Transport in Brisbane

Transport in Brisbane, the capital and largest city of Queensland, Australia, is provided by road, rail, river, footpaths, bike paths, sea and air.

Transport is managed by the Queensland Government and the councils of the local government areas which make up the metropolitan area, including the Brisbane City Council.

Most public transport services in Brisbane are coordinated by Translink. Train services are operated by Queensland Rail, through its City network system. Bus services are operated by both the Brisbane City Council's Transport for Brisbane subsidiary and private operators, using the road network as well as dedicated busways. Ferry services on the Brisbane River are operated by RiverCity Ferries.

The residential street network is managed by the Brisbane City Council and the connecting arterial road network is managed by the Department of Transport and Main Roads. The Brisbane Airport Corporation manages Brisbane Airport.

Walking Brisbane is notable for its Brisbane Riverwalk network, which runs along much of the Brisbane River foreshore throughout the inner-city area, with the longest span running between Newstead and Toowong. Another popular stretch runs beneath the Kangaroo Point Cliffs between South Brisbane and Kangaroo Point. Several spans of the Riverwalk are built out over the Brisbane River.

Cycling

Brisbane is constructing a number of cycle routes and dedicated, off-road bikeways. The South-East Bikeway is a bicycle only bikeway running adjacent to the South East Freeway. It empties onto the Goodwill Bridge at South Bank, which in turn, connects with the Bicentennial Bikeway underneath the Riverside Expressway. The Bicentennial Bikeway continues along the Brisbane River to Toowong.A limited number of buses used to carry cycle racks on the front but this service is no longer available. Bicycles are easy to transport on the CityCats, and many stops have bicycle racks. Bicycles are permitted on Queensland Rail's (QR) Citytrain network during all times. Riding a bicycle on QR property is always forbidden.

A bike station in the King George Square busway station offers many amenities including showers and locker rooms for members. Subscriptions for a Velib style community bike hire scheme called CityCycle by JCDecaux for Brisbane started on 1 September 2010 with bikes available from 1 October 2010 at 150 stations from the University of Queensland to Teneriffe. Due to declining numbers, this service is now discontinued, with JCDecaux being ordered to dismantle and remove all CityCycle docks and bikes. These will eventually be replaced with 2000 electric bikes by the Brisbane City Council.

Lime scooters were introduced in November 2018 as a trial with a temporary exemption as the scooters can travel at which is faster than the permitted by Queensland legislation.

Public transport

Brisbane's public transport system is provided by trains, buses, ferries and taxis. A large tram network closed in 1969. A smaller trolleybus system closed at the same time, with routes on both systems being replaced by buses.

Translink is a division of the Department of Transport and Main Roads that manages the planning, co-ordination, and integrated ticketing of public transport services covering Brisbane and the rest of Queensland. It contracts Queensland Rail, private bus operating companies and Transport for Brisbane to operate public transport services in allocated operating areas for a negotiated price, and keeps all fare receipts. Public transport fares are a 50 cent flat rate across all Translink services, regardless of how far you travel on the network or how you choose to pay. Translink introduced the go card ticketing system in 2006 and a contactless payments system in 2020.

Train services are operated by Queensland Rail. Ferries are operated by RiverCity Ferries. Contracted buses that serve the regional areas outside and across the Brisbane boundary are operated by private companies.

In 2017, an estimated 8% of all trips made in Brisbane used public transport. After some years of decline, Brisbane's public transport system is being revitalised and finding greater patronage, with significant investment in railway station upgrades, busways, reorganised bus routes and new buses. However, patronage remains a far cry from public transport's heyday in the 1940s, when the tram system alone carried 160 million passengers annually. By comparison, Brisbane Transport buses carried 53 million passengers in 2005, although Brisbane's population has doubled since the 1940s. This figure climbed to 77 million in 2010.

The CBD is the central hub for all public transport services with interchanges at Central, Roma Street and South Bank railway stations; Cultural Centre, King George Square, Queen Street and Roma Street busway stations; and North Quay, Riverside and QUT Gardens Point ferry wharves.

Various smaller transfer hubs, are located at various strategically placed points of public importance and public interest in the city, including shopping malls, which are usually within dense population centres. Many busway stations are co-located with or are near to train stations (e.g. Roma Street or Cultural Centre/South Brisbane), facilitating transfers between modes.

In December 2005, Translink began all-night public transport services on Friday and Saturday nights, under the name of NightLink. These bus routes have numbers prefixed with the letter N, and often carry security guards. The Beenleigh, Ipswich and Caboolture rail lines also operate into the early morning hours.

Trains

The Queensland Rail Citytrain network consists of 152 stations along 12 lines: Beenleigh, Brisbane Airport, Caboolture, Cleveland, Doomben, Ferny Grove, Ipswich/Rosewood, Kippa-Ring, Shorncliffe and Springfield Central. The network extends to the Gold and Sunshine coasts, which are fully integrated into the network on the Nambour/Gympie North and Varsity Lakes lines, respectively. The Airtrain service which runs on the Brisbane Airport line is jointly operated between the City of Brisbane and Brisbane Airport. The network is completely radial.

The network has relatively low ridership on a world scaleYen, B.T.H., Case Studies on Transport Policy (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cstp.2018.01.005 and compared to the city's bus network. Reliance on the rail network is low, compared to Melbourne and Sydney, especially during peak demand periods. Coverage is limited in many areas, forcing people on to buses. 55 million passenger trips were taken across the network in 2018–19. In 2020, the pandemic drastically affected passenger numbers with many services, including peak ones, running at 90 per cent empty.

Construction of the network began in 1865 and has been progressively expanded in the subsequent centuries. Electrification of the network was completed between 1979 and 1988. The Cross River Rail project includes a twin rail tunnel ( long) which will pass under the Brisbane River to link two new railway stations at Albert Street in the CBD and Woolloongabba is under construction and scheduled to be completed in 2025. Buses

Brisbane's bus network comprises over 400 routes and 10,000 stations. The city has a large dedicated bus rapid transit network known as the Busway. Buses are channelled into the central business district and surrounds via the South East Busway, the Northern Busway and the Eastern Busway. The central hubs are King George Square busway station and Queen Street bus station.

Brisbane City Council operates most of its urban and suburban bus services under the Translink integrated public transport scheme. Translink is responsible for all timetabling and ticketing on Brisbane City Council (Transport for Brisbane) buses, which Transport for Brisbane constructs, leases back (a sell and leaseback scheme operating between the Council and State) and operates.

Outer suburb bus service providers include: Brisbane Bus Lines, Caboolture Bus Lines,Caboolture Bus Lines TransLink Hornibrook Bus Lines,Routes Hornibrook Bus Lines Kangaroo Bus Lines,Public Transport Kangaroo Bus Lines Clarks Logan City Bus Service, Mt Gravatt Bus Service,Public Transport Mt Gravatt Bus Service Park Ridge Transit,Urban Bus Queensland Thompsons Bus Service,Urban Runs Thompson Bus Services Transdev QueenslandUrban Services & Night Link Transdev Brisbane and Westside Bus Company.

Buses generally operate between 05:00am and 12:00am throughout the week, with some Friday and Saturday night 24-hour services. In addition to the local bus routes, many routes are express (CityXpress) and don't observe minor stops (marked with a blue bus stop sign instead of white). All Brisbane City Council buses are prepaid (only pre-purchased tickets, go cards or credit and debit cards).

The Brisbane Metro consists of two routes covering 21 kilometres, linking Brisbane's outer suburbs with the CBD. Metro Route M2 commenced service on 28 January 2025 between RBWH and UQ Lakes, whilst Metro Route M1 commenced service on 30 June 2025 between Roma Street and Eight Mile Plains.

The CityGlider consists of two routes covering the inner city. The Blue CityGlider (route 60) operates between Teneriffe and West End via the CBD. The Maroon CityGlider (route 61) operates between Ashgrove and Coorparoo via the CBD. They use branded buses stopping only at specified CityGlider stops. The Blue CityGlider runs every 5 minutes in peak hours and every 10 to 15 minutes outside peak hours. The Maroon CityGlider runs every 10 minutes in peak hours and every 15 to 30 minutes outside peak hours.

The free City Loop and Spring Hill Loop bus services provide high-frequency public transport access within the Brisbane CBD, and between the Brisbane CBD and Spring Hill. The City Loop operates clockwise (route 40) and anti-clockwise (route 50) in the Brisbane CBD from designated purple-sign bus stops, using distinctive purple buses. The Spring Hill Loop (route 30) operates on a continuous loop between the CBD and Spring Hill, stopping at yellow-sign bus stops, using distinctive yellow buses.

The BUZ (Bus Upgrade Zones) routes are high-frequency express routes, pioneered by Brisbane City Council, that provide services on main corridors at least every 15 minutes on any day of the week from 6 am to 11:30 pm.

The routes operate on a large anti-clockwise (route 598) and clockwise (route 599) loop around Brisbane's outer suburbs. They are used for travel between suburbs, particularly the larger shopping centres, without the need to travel through the CBD.

During peak hours, 'Rocket' buses bypass most intermediate stops, while 'Bullets' (such as the Browns Plains 142) do not stop between the CBD and their final destinations.

Buses often provide free transport between major shopping centres (for example Westfield Carindale), and The Gabba or Lang Park for sporting match events.

Ferries

Brisbane's ferries, and particularly its catamaran CityCats, are considered iconic to the city.CityCat services operate from UQ St Lucia to Northshore Hamilton calling at West End, Guyatt Park, Regatta, Milton, North Quay, South Bank, QUT Gardens Point, Riverside, Howard Smith Wharves, Sydney Street, Mowbray Park, New Farm Park, Hawthorne, Bulimba, Teneriffe, Bretts Wharf and Apollo Road. Not all CityCat services stop all stops, with some peak time express services operating.

KittyCat services operate cross-river between the following locations:

Bulimba – Teneriffe Sydney Street – Dockside Holman Street – Riverside Maritime Museum – QUT Gardens Point

Taxis