The Northern Transitway is a $53 million public transport project we committed to at the last election. During the first year of operation, the project will deliver up
to a 50 per cent reduction in bus travel times for certain trips during peak evening and morning times
and up to a 40 per cent reduction in bus travel times for certain trips during off-peak times.
It was disappointing to read this week that the LNP council is opposing this project on the north
side—a project they are not contributing a single cent to, mind you. Their colleagues in the state
opposition have also said they want to revisit the project if they get back into office. We know what
revisit means when the LNP are talking about public transport projects. It means they want to cut it.
They oppose Cross River Rail and they did not commit to any new rail or busway projects when they
were last in office. The less said about the BaT Tunnel the better.
They have no real solutions to congestion on the north side. They are just opposed to this. The
member for Chatsworth said just last week that the LNP, if it won office next year, would revisit the
project. The same party that scrapped the full busway to Bracken Ridge in 2012 is now also going to
scrap the Northern Transitway.
Going back to 2012, what ended up being their solution to congestion on the north side? I quote
from a July 2012 Australasian bus and coach industry article. It states—
The alignment of future stages of Brisbane’s the northern busway will now follow the arterial Gympie Road ...
...
Rather than resume houses, Emerson will push a path that uses the Gympie Road corridor ...
It goes on—
Emerson has asked the transport department to provide short-to-medium term options to improve bus travel along the section of
Gympie Road between Kedron and Chermside—including bus priority.
I say that again: including bus priority. The former transport minister was directly quoted in the article
as saying—
Using Gympie Road as the area’s major transport corridor is a sensible decision.
Who was the assistant minister for transport when these decisions were made on the corridor?
It was the current shadow minister for transport, the member for Chatsworth. The member for
Chatsworth now wants to revisit a project that he helped develop. It was a route drawn up by the LNP—
solutions proposed by the LNP themselves when they were in office.
When it comes to the crunch, when construction is about to commence, they change their tune
and decide that they want to scrap the project. The LNP have never seen a public transport project they
did not want to scrap, whether it was Cross River Rail, Gold Coast Light Rail or the Northern TransitWay.

The LNP simply do not understand public transport, and they simply do not understand public transport
users. They dislike public transport so much that not only do they oppose our public transport projects
but they are now opposing their own.