The Brisbane City Council is facing growing calls to rebrand the new electric by-articulated bus system to something that doesn’t symbolise a traditional mass transit rail project.
When people think of a metro, they think of the Sydney Metro, London’s famous Underground, Singapore’s MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) or Hong Kong’s MTR (Mass Transit Railway).
When international or domestic visitors come to Brisbane and discover that we refer to a Metro as a “banana bus,” it could potentially lead to international embarrassment, especially in the lead up to the 2032 Olympics.
Initially proposed in 2016, the Brisbane Metro was envisioned as a genuine underground metro system, drawing inspiration from the rubber-tyre lines of the Paris Metro.
If implemented along the existing busways, the original proposal would have completely taken over the South Eastern and Northern Busways. However, after transport modelling revealed suburban routes using the busways would be required to terminate at each metro station, rather than running full journeys, and in order to prevent capacity loss, the original plan was changed to what we have now.
The Brisbane Metro fleet of 60 bi-articulated electric buses, manufactured by HESS holds 150 passengers comfortably and 170 passengers in event mode. The Gold Coast’s GLink tram Flexity 2, by Bombardier holds almost double with 309 passengers.
In stark contrast, the Sydney Metro employs Alstom’s state-of-the-art automated Metropolis rolling stock, capable of accommodating a whopping 1,100 passengers in its 6-car configuration. This is unquestionably a metro system, vastly different from a 170-passenger bus.
It’s regrettable that the Brisbane City Council persists in using an outdated name for a project that has clearly evolved beyond its original metro concept, and this inconsistency is increasingly embarrassing.
For all intents and purposes, the Brisbane Metro project now represents an ingenious approach to enhancing the capacity of the current busways, marking it as the natural evolution of the South East and Northern Busways. It stands as a highly beneficial infrastructure endeavor that Brisbane undoubtedly requires. Nevertheless, the consensus among many is that the project’s name is terrible.
A recent poll by the Brisbane Times revealed an overwhelming 72% of 2,415 voters thought the BERT was a better name.
Brisbane’s RAIL Back on Track lobby spokesperson Robert Dow told the Brisbane Times the best alternative is the Busway Electric Rapid Transit (BERT), and Brisbane Development wholeheartedly agrees.
The name has a similar ring to San Francisco’s BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). While nowhere near the capacity of San Francisco’s BART system, Brisbane’s BERT is an honest name that would celebrate and give credibility to the electric busway system which is actually world leading for what it is.
However, the existing name complicates the situation, and Council is still reluctant to consider a renaming, even though rebranding costs may escalate once the project is completed.
Preserving the name ‘Metro’ is also essential for the day when the Queensland Government finally takes the action it needs to take and provides us with a full-fledged metro line, such as the mooted Brisbane Subway East-West Line, which would traverse the areas experiencing significant density growth in inner-Brisbane.
I’m all in for it to be renamed BERT … Brisbane Electric Rapid Transit
Seriously who cares about the name… It has taken 7 years to build something along an existing busway… And it still isn’t actually built. I love it no matter the name, but what will really embarrass Queensland with international visitors is our inability to build ANYTHING at all… please start building and keep building way more public transportation. You can name it anything you want.
Maybe we can build a subterranean system and call it Council Underground Network Transportation.
I say we go all in on banana bus. Paint them yellow, give them smiley faces. Brisbane needs to chill more and have fun.
Love your idea! I can see the smiley banana buses in my head already! Makes me happy
Banana Bus has a nice wring to it considering our city and state. Keep it simple. BERT is to technical.
Best idea yet!
Love this idea! And yellow is the perfect colour and will also help with people who are vision impaired.
This is an excellent idea! Best all-rounder.
Most people already know these bendy-buses (and they ARE buses) as “Banana Buses”. Brisbane is a sub-tropical city and bananas fit into that aesthetic. Yellow is a vibrant, joyful colour which adds more character to an already vibrant city, and really captures the “Sunshine City” vibe. Yellow is also part of Brisbane’s official colours. Yellow is high-visibility, which is excellent for low- and vision-impaired people, as well as making the buses extremely visible to other road users, and also patrons who can easily see the bus coming down the street.
The LNP in charge have really lost any sense of fun or flavour, and are really taking the whole “modern city” thing to mean bland, muted corporate colours. Use yellow!
I love this idea! How can we put this forward?!
Brisbane is the name they are never going to forget.
Our population will thrive during the games and probably after as well. Our growth is promised.
Roads weren’t built in a day so don’t expect miracles
It will happen.
Agree with the post above. Build public transport faster. We’re fasting growing city in Australia I believe, yet probably the slowest at building infrastructure.
Also, the 60MB limit on the free wifi on our trains shows how behind the times we are, that’s about enough to download the cookies for the first webpage you visit.
I agree: Brisbane Electric Rapid Transit (BERT).
As a nod to the Simpson’s…I vote for Bort.
Sorry, were you talking to me?
No. My son is also named Bort.
How about Council Underground Network Transportation?
Those with hands on Brisbane’s leavers need to get over the “what will others think syndrome !
Be ourselves and call it any name you want but get on and build more infrastructure especially bridges or stop the immigration now. .
Good thinking…. The carpers and whiners are not worth listening to.
Southbound traffic both public transport and the M1 are a disaster eastern side of M1 needs better the growth corridors of eastern side of m1 logan and redlands you have to drive along m1 even with public transport
I agree, rename it to BERT, the community has spoken. Do it, c’mon do it.
One name that comes to mind is WOFTAM.
So $2 Billion just replacing buses on existing busway with electrified models? … meh… a tokenistic emissions solution compared to what needs to be done – expanding busways into growth centres and eliminate car trips in their thousands … and to cope with the extra 2 million ppl.
I suggest we call it B-link.
Memorable and suggesting speed. An eyeball logo would top it off nicely.
Jonas
One day Brisbane will actually need to build a real metro, so maybe save Bert for that, as it won’t be confusing at all!
Maybe some wider info needed by the contributors on the innovative HESS system. This system is accepted in more places than just Brisbane and addresses the move from costly digging up of roads etc.. in fact Australian cities are just nor dense enough for a fully functioning metro in the European or South American sense.
Sydney’s has grown in the basis that the existing railway gradient from the north west into Chatswood was too steep for the existing rolling stock as well as the need to have transport integrated into the rail network. It’s essentially a single deck train with overhead wires and nothing like third rail systems of established metro networks. It’s better to compare it with the RER system of Paris which is not part of the Paris metro system. Let’s not get caught up with semantics when in fact, Brisbane is putting a very bold foot forward in addressing environmental and transport needs.
It needs to be True to label