King George Square busway station

King George Square busway station is located in Brisbane, Australia serving the Brisbane central business district. It is located beneath King George Square and marks the start of the Northern Busway. The station has twelve stops on two platforms; access to these platforms is via an underground concourse which can be accessed from Ann Street or Adelaide Street. Passengers wait behind automatic doors on the stop that is assigned to their bus. It opened on 19 May 2008.

King George Square
LocationKing George Square, Brisbane
Coordinates27.468603°S 153.024136°E / -27.468603; 153.024136
Owned byDepartment of Transport & Main Roads
Operated byBrisbane Transport
Line(s)Northern Busway
Platforms2
Bus stands12
Construction
Structure typeUnderground
Bicycle facilitiesKing George Square Cycle Centre
Disabled accessYes
Other information
Station code010781 (platform 1A)
010783 (platform 1B)
010785 (platform 1C)
010787 (platform 1D)
010789 (platform 1E)
010791 (platform 1F)
010780 (platform 2A)
010782 (platform 2B)
010784 (platform 2C)
010786 (platform 2D)
010788 (platform 2E)
010790 (platform 2F)
Fare zonego card 1
WebsiteTransLink
History
Opened19 May 2008
Services
Preceding station Translink Following station
Cultural Centre
Terminus
 Northern Busway Roma Street
towards Kedron Brook
Proposed extension to Bracken Ridge beyond Kedron Brook.

Construction
Segment of the Wheat Creek Culvert on display at the King George Square busway station, 2015

Construction of the King George Square busway station was announced in March 2005.[1] Construction commenced in early 2006 and the station opened on 19 May 2008 when the Northern Busway was extended from Normanby.[2][3] The lower two levels of the King George Square Car Park were demolished to make way for the station. The heritage-listed Wheat Creek Culvert (built in 1861) which ran from under King George Square out into Adelaide Street was also demolished. A short segment of the culvert has been preserved as a display in the bus station.[4]

A bus tunnel has been constructed under Albert Street to link the station with Queen Street bus station. The bus tunnel replaced one of the tunnel exit ramps to the Queen Street station on Albert Street (see photo below). As part of construction, the space in Albert Street above the new tunnel has been converted into a pedestrian mall extending the Queen Street Mall.

Adelaide Street entrance to the busway

In conjunction with the building of the station, there was a national design competition for the redevelopment of King George Square. The winning entry was entitled A Space in Transition by UrbisJHD.[5] Construction of the Square was completed in October 2009.[6] The re-design of the square and its busway entrances attracted criticism from professional urban designers and the public.[7]

Facilities

King George Square busway station has 12 stops on two platforms (6 stops each labelled 1A-1F and 2A-2F). Passengers wait behind automatic doors at allocated stops rather than hailing buses. Passengers enter the station from either Ann or Adelaide Streets and then select the desired platform via an underground concourse at each end.

The station also features a bike station, cycle2city, located on the Ann Street Concourse. However, bicycles are not allowed on the station's platforms.

When the station originally opened, it included a Transport Information Centre at the Ann Street entrance, this however was closed on 29 September 2012.[8]

Station concourse

Services

King George Square busway station primarily services routes travelling to the Northern and Western Suburbs (departing from Platform 1). A small number of routes travelling to Southern and Eastern Suburbs via the South East Busway depart from Platform 2.[9]

Connection to Queen Street

No Northern Busway services directly connect King George Square station with the Queen Street bus station. After stopping at King George Square (Platform 2), a number of inbound (southbound) services bypass Queen Street and stop or terminate at the Cultural Centre on the southern side of the Brisbane River, and vice versa. However, King George Square and the Queen Street are only a short walking distance apart.

Peak Hour Services

Following successful trials as other busway stations, Translink has introduced a peak hour prepaid restriction in order to improve efficiency of buses departing from the station. During the evening peak passengers must use a go card or pre-purchase tickets from operators located on the Ann Street and Adelaide Street concourses prior to boarding buses.

  • The former Albert Street / King George Square exit from the Queen Street bus station, which has been converted into a tunnel to connect Queen Street with King George Square busway station
  • Albert Street, showing the now covered area of the bus tunnel leading to the King George Square busway station
  • King George Square and the two Adelaide Street busway station entrances (shown at each side of the photo)

References
  1. Beattie flags new tunnel bus link The Courier-Mail 26 March 2005 page 4
  2. King George Square station TransLink
  3. Inner Northern Busway - Queen Street to Roma Street CIMIC Group
  4. Moore, Tony (11 April 2008). "Piece of history makes way for busway". Queensland Times. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  5. King George Square Redevelopment Brisbane City Council
  6. Bruce McMahon (22 October 2009). "King George Square revamp sparks mixed reaction". www.couriermail.com.au. Archived from the original on 23 October 2009. Retrieved 13 November 2009.
  7. "King George Square redevelopment gets thumbs down". Brisbane Times. Archived from the original on 16 September 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  8. Transport Information Centre TransLink
  9. King George Square station map Archived 2018-05-14 at the Wayback Machine TransLink

Media related to King George Square busway station at Wikimedia Commons

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