Fresh doubts have been raised on Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner’s commitment to deliver public transport to the suburbs after projects reliant on state government funding have been delayed.
On Tuesday, Brisbane LNP Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has provided an update to the Metro expansion business case, saying that building 50km of unfinished busway was being “considered”.
On Tuesday, Brisbane City Council opened a survey to the public asking for feedback on where the “Brisbane Metro” Bus Rapid Transit vehicles should service next.
The LNP Council has foreshadowed results by dusting off the 1997 South East Queensland Integrated Regional Transport Plan, which originally proposed 75km worth of busways across the Southeast, leading into Brisbane City.
Favoured expansion routes by Council include:
• CBD to Carseldine via Gympie Road
- CBD to Capalaba via Old Cleveland Road
- CBD to Springwood
- CBD to Brisbane Airport
Appointee to the Lord Mayor’s “Better Suburbs Board”, Suburban Futures Director Ross Elliot, claimed “The connection to the Brisbane Airport, for example, is needed because the workforce there is predicted to grow from 25,000 now to around 50,000 by 2046.
“Chermside’s workforce will grow from 16,000 to potentially 50,000 by 2046 based on the expansion of the Prince Charles and related health and professional industries.”
However, Newscorp reports that the Queensland LNP State Government was coy on terminating the AirTrain contract early, after Brisbane Airport CEO Gert-Jan de Graaff said that it was necessary to deliver further public transport alternatives before the 2032 Games, including the Brisbane Metro expansion to the airport.
Further, the Lord Mayor revealed in June that the new LNP State Government will only begin to start works on the Gympie Road Bypass Tunnel until after the Olympic Games.
Speaking on ABC Brisbane’s Drive program in 2023, Adrian Schrinner claimed: “this is a project that could be well up and running before the Olympics if we get cracking on it.”
“…every day, a large number of people travel into Brisbane on that network and currently they’re using the gateway, they’re using Gympie Road and it’s just going to get more and more congested, and this provides an opportunity to bypass by going underground but most importantly, it also provides a wonderful opportunity to extend the busway north all the way to Chermside and beyond so that we can run high-frequency mass transit, things like Brisbane Metro services and that’s really critical as well. So, this provides an opportunity for both a motorway and also high-frequency mass transit.”
However, in response to a question by the Opposition in Council on Tuesday, the Lord Mayor conceded that it if construction started today, it would still not be completed in time for the 2032 Games.
“If this tunnel started today, it would not be finished before the Olympics. That’s the
simple point that I’ve made.”
Tens of thousands of public dollars were spent by Council in the lead up to the 2024 Council election advertising the Lord Mayor and Northside LNP Councillors “backing” the tunnel, which was a proposal under the former Queensland Labor State Government.
Brisbane Labor Opposition Leader Jared Cassidy, who represents the Northside ward of Deagon, said that Brisbane is a fast-growing city that cannot wait 10 years for better public transport.
“Adrian Schrinner is desperately covering up his decades of public transport failures with an announcement that we need the State Government to build more busways and tunnels after the Olympics have come and gone.”
“We need more suburban bus services today. We can’t wait ten years for the State Government to extend our busways. The nurse in Banyo who can’t get a bus to the Prince Charles Hospital to start her shift on time needs better bus services now. The residents in Bracken Ridge who know it’s faster to walk to Sandgate than catch a bus need better services now. The families in Pallara who have to resort to Uber and taxis to get to school know we need better bus services now.”
“Adrian Schrinner needs to use his leverage in the LNP to get the State Government to act, otherwise this will be his greatest failure of leadership.”
