How Brisbane hopes to avoid public transport gridlock on New Year’s Eve

Brisbane is set for a bumper New Year’s Eve fireworks display on Wednesday, and organisers are working to ensure there will not be a repeat of this year’s Riverfire fiasco, where some spectators waited more than two hours to leave the inner city.

The Brisbane City Council, the key organiser of Brisbane’s two New Year’s Eve fireworks shows, said it did not expect a repeat of the chaos on September 7.

On that evening, more than half a million people tried to get home at the same time, overwhelming streets and public transport stops despite the city’s best efforts to put on more train, bus and ferry services, and make trips free.

Some of those who struggled to leave said crowds formed bottlenecks though inner-city streets, many of which remained open to vehicles, while car parks were gridlocked.

The council said the NYE crowd size was predicted to be about one-fifth of that at Riverfire.

A council spokesperson said attendance was also expected to vary across Wednesday night, with staggered arrival and departure times, and therefore smaller surges on transport infrastructure.

On Sunday, the council revealed its full plan for the NYE shows, adding two new drone light displays over the Brisbane River at 9pm and 11pm, between the 7.45pm and midnight fireworks displays.

The council recommended five inner-city vantage points: South Bank, Kangaroo Point, Queen’s Wharf, Howard Smith Wharves and the Riverside Centre on Eagle Street.

Crowd control at those precincts would be managed throughout the night, while safety across Wednesday’s event was a multi-agency effort including police, SES and public transport providers including the council and Translink.

More than 600 buses would be added on the night, increasing by 200 from last year.

Train services would more than double across the night and early morning, totalling an extra 135 services – several dozen more than were added during the previous New Year’s celebrations.

A spokesperson for the Department of Transport and Main Roads, which manages Translink, said it had boosted its public transport offerings – and would make travel free from 8pm – to try to reduce the number of cars in the city.

Translink would also run ferries on a special event timetable, available to see on its website.

“Large crowds are expected, so we’re encouraging Queenslanders to plan ahead,” the spokesperson said.

Inner-city stops had also been shifted away from riverside roads, some of which would be closed off to accommodate crowds, although most streets would still remain open to cars.

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