The Department of Transport and Main Roads has announced that more peak hour buses and trains are to be rolled out next month to support social distancing on South East Queensland public transport.
The Department said this would result in an extra 960 buses and 105 trains going into service between Monday and Friday, from 10 August.
Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Mark Bailey said public transport patronage was down about 50 per cent compared to the same time last year, but numbers were expected to climb as university classes resumed and offices re-opened.
“Public transport is safe,” Mr Bailey said.
“We have no community transmission here and active cases are in single digits, so our buses, trains, trams and ferries are safe,” he said.
“We expect more people to return to public transport over the next few weeks, but we don’t expect those numbers to immediately climb back to where they were before COVID-19 arrived.”
Even so, he said, passengers should still spread out as much as they could, and the extra services would help that.
“This boost to morning and afternoon peak services will add almost 58,000 extra seats on buses and trains,” Mr Bailey said.
“The plan is to roll out the extra buses until the end of the school year and then assess patronage levels.
“If the demand is there, we will consider if these bus services should become permanent for the longer term,” he said.
