The Brisbane bus route that had a 190 per cent surge in passengers

The equivalent of 3.9 million private car trips may have been redirected from Brisbane’s roads, according to the council, after a 10 per cent surge in bus trips.

That estimate was based on an average of 1.2 people per vehicle.

More than 51.2 million council bus and Metro trips were taken in Brisbane in the first seven months since the network shake-up in mid-2025.

That was a 10 per cent increase compared with the same seven months the previous year.

Brisbane bus trips have increased by 27 per cent since the beginning of 2024, the council said.

“Every extra person on a bus or Metro is one less person in a car in peak-hour traffic, which means less congestion, safer roads and shorter travel times for everyone,” Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said.

“If we stop investing in reliable public transport, people will return to their cars, congestion will grow and everyone pays a price.”

During the first seven months of the new network, the route with the biggest surge in patronage – 190 per cent – was the 107, which was realigned to become an all-day service operating between Yeerongpilly and the city via the Boggo Road busway station and South Bank.

The 171, which has a new alignment travelling through Mount Gravatt with increased frequency and extra hours, had a 115 per cent patronage increase.

The 205 from Carindale Heights, which changed from a peak-only service to all day, had a 97 per cent increase in patronage.

The 131 from Parkinson, which merged with route P129, and the 185 from Upper Mount Gravatt, which merged with route 184, both had a 64 per cent increase in patronage.

The 116, which had its route changed and extended to Upper Mount Gravatt, had a 47 per cent increase.

But Moorooka resident Katherine Clarkson said while the 116 was extended to Upper Mount Gravatt, it was limited to every 30 minutes during peak, every hour on Saturdays with the last service at 7pm from the city, and it did not run on Sundays.

“The changes have left a lot of residents worse off if you do not drive,” she said.

“Also, the 125 and 110 are not much better and do not run late enough.”

There have been several changes to public transport in the past two years: 50¢ fares were introduced by the state Labor government in August 2024; the first Metro service became permanent in January 2025; the new bus network was launched in mid-2025; and the Adelaide Street tunnel opened in September 2025.

The council’s bus network moves about 80 million people each year and accounts for more than two-thirds of Brisbane’s public transport.

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