Public Transport in Brisbane

邵洁

Two weeks ago, I came to Brisbane. On the first day, my homestay showed Jane and me the way to the university. On the way to the bus stop, I found something on the road different from in China. The drivers in the transport drove on the left and when we crossed the road, we must look right first, then left and when we crossed the road, the drivers drove very slowly. They let us go first. That’s really different from what we are used to. I felt so interested. When the bus arrived, all the passengers waited in line to get on the bus and they kept some distance from others. They never worried, just waited very patiently. I decided to do research into public transport in Brisbane.

Public transport in Brisbane is excellent.  When we arrived in Brisbane on the first day, we were given a travel pass. We can use this ticket in every transport but free. There are many forms of transportation available - the Trainlink network, buses, trains and ferries.

Buses

There are many buses that run in and around Brisbane. Within Brisbane city zones, most buses operate from 5.30 am to 11.00 pm, Monday to Friday with extra services during peak hours (7 - 9 am and 4 - 6 pm ). There are reduced services on weekends and public holidays. Except for the ‘Hail & Ride’ buses, drivers will only pick up and let passengers off at designated bus stops.  You need to push the black rubbers that runs along the inside of the bus or the red buttons on hand rails.

There are four kinds of buses. The first one is a council bus loop service that circles the Brisbane CBD ( Central Business District ). The loop stops at several destinations including Central Station, Queen Street Mall, City Botanic Gardens, Riverside Centre, QUT and King George Square. I found some interesting things. The streets were called by many kings and queens’ names like Ann Street and George Street. The latitude is female’s name. The longitude is male’s name. In the first week, we always got lost. We didn’t know the way home. We always mixed the streets’ names. But we remembered our homestay’s address. The people on the street told us how to find our way and asked us to remember the street’s name. When we got on the bus, we also asked the drivers. They were all friendly and helpful to us and gave us the answer. I really appreciated it.

The second one is Nightlink Bus Services. Nightlink is the night bus service that runs on Fridays and Saturdays. These services are helping improve safely in Brisbane’s inner City and allow patrons to get home after a night out.

There is a City Sights bus tour, too. It can take us through the Brisbane CBD, Southbank area, Chinatown Spring Hill and Milton. We’ll stop at historical and cultural tourists attractions along the way. At weekends we sometimes take this kind of bus to travel. But it is too expensive.

There is another kind of bus called free QUT Shuttle –bus, no 391 between GP & KG campus every 15 minutes during semester and every half hour at other times. But you need to show your student ID to the driver. The bus leaves from Alice Street Gardens Point, and Victoria Park Rd Kelvin Grave campus. If we go to Botanic Gardens, we can take this kind of bus. It’s easy for students to the city.

Trains

But for us, we never have to pay for our transport. We have a travel pass. It can be used for a lot of transport. Three weeks ago, we went to Sunshine Coast. My classmates told us we could take a train. In Brisbane, the train is a kind of leisure transport. If you have much time, you can take a train. It is very wonderful and comfortable. So I wanted to try it. On that day, we bought the ticket to Thronborough. We took the train, then the bus to Mooloolaba. We only used one ticket for the train and bus.  On the train, we found very few people. It was very cold and very clean. We watched the sceneries along the journey through the window. It’s very luxurious and leisurely and I met a college student there. She told me a lot of things about the trains.

Queensland Rail’s CityTrain network includes 145 stations that cover south east Queensland. Queensland Railways (QR) operates a suburban rail services which runs from approximately 6 am - 11 pm. We may buy our ticket before getting on the train and there are penalties for travelling without a ticket or for using an incorrect ticket. Tickets can be purchased from a Ticket Vending Machines take coins only and issue change.

Ferries

The Brisbane City Council also operates ferry services, and electronic tickets can be used on these. You may want to get to your destination by cruising on the Brisbane river on a ferry. There are generally two types of ferries available in Brisbane - CityCat and CityFerry. CityCats are twin-hulled catamarans that guide across the water. It is a high speed ferry running the length of the city river boundary, from St Lucia (University of Queensland ) Bretts Wharf, Hamilton. CityCats operate 5.50 am until 10.30 pm every day. CitFerries are generally smaller boats and make more stops than CityCats. They run back and forth across the inner city part of the river connecting the areas between North Quay and Mowbay Park. Both CityCat and CityFerry stop at the QUT Gardens Point pontoon (400 metres from Gardens Point campus ) We also can get more information about the Brisbane River from Riverside Ferry information centre, on-board CityCats and CitFerries.

The City Library and Customer Centre, South Bank and others are river-based business. But in Redcliff, I found another ship. It is called Seawatch Cruising Ship. I asked if we could catch the ship. The captain said we must book the ticket two weeks in advance, because they should prepare the food and drink for the passengers. Every day the ship sets off at 10 o’clock in the morning and comes back at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. The whole day the passengers must stay in the ship. It is $99 a day. We thought the price was too expensive. So we decided to give up this idea.

Bus, train and ferry fares are dependent on the number of zones travelled. To calculate your fare, look at the zones you cross during your journey. For example, if you were travelling from zone 4 to zone 1, then by train or by bus, then travelled from zone 1 to zone 2 by ferry, the journey will be a four zone trip (4-1+ 1)  and would cost you $3:40. Tickets are much cheaper if you pre-purchase. Some convenient places to buy tickets are: QUT Bookshop, Newsagents in the city and suburbs, Myer Centre bus station, and BCC Customer Service Centre. Rail tickets are also available from the Student Guild Helpdesk on your campus. It is very different form that in China especially ferries. In China ferries can be only used for carrying the goods not for people. Only Cruising ship can carry people for travelling. That’s really interesting. I appreciate the public transport in Brisbane.

the bus station (汽车站)                                                the train station （火车站）

Jie Shao

Helie Middle School, Wuxi. Jiangsu. China

Tel: 86 13961755945 / 86 510 8287550