For too long, bus services in The Gap have been infrequent, overcrowded and unreliable.
Just about every week I hear from locals that they are having issues with the buses that service The Gap area. Issues include unreliability of services, lack of frequency of a number of important services, a lack of ability to get to important locations like the nearest train station by bus. As new development takes place in and around The Gap, it's critical we deliver better bus services to tackle the issue of traffic in the area.
Late in 2023, I ran a survey to work out what were the key problems people were experiencing, what they'd like to see happen, and what they think of a few proposals that my team and I have put together.
The response was amazing. With almost 300 very in-depth responses, I got a very clear image of all the issues people are having with buses in The Gap. I have also reached out to bus driver contacts to get a better understanding of some of the complexities of the problems facing the bus network. I have since put together a report on the outcomes of this survey alongside proposals informed by feedback by bus drivers. You can read that report here.
On the basis of all this feedback, here are three things I think need to happen to deliver better buses in The Gap:
- Fix the 385 and other city-bound services like the 380 and 381 by increasing frequency, tackling the driver shortage and systemic underfunding of our bus network, and delivering more bus priority lanes and signalling.
- Establish a new 'Gap Local Loop' service connecting locals with other bus services and allowing those without cars to get around the neighbourhood easily and access local shops and services.
- Deliver a new high-frequency route that connects The Gap with the Great Western shopping centre and Keperra train station. While keeping the 362 for people on backstreets who need it, this new route would allow for a far more direct connection to key locations.
Ultimately these delays are the result of decades of underfunding from both the LNP Council and Labor state government and a service delivery model that aims to cut costs and run at maximum capacity so it can’t absorb delays, rather than provide a high-quality service for residents. If they wanted to, they could fix these issues within 12 months.
That is why we are petitioning the Queensland Government, Translink and Brisbane City Council to fund these upgrades so we can get better buses for The Gap!