Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday, Infrastructure Australia announced that the Brisbane Metro has been added to its high-priority list. The Brisbane Metro is the next piece of our city's transport jigsaw, and it helps solve the most critical bottlenecks that exist in our public transport network—the river crossing and passenger movements into the CBD. At 21 kilometres long, with one end at the RBWH at Herston in my electorate, the Brisbane Metro will get hundreds of buses out of the CBD and back into the suburbs. The suburbs, in turn, can get additional and more frequent services from the existing fleet. By getting the buses out of the congested CBD and off the river crossings, travel times can be slashed for commuters as well as other road users. For passengers, we're talking about a 30 per cent faster commute in the morning peak traffic, and as much as 50 per cent faster in the afternoon peak. That could amount to over an hour of travel time saved each week—time that I'm sure everyone would rather spend with their families.

Well done to the Brisbane City Council for their hard work on what is a compelling business case. The collaboration between different levels of government has been incredibly encouraging and productive, and I will certainly do my part and keep working hard to progress this project quickly. The Brisbane Metro is a great project for the great city, and I want Brisbane to remain the very best place in Australia to live, work, raise a family and do business. (Time expired)