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The Brisbane Tramways Trust experimented with providing bus services in the 1920s but these proved impractical due to mechanical unreliability and Brisbane's poor road surface quality. The first permanent bus services were introduced in 1940 as a supplement to Brisbane's tram services.
In 1948 the council municipalized a number of privately-run bus operators and expanded its own fleet of buses. The first tram lines to close were the Lower Edward Street to Gardens route, and the Upper Edward Street to Gregory Terrace route in 1947, the latter due to the very steep grades on that line. Diesel-engined buses initially replaced tram services on these lines, however these were replaced by Trolleybuses on 12 August 1951.
The council also intended to introduce a trolleybus service to the new University of Queensland campus at St Lucia, and purchased enough trolleybus chassis from the United Kingdom for the route. However, it was vigorously opposed by residents and the plan was abandoned. The council then found itself with surplus trolleybuses but no route on which to run them, so it decided to run the trolleybuses from Herston to Stanley Bridge, East Brisbane, commencing in 1952.
Several other trolleybus routes were subsequently established in the eastern suburbs. The first of these replaced a tram route, along Cavendish Road, in 1955. Other trolleybus routes to Seven Hills and Carina did not involve tram route closures.
The depot and workshops for the trolleybuses was located in Milton on Milton Road between Hale and Castlemaine Streets. The former depot was demolished to make way for the redeveloped Suncorp Stadium.
The tramway closure was notable for the speed with which it was carried out. Several hundred replacement buses were purchased from British vehicle manufacturer Leyland, at the time the largest single bus purchase in the world. The sudden acquisition of so many buses was to have repercussions in later years. Initially the Leyland Panther buses proved unreliable, and as a result, older front-engined mounted buses such as the Leyland Mk III Regals, dating from the 1940s, were retained well past their normal replacement date. Once the problems with the Panthers were ironed out, overall fleet numbers and maintenance requirements were reduced. Nevertheless, the fleet retained many older buses from the 1950s and early 1960s.
In 1975, the Whitlam Labor federal government made $80 million available to the Bjelke-Petersen National Party Queensland state government, intended to be passed on to Brisbane City Council for the purchase of new, replacement buses. The government refused to transfer the funds to the council, instead using the money to restore Parliament House and construct the Parliamentary Annexe building. As the replacement bus fleet aged, their maintenance requirements steadily increased, at a time when labour and spare parts costs had risen sharply. Further, as the tram replacement buses started to wear out at about the same time and needed replacement, the council was faced with another large capital outlay. Subsequently in 1976, the council was able to negotiate federal funding, enabling them to purchase Volvo B-59M buses, its first fleet acquisitions in seven years.
Patronage on the buses continued to decline, despite the best efforts of the Department of Transport hampered by rising fuel and labour costs, together with tightening budgets, leading to further cuts in services. An ageing bus fleet, some of which had been in service since the 1940s, made the service increasingly unattractive. A further hindrance was the council's own aggressively pro-car 1964 City Plan, requiring all developments to include car parking, but did not require the provision of any facilities that might advantage public transport. By the 1980s, the decline in patronage was halted, although costs continued to outstrip ticket revenue.
To improve accessibility, in 1996, low-floor buses started to roll out with the Queensland Government providing financial assistance to bus operators for the purchase of accessible buses. Brisbane Transport's first low-floor buses was delivered in 1997.
Bus stops is a designated place where buses stop for passengers to board or leave a bus. There are four bus stop types which is used throughout Queensland. The type of bus stop used is depended on the number of passengers that will use the bus stop. These bus stop types include regular, intermediate, premium and signature.[1] 'Regular' bus stops is used for low frequency bus services with low passenger volumes and are located in outer suburban or non-urban areas.[2] 'Intermediate' bus stops is used by moderate frequency bus services with moderate passenger volumes and are located in suburban areas.[3] 'Premium' bus stops serviced by high frequency bus services with moderate to high passenger volumes and are located at major attractions (e.g. shopping centres). Premium bus stops may be located near bus priority measures such as bus queue jumps, bus lanes or transit lanes.[4] 'Signature' bus stops are located on busways, interchanges and streets in Brisbane CBD. The bus stop is used by high frequency bus services with moderate to high passenger volumes. These bus stops have adequate space for indented or off-road bus bays and standing room for three or more buses.[5]
Located on every bus stop is signage called the 'bus stop marker' which is used to indicate where the front door of the bus is located while the bus is at the stop.[6] There are three types of signages: Regular bus stops uses the 'flag pole';[2] Intermediate bus stops uses the 'j-pole';[3] both Premium and Signature bus stops use the 'blade'.[4][5]
TransLink operates a number of bus-only roads in South East Queensland. The busway allows buses to travel around without encountering car traffic.[7]
The first busway was the South East Busway which was put into service on 23 October 2000, running from Woolloongabba to the Brisbane City.[7]
The Northern Busway starts at the end of the South East Busway. It then proceeds north-west to the King George Square Bus Station. The Northern Busway then surfaces near Roma Street railway station and follows the alignment of the main city train lines.
The busway then continues north alongside the Exhibition railway line and then north-east through the Victoria Park Golf Complex, with stations adjacent to the Normanby Fiveways, the QUT campus at Kelvin Grove and the Royal Children's Hospital in the suburb of Herston. The busway then turns left and on to a bridge structure alongside the RBWH precinct over Butterfield Street. In the future, the busway will continue to Bracken Ridge, via Windsor, Lutwyche, Kedron, Chermside and Aspley. At Kedron, it will be integrated with the Airport Link project, a new underground road to the Brisbane Airport.[8]
The first section of the Northern Busway opened in February 2004 had one station, QUT Kelvin Grove, later Normanby and RCH Herston opened.[9][10] In August 2009, the first stage of the Northern Busway extension, Herston to Windsor, opened.[11]
New depots were constructed at Carina and Toowong, with modern workshops also constructed at the Toowong depot with the former tram workshops at Milton decommissioned.
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