The introduction of Brisbane Metro and Brisbane’s New Bus Network has cut congestion on Victoria Bridge by 30 per cent.
More than 2.6 million passenger trips have been taken across the M1 and M2 since services launched this year.
The M1 runs between Eight Mile Plains and Roma Street and has recorded a 12.5 per cent increase in weekday patronage compared to the bus routes 111 and 160 it replaced.
Since launching on 30 June, the new M1 route has had 334,124 passenger trips.
The M2 route has just hit six months of service, clocking 2,315,412 passenger trips since its launch on 28 January.
The M2 between UQ Lakes and Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and has recorded a 3.5 per cent increase in weekday patronage compared to the bus route 66 it replaced.
Congestion on Victoria Bridge has also reduced by 30 per cent since the launch of Brisbane’s New Bus Network on 30 June.
When the Adelaide Street tunnel opens this year more than 1390 bus and Metro trips will be taken underground every day.
The new Adelaide Street tunnel will provide a faster and more direct connection for buses travelling between the southern and northern suburbs, improving reliability.
Brisbane’s New Bus Network is the biggest boost to bus services in generations with 160,000 new trips each year and faster journeys for more than 45 million people.
Brisbane’s New Bus Network and metro services have laid the foundations for future stages of turn-up-and-go services, with the South East Busway capacity increasing by 30.4 million passengers by 2031.
Plans are also underway for a business case into the expansion of Metro north to Carseldine, south to Springwood, east to Capalaba and the Brisbane Airport Metro.
Quotes attributable to Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner:
“We’re delivering the biggest boost to bus services in more than a decade with turn-up-and-go Brisbane Metro services and a new bus network to help keep Brisbane moving.
“This new network is working as planned with the long-standing problem of bus congestion over the Victoria Bridge already reduced by 30 per cent.
“It’s fantastic to see more than 2.6 million trips taken on Metro and people are jumping on board Brisbane’s first turn-up-and-go, fully electric mass transit option.
“More than 600 people a week are moving to Brisbane and our bus network must grow with our city, or we risk more cars and more congestion.
“By linking local buses with turn-up-and-go metro services on dedicated busways, we are delivering more services to more places, more often.
“While we recognise this is a big shift, it’s the only way to grow our network and ease congestion for everyone and we’re already seeing the positive changes of this network.
“We’re focused on delivering a network that works better for more people, now and into the future and working on a plan to deliver more metro services to more places soon.”
