The Brisbane City Council and LNP state government are this morning spruiking the next stage of the Brisbane Metro rollout, reopening the M1 line that was trialled last year.
After a false start late last year, the council is this morning promoting the reopening of the M1 route on June 30, with the extra-long, electric buses to travel every five minutes from Eight Miles Plains to Roma Street in the CBD.
The M1 route opened with much fanfare in November, but was halted four weeks later, with the council insisting it was only ever meant to be a trial.
The M2 route, which carries the 66 bus service from the University of Queensland to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, was rolled out in January this year.
From June 30 the council says there will also be:
- Five new bus routes that will improve connectivity to the South East Busway and Fortitude Valley, adding more than 5000 new services a year.
- Four new all-day services in streets that currently only have a peak-period buses, increasing frequency and connection to key Metro corridors.
- Twelve combined bus routes that eliminate duplicated services without decreasing the total number of trips, creating more efficient routes that can be accessed by more people.
- Three divided routes that will now finish their service in the city, reducing the likelihood of delays.
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The council’s transport chair, Ryan Murphy, told ABC Radio the final price tag for the Metro was $1.55 billion, attributing the cost to the council’s decision to use electric buses.
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said: “Through our landmark agreement with the Crisafulli government, we are delivering the biggest improvement to Brisbane’s bus network in generations.”
Deputy Premier and Infrastructure Minister Jarrod Bleijie said: “Brisbane’s new bus network – developed through a new approach with council – makes it easier and cheaper than ever to get around the region.”
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