming it will be completed by June this year, it is still yet to start and will take two years.
The Lord Mayor claimed that without further federal government funding, the Metro expansion “will not happen.”
But the Labor Opposition claims that the Lord Mayor has gone silent on requesting support from the State Government who typically work with BCC to progress bus infrastructure and services.
“Why is the Lord Mayor staying silent while the State Government rips Metro expansion funding away from Brisbane?”
“The Lord Mayor is criticising the Federal Government for not funding a project that doesn’t have a business case, has no costings and no State Government approvals. What a lazy Lord Mayor.”
The original Race to Gold Document was released in August 2024, when the Miles Labor Government occupied 1 William Street.
