Lord Mayor Campbell Newman today unveiled his 250th bus and confirmed he was on track to deliver a record 500 new buses this term.
The 250th bus was the first of its type to be built exclusively at the Brisbane City Council’s brand new bus factory at Eagle Farm.
It brings to about 580 the number of buses delivered by the Lord Mayor since 2004.
The Lord Mayor said the new bus build facility was good news for people waiting for Brisbane buses, of which around 1 per cent was usually overcrowded each month.
There were about 72 million trips on Brisbane City Council buses last year.
“Our buses are carrying more people than the entire southeast Queensland rail network which is why I have committed record funding for buses and bus depots both this term and in my previous term as Lord Mayor,” he said.
“We’re right on track to reach our target of 500 new buses over four years and this will only be enhanced by our new multi-million dollar bus factory, which can produce up to three new buses each week.”
The Lord Mayor put about 330 buses on the road in his first term in office and last year took the number of buses in Council’s fleet to over 1000 for the first time.
He also increased the percentage of buses with air conditioning from around 36 per cent of buses to almost 90 per cent. Annual bus trips have increased by 24 million since 2004.
Council teamed up with bus builders Volgren to deliver the $19 million Eagle Farm bus build facility last November, after a successful eight-year partnership building buses at Council’s old factory at Toowong.
Cr Newman said the 2.65 hectare TradeCoast Central facility had the capacity to deliver 150 new buses a year for Brisbane City Council and other bus operators.
He said the original bus factory was moved from its makeshift home at Toowong so that it would be closer to key trade routes and away from residential neighbourhoods.
Council’s contribution to the partnership was $6.7 million in land. Volgren constructed and now manages the facility, which uses low-emission technology to minimise its impact on the community. All operations have now relocated to the Eagle Farm factory.
Last year the Lord Mayor also delivered Brisbane’s first bus depot in 15 years and announced the sites for another two depots; one at Sherwood in Brisbane’s southwest and one at Eagle Farm on Brisbane’s north.
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