Brisbane bus drivers strike

The Federal Industrial Relations Commission ordered Brisbane bus drivers back to work late yesterday afternoon, but drivers will meet again this morning. At 5pm last night hundreds of Brisbane City Council buses began streaming out of Toowong depot. Services resumed immediately, and while today's peak hour morning services were expected to be running on schedule, drivers from the Toowong depot are expected to stop work again later in the morning to discuss their next action.

The home commute was looking unlikely for many western suburbs public transport users today after Toowong depot council bus drivers called a 24-hour strike. Despite services resuming after 5pm, thousands of Brisbane commuters still took hours to get home.

Drivers are angry over a colleague being stood down after appearing on a news report about bus services. In the report, a child's foot was caught in the closing rear door of a council bus. Faulty sensors should have prevented the door from closing, and the union is angry at the driver's treatment following the incident.

Drivers at the Toowong depot called a 24-hour strike yesterday, demanding the reinstatement of their colleague. Drivers did not stop the school bus service routes, but otherwise did not plan to return to work until 2.30pm today.

Translink warned commuters to expect "lengthy delays", advising passengers to delay travel until after peak hour if possible, and find alternative transport like train and ferry.


A statement from Translink said bus services in the 300 to 400 series would be affected and experience heavy delays. Those routes service Inala, Forest Lake, Jindalee, Kenmore, MoggilI, Indooroopilly and Toowong, but additional bus services within the 100 series of routes could also be affected.
Translink: Regularly updated statement on their website.


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Affected services

Bus services in series 300 to 400 routes:

  • Inala

  • Forest Lake

  • Jindalee

  • Kenmore

  • Moggill

  • Indooroopilly

  • Toowong