Brisbane Transportation Tips by tiabunna

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: The Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council have had the initiative to link the various forms of transport in the city area into an integrated system, where you can buy one ticket for the day (or week) and use it on all transport systems – trains, buses and ferries. As this is written, the cost for a daily ticket for zones 1 and 2 (which covers all my tips, other than “off the beaten path”) will cost you $5.20A . A similar weekly ticket will be $20.80A.

The website I have listed below gives all the information you are likely to need for travelling around Brisbane. It even has a trip planner – though I rather feel that will be more use to locals who understand the details than for visitors, who I doubt could be expected to understand the somewhat summarised details.

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Website: http://www.translink.qld.gov.au/

'Mode': TO
Category: Airplane
Getting TO/AROUND: Airports don’t excite most people, only the destinations to which they lead. Some are better than others though. Some are subject to curfews and so on.

Brisbane is fortunate to have the newest airport of all major Australian cities: it opened as recently as 1988 and replaced the (adjacent) Eagle Farm airport. There is scope to extend both its runways and terminals, to avoid future congestion – quite important, in view of the large traffic increases. The International Terminal is currently being expanded (see photo).

For travellers, a key consideration at Brisbane is that it is not subject to curfews, as is Sydney – this can be an important issue for international flight schedules. Domestically it also is the base for VirginBlue Airline and is well served by both Jetstar, Qantas and regional airlines, and has large modern terminals, so you can travel onwards from here to most Australian destinations with little difficulty. The airport is adjacent to the Gateway Motorway and a rail link provides a connection between terminals (see next tip) and from the airport to the City and to the Gold Coast.

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Website: http://www.bne.com.au/content/home.asp?

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Train
Getting TO/AROUND: As with quite a few Australian airports, Brisbane has separate international and domestic terminals. These are separated by a distance of about 1km and movement between the two is by a rail service called the “skytrain” (ie the train travels on elevated tracks).

From both terminals, a lift and escalators connects via walkways to the train platforms – though you might care to note that the lifts are somewhat inadequate when flights arrive and many passengers with bags wish to travel. If you have and can show a Qantas international boarding pass, I understand that the train trip is provided free: if, like us, your international trip is not with Qantas, the fare is $4A for the trip, which seems rather pricey for one km! The alternative would be a taxi, but as I gather that costs about $10, you probably are better off staying with the trains, which run at about an eight minute frequency. Of course, if Brisbane is your destination, the train can take you to the central city – or further on to the Gold Coast.

Main photo: The “skytrain”
Second photo: The escalators to “skytrain” level
Third photo: From the walkway, looking toward the platform
Fourth photo: The distant international terminal (the grey building behind the white/red building, to the right of the light pole).

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