It’s been talked about for years, but Brisbane’s third CityGlider still hasn’t arrived

A high-frequency bus route linking Stones Corner with Northshore Hamilton was supposed to be running this year – but it has yet to materialise, despite millions of dollars being poured into the idea over half a decade.

In June 2021, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner announced the Gold CityGlider, allocating $94,000 for a business case.

The proposed route was expected to travel through the CBD, Queen’s Wharf, Fortitude Valley and Bowen Hills, along Kingsford Smith Drive to Hamilton, with services every 10 minutes during weekday peaks and every 15 minutes off-peak.

It would join the Blue CityGlider, which runs every five minutes in peak times and connects West End to Newstead, and the Maroon CityGlider, which operates every 10 minutes in peak and connects Ashgrove to Coorparoo.

Brisbane City Council’s The Race to Gold: Brisbane’s Games Transport Legacy document, from 2024, said the strategic assessment was complete, approvals and funding would happen in 2025, and “service implementation” was due to happen in 2026.

At the time, the council was seeking $13 million in funding.

However, an unreleased draft of the 2026 version of the Race to Gold document shows state government approval and delivery is now slated for 2027, after detailed planning in 2026-27.

That draft has since been played down as an “advocacy document” by the lord mayor.

The route would originally have linked Games venues, including The Gabba and RNA Showgrounds to the future athletes’ village at Northshore Hamilton, but the LNP state government changed Olympic venues last year.

The service was expected to be scalable for the Games, with stops, destinations and frequency adjusted to meet demand.

In June 2022, the council submitted the business case to Translink for consideration.

In the 2023-24 budget, $20 million in council funding was allocated over four years for the Gold CityGlider, with co-funding from the Queensland government.

The 2024-25 and 2025-26, council budgets also mentioned the Gold CityGlider, but funding breakdowns became more opaque, and the project was mentioned as one of several public transport initiatives delivered under the headline “Provide bus and Metro services and maintenance”.

In last year’s state budget, the Queensland government confirmed it was partnering with the Brisbane City Council to establish the Gold CityGlider.

Schrinner has continued to confirm his commitment to the Gold CityGlider, including in a Facebook post in April 2025, and on Threads in March 2026.

“The Gold CityGlider is still happening! Plans are progressing to roll it out in partnership with the Crisafulli government,” he said in a post.

A spokeswoman for his office accused the former Labor state government of ignoring the council’s proposal for the Gold CityGlider for years.

“The Crisafulli government has come to the table with a commitment to fund our Gold CityGlider plan,” she said.

“We’re currently working with the state government to acquire the vehicles needed to make this happen.”

In 2007, a council taskforce investigated a new “mass transit network”, with a West End to Newstead line and a Hamilton to Woolloongabba line among its suggestions.

More details about the first CityGlider route, between Newstead and West End, were revealed in June 2008, and it launched in April 2010 as a go-card-only service designed for fast boarding and high frequency.

The Maroon CityGlider was announced in January 2012 and launched in February 2013.

Labor’s council opposition leader, Jared Cassidy, criticised the LNP for “stalling progress on our public transport network”.

“Brisbane is losing two weeks per year stuck in traffic across four peak hours of congestion per day,” he said.

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