On a Tuesday earlier this month, Translink recorded a peak daily patronage record of 527,048 trips on the South East Queensland network since the start of the pandemic.
Minister for transport and main roads Mark Bailey announced the 9 August peak, noting patronage data for the week ending 14 August 2022 was above 73%.
This figure was higher than pre-pandemic travel across bus, ferry, light rail and heavy rail combined, Butler said.
“From the figures, we can see that light rail on the Gold Coast continues to be a strong performer, which customers returning to the G at higher rates than other modes of transport,” the minister said.
“We are continuing to invest in public transport at record amounts, to provide people with easy and convenient public transport access.”
In the first months of the pandemic, Queensland rail commuter numbers dropped to as low as 20% of previous passenger numbers. A comparable dip in numbers occurred during the Omicron wave in January and February of 2022.
The last high for most trips on Queensland’s public transport was 521,343 on 10 March 2021.
The numbers reflect an uptick in commuter use of Queensland’s public transport network and the government is keen to encourage demand growth with plans for a more ‘reliable, safe, and accessible’ system across the state.
“It’s been a challenging time for everyone and we recognise there has been a shift in how they travel. However, Translink is continuing to adapt to meet the public transport needs of Queenslanders,” Bailey said.
“It’s important to remember that COVID-19 remains prevalent in the community and wearing a mask on public transport is a crucial defence against it.”
The ‘fairer fares’ incentive program has also boosted public use of the state transport system with cheaper tickets for off-peak travel, commuter concession-holders and an ‘eight and half price’ scheme.
According to the minister, the scheme had saved travellers more than $241 million since 2016.
A pipeline of investment and opportunity was also included in the government’s SEQ Rail Connect document, he added, pointing to more than thirty station projects across the network which would create a more accessible system for people living with a disability and prompt others to bring their bicycles and e-scooters on peak trains.
“We will continue to back money-saving initiatives like this to make public transport more attractive,” Bailey said.
“We’re not just building Cross River Rail, we’re building a new network. There are stations across the network either in the planning, procurement or delivery phase that will be fully disability compliant including stations associated with Cross River Rail, Transport Oriented Developments and Queensland Rail’s station accessibility upgrade program,” he said.
To support even greater numbers of commuters Translink has increased cleaning of the trains, but on additional train and bus services, and released the service capacity tracker.
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