{"id":70622,"date":"2014-06-12T23:17:11","date_gmt":"2014-06-12T13:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=70622"},"modified":"2020-11-30T13:53:45","modified_gmt":"2020-11-30T03:53:45","slug":"bus-service-back-on-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/06\/12\/bus-service-back-on-track\/","title":{"rendered":"Bus Service Back On Track"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Brisbane Bus Lines’ coach service from Murgon has been made permanent after a deal was reached today between the Council, the State Government and Translink<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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South Burnett Mayor Wayne Kratzmann (Photo: SBRC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

June 13, 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Passengers will change to a train at Caboolture to proceed to their final destination.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“This is designed to make the change as easy as possible for regular bus travellers,” the Mayor said.<\/p>\n

“I’m very grateful to Translink for doing this.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The South Burnett Regional Council will also give the Glendon Street bus depot a facelift<\/p>\n

The deal to keep the bus link running came after several months of intense negotiations between the Mayor and the State Government.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

He said everyone had worked very hard to ensure the South Burnett’s retained a public transport system to Brisbane.<\/p>\n

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