Long Pocket is growing, but it needs a decent bus service.
With the approval of 50 townhouses around Jacaranda Pl (beyond the end of the bus route) and 160 retirement living apartments on the grounds of the Indro Golf Club, hundreds will be moving into an area with no frequent public transport.
For residents of Long Pocket, driving is almost always more convenient than public transport. The existing 417 service is terrible. Even though Long Pocket is just a few minutes from Indooroopilly (Indro) train station and shopping centre by car, the bus is infrequent, unreliable and totally inadequate on weekends.
Everyone deserves access to frequent and reliable public transport. This is our plan for better long pocket buses:
1. Extend and improve the 417
The 417 is one of the only buses that many westsiders can access. On the weekend, it runs every 1.25 hours. At peak time, it runs every 30 minutes. On weekdays, there’s no bus to Long Pocket after 7:00 PM, and on weekends it’s 5:00 PM.
This already isn’t good enough, but with the influx of new residents it’s even more important for us to fix the 417. This means having the bus run every 15 minutes at peak time, and every 30 minutes on the weekend. It means having the bus run later on weekdays and weekends.
I’d also like to see the 417 extended on the Long Pocket side to the new Somerset retirement village so that the new residents will have an accessible bus route. It would also be great to extend the route to Sir John Chandler park and open the park up for residents.
2. A new bus from Long Pocket to Indro
The current 417 service doesn't take Long Pocket residents directly to the closest centres - Indro Station and Indro shopping centre. I’d like to see the creation of a new regular service that goes from Long Pocket, via the local schools, to the station and the shopping centre.
Translink could either fund this service outright or work with the University of Queensland and Somerset Developer, Aura. UQ currently runs a shuttle bus from their St Lucia campus to their Long Pocket campus while Aura have proposed a shuttle bus for their residents. In 2021, I reached out to UQ, raising the idea of them giving the funds they usually spend on their private shuttle bus to Translink to fund a public bus. UQ indicated they were interested in this idea - we just need to get Translink and Aura on board.
To make this happen, we need the State Government to fund Council to run these buses, via Translink, and for Council to work with them on the timetables and routes.
Would you like to see better buses for Long Pocket? Sign the petition to let the Transport Minister and Council know!
Are you from Long Pocket or do you frequently take the 417? I’d like to hear from you. Send through your thoughts to [email protected].