Bus services in the west and southwestern suburbs are unreliable and largely infrequent. One important improvement I am pushing for is a "Western Busway" with dedicated bus lanes on the Centenary Motorway between Darra, Mt Ommaney, Indooroopilly and Toowong.
The Western Busway should eventually link up with dedicated bus lanes on Moggill Rd at Indooroopilly, continuing through Toowong to the CBD via High St and Coronation Drive, and with other dedicated bus lanes, busway or Brisbane Metro extensions on the west side, including an Inner West Transitway which I am also supporting.
On 6 December 2021 I made a submission to the State Transport and Main Roads Department (TMR) in relation to the Centenary Bridge duplication project. My submission argued strongly for dedicated bus lanes on the Motorway. I also pointed out serious flaws in the traffic modelling underpinning the project, which I had obtained under Right to Information laws. The traffic modelling assumed no growth in public transport services despite State government plans to create new frequent buses. It eliminated options for peak-hour bus lanes on the Centenary Motorway based on that faulty assumption.
On 8 March 2023, I made a joint submission with Elizabeth Watson-Brown, Federal MP for Ryan to TMR in relation to the Centenary Motorway planning study. Our submission argued for a Western Busway from Sumner near Darra Station to Indooroopilly and Toowong via the Centenary Motorway corridor.
Where would the Western Busway go?
The outlines of a plan for the Western Busway are:
- The Western Busway should begin at Sumner near Darra train station, with dedicated bus lanes connecting to Darra train station to provide a seamless interchange with the rail network.
- The busway should extend as far as possible from Sumner following the Motorway corridor across the river to Indooroopilly and ideally to Milton Rd at Toowong and beyond.
- The busway could include in-line busway stations at Mt Ommaney Centre, Jindalee HomeCo/Jindalee Bowls Club and the Fig Tree Pocket bus interchange.
- Bus lanes should be delivered on a section of Moggill Rd alongside the busway, connecting the Busway to Kenmore and the Indooroopilly bus interchange. These bus lanes could replace the fifth and sixth lanes on Moggill Rd where these exist.
Why we need a Western Busway
A Western Busway would:
- Create the possibility for a fast, frequent bus link from Mt Ommaney, Jindalee & Sinnamon Park to Indooroopilly and UQ.
- Drastically improve bus reliability between Kenmore and Indooroopilly with bus lanes on Moggill Rd, making it cheaper to run more frequent buses.
- Allow fast, frequent "feeder" buses to operate from Jindalee, Mt Ommaney, Sinnamon Park and other suburbs to Darra train station, even in peak hour traffic.
- Create the possibility for fast, frequent services from the west and southwestern suburbs directly to the Inner Northern Busway at Normanby / QUT Kelvin Grove via Toowong and the Legacy Way tunnel.
- Take cars off the Centenary Motorway, Moggill Rd and the Walter Taylor Bridge by making public transport more competitive.