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The Brisbane Busways: The City's Fastest Hidden Network
Trains that happen to have tyres. Here's how the busways work.
16 June 2026 · 7 min read
Most cities run their buses in the same traffic as everyone else. Brisbane built them their own roads. The busways are a network of bus-only motorways, complete with proper stations and even underground platforms beneath the CBD, and they are the reason a bus across Brisbane can be faster than the car next to it stuck at the lights.
If you have never used one, they can feel like a secret. So here is the whole network in plain English: what a busway actually is, the three lines and where they go, the new electric Brisbane Metro that now glides along them, and how to ride the lot for fifty cents. When you are ready, the trip planner will route you onto the right busway for your exact trip.
What a busway actually is
A busway is exactly what it sounds like: a road that only buses are allowed on. No cars, no trucks, no traffic. Picture a small motorway with its own stations, and buses that pull in and out of platforms the way trains pull into a station. Because nothing else can clog it, a bus on the busway keeps moving while ordinary traffic crawls.
Brisbane was the first city in Australia to build one. The South East Busway's first section opened in September 2000 to move the crowds for the Sydney Olympics: the Games were down south, but the football tournament was spread across the country and several matches were played up here at the Gabba. It worked so well the network kept growing. Today there are three busways covering roughly 29 kilometres, with 28 stations and a string of tunnels, carrying about 70 million trips a year.
The clever part is the city centre. Instead of dumping every bus onto George Street, two of the busiest busway stations, King George Square and Roma Street, are underground, linked by tunnel beneath the CBD. You ride down an escalator to a platform, much like a subway, and the bus arrives below the streets.
The three lines and where they go
The network fans out from that underground CBD core in three directions:
- South East Busway: the flagship. It runs south from the Cultural Centre through South Bank, Mater Hill, Woolloongabba (the Gabba), Buranda, Griffith University and Eight Mile Plains, on towards Rochedale and Springwood.
- Northern Busway: heads north from the city through the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital and Herston, then Windsor and Lutwyche, out to Kedron.
- Eastern Busway: branches off near Buranda and runs through Boggo Road towards the University of Queensland at UQ Lakes, and across to Langlands Park in the inner south east.
The flagship: the South East Busway
If you only ever use one busway, it will be this one. The South East Busway is one of the busiest stretches of road in Queensland, carrying more than 150,000 passenger trips a day, and it is the spine that links the CBD to South Bank, the hospitals at Mater Hill and PA, the universities, and the southern suburbs.
It is also the fast way to the Gabba on game day. Cultural Centre, South Bank, Mater Hill and Woolloongabba are all busway stations, so you can roll straight in from half the city without going near a car park. For a stadium crowd, that is the difference between home in twenty minutes and an hour in a queue.
Buranda is the one to remember if you are changing lines. It is where the Eastern Busway joins the South East Busway, and it sits right beside Buranda train station, so you can swap between busway and rail in a couple of minutes.
The new bit: the electric Brisbane Metro
In 2025 the busways got their biggest upgrade in years: the Brisbane Metro. Despite the name it is not a train. It is a fleet of long, fully battery-electric vehicles that run along the existing busways at high frequency, a bit like a tram and a bus rolled into one. Each one is about 24 metres long, carries up to 170 people, and tops up its battery in under six minutes using flash chargers at the ends of the line.
There are two Metro routes. The M2 launched first, on 28 January 2025, running between UQ Lakes and the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. The M1 followed on 30 June 2025, running the length of the South East Busway from Eight Mile Plains all the way to Roma Street. Both glide across the car-free Victoria Bridge between South Bank and the city, so the Metro and the buses get a clear run while the river crossing stays calm.
For you as a passenger the Metro mostly just means more buses, more often, and quieter electric ones at that. You do not need a special ticket or a different tap. It is the same network, the same fare, simply turbocharged on the busiest corridors.
How to ride it, and why it beats driving
There is nothing special to learn. Tap on with your go card, phone or bank card when you board, tap off when you get out, and it costs a flat fifty cents like every other trip on the network (here is our 50¢ fares explainer if you want the detail). Busway services run frequently across the day, and the marquee stations have real-time screens telling you how long until the next one.
The reason locals quietly love the busways is speed. In peak hour a busway service sails past the gridlock on the parallel roads, and with no parking to find or pay for at the other end, the door-to-door time often wins outright. Add the fifty cent fare and the maths is hard to argue with.
The easiest way in is to let the trip planner do the thinking. Put in where you are and where you are going, and it will tell you which busway station to start from, which service to catch and when the next one leaves. If you are heading home late, our guide to the last train and bus home covers the after-dark timetable too.
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Plan your trip →Common questions
What is a busway?
A bus-only road with its own stations, separate from normal traffic, so buses keep moving while cars sit in jams. Brisbane has three of them, and two CBD stations (King George Square and Roma Street) are underground.
Is the Brisbane Metro a train?
No. Despite the name, the Metro is a fleet of long battery-electric vehicles that run along the existing busways at high frequency. There are two routes: M1 (Eight Mile Plains to Roma Street) and M2 (UQ Lakes to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital).
How much does it cost to ride the busway?
A flat 50 cents, the same as every trip on the network. Tap on and off with your go card, phone or card. There is no separate busway or Metro fare.
Which busway stations are underground?
King George Square and Roma Street, the two CBD stations on the Inner Northern Busway, sit underground and are linked by tunnel beneath the city. You ride down to a platform much like a subway.
How is a busway different from a normal bus route?
A normal bus shares the road with all the traffic. A busway service spends part of its trip on a bus-only road with no other vehicles, which is why it can be much faster in peak hour. Many routes use the busway for the busy middle of the journey and ordinary streets at the ends.
Which busway do I take for the Gabba or South Bank?
The South East Busway. South Bank, Mater Hill and Woolloongabba (the Gabba) are all stations on it, a few minutes apart, so it is the quick way in for an event or a day at the cultural precinct.