Brisbane’s bus patronage reached 5.7 million last month – the most ever recorded for June and nearly 400,000 people more than the same month last year, Public and Active Transport Chairman Jane Prentice said today.
The 5,715,290 passengers who caught a Brisbane Transport bus last month surpassed the figure of 5,320,526 recorded in June 2008, an increase of 394,764 (7.4 per cent).
It also beat the previous June record of 5,478,536, which was set in 2006.
Cr Prentice said the new June record showed Brisbane commuters were increasingly turning to Brisbane City Council’s bus fleet as their primary mode of transport.
“Buses are simply a much more attractive option for commuters now than they were before Campbell Newman was elected Lord Mayor in 2004,” she said.
“Thanks to the Lord Mayor’s record investment, Brisbane buses are now more comfortable, more reliable and increasingly the preferred mode of public transport for Brisbane commuters.”
Cr Prentice said despite the record patronage, the number of buses reporting full actually dropped last month, demonstrating that Council was successfully catering for record growth.
Of the 210,461 journeys in June, a total of 1259 (0.6 per cent) services reported full at one point during their route, which was down from 1956 in May and 2057 in April. Of those, 78.5 per cent (988) occurred on routes with a waiting time of less than 20 minutes for the next bus.
It was also a 16 per cent decrease from the 1499 full loads that were reported in June, 2008.
“In the 2007/08 financial year, Brisbane City Council buses carried 67.6 million and that rose to an incredible 72,459,182 in 2008/09,” Cr Prentice said.
Lord Mayor Campbell Newman put a record 337 new buses on the road during his first term, which will increase to an additional 500 in his second term.
The Lord Mayor earlier this year launched Brisbane’s 1000th bus at the official opening of Brisbane City Council’s new $56 million Willawong bus depot and turned the sod at a new bus building facility at Eagle Farm.
Cr Prentice said she and the Lord Mayor were determined to meet the increasing demand for bus services, brought on better services and newer, more comfortable buses.
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