June 13, 2014
Brisbane Bus Lines buses will continue servicing the South Burnett past June 30 when subsidies currently being provided by the South Burnett and Cherbourg councils expire – but travellers will have to swap to a train at Caboolture.
South Burnett Mayor Wayne Kratzmann announced this afternoon an agreement had been reached with the State Government and Translink to make the region’s bus service permanent.
The new service will operate from early August seven days a week between Murgon and the Caboolture Translink centre, leaving Murgon at 7:00am each morning and returning from Caboolture at 4:00pm every afternoon.
Passengers will change to a train at Caboolture to proceed to their final destination.
The Mayor said he recognised some people – especially the elderly – might find the change to a combined bus/rail service strange at first, but thought the new arrangement would prove better than the current one.
“The reality is that these days it’s not economically feasible to run a bus all the way from Murgon to the Roma Street railway station in Brisbane,” he said.
“But by avoiding the CBD and using Caboolture for a train change, the new service will probably turn out to be faster for most people.”
Brisbane Bus Lines has agreed to continue operating the existing service from June 30 until the new service starts in August – at their own cost – to ensure no interruption to transport arrangements.
For the first few months after the change, Translink will also arrange for their staff to meet the bus at Caboolture and direct passengers to waiting trains.
“This is designed to make the change as easy as possible for regular bus travellers,” the Mayor said.
“I’m very grateful to Translink for doing this.”
New timetables for the service will be distributed in a few weeks, and new arrangements will be made with businesses that use the bus service for freight transport, to ensure a smooth transition.
The South Burnett Regional Council will also give the Glendon Street bus depot a facelift
The deal to keep the bus link running came after several months of intense negotiations between the Mayor and the State Government.
Mayor Kratzmann paid tribute to Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney and local Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington for their assistance, as well as the Council’s Economic Development Manager Phil Harding.
He said everyone had worked very hard to ensure the South Burnett’s retained a public transport system to Brisbane.
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[UPDATED]
Congratulations Kratzie on sorting this issue for the South Burnett residents requiring this service.
Well done to all involved. Great to see compromise being reached.
Congratulations to the Brisbane Bus Line for continuing the existing service from June 30th until the new service starts in August at their own cost (a company with a heart). Country people are the forgotten people and have to beg for scraps from Government. So no congratulations are warranted to any further person or government.
This is a win for all who use this service and public participation in the defence of service cuts to regional communities.