Brisbane BICT shuttles

[GandM-nq]

Does anyone know if Princess put on shuttles from Brisbane's cruise terminal to the city center when their ships are in port?

We are arriving in port in a few weeks.  Can't see anything on their site or in the cruise personalizer.

 

Thx

 

 

[arxcards]

2 minutes ago, GandM-nq said:

Does anyone know if Princess put on shuttles from Brisbane's cruise terminal to the city center when their ships are in port?

We are arriving in port in a few weeks.  Can't see anything on their site or in the cruise personalizer.

 

Thx

 

 

Yes, they do. Not as cheap as they should be, but at least they do have them.

[MicCanberra]

AFAIK, the shuttles are available when the ship visits for the day but not on embark or debarkation days.

[GandM-nq]

5 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

AFAIK, the shuttles are available when the ship visits for the day but not on embark or debarkation days.

 

9 hours ago, arxcards said:

Yes, they do. Not as cheap as they should be, but at least they do have them.

OK.     Good to know, thanks.  

 

p.s.  Can't understand why the city hasn't provided some sort of public transport link to the BICT for days when ships are in port...  bit pathetic

[colourbird]

55 minutes ago, GandM-nq said:

 

OK.     Good to know, thanks.  

 

p.s.  Can't understand why the city hasn't provided some sort of public transport link to the BICT for days when ships are in port...  bit pathetic

 

Considering the ships generate a lot of money to their local economy, it wouldn't hurt to provide some form of public transport to the port.

 

We've got a cruise from Brisbane next year and are starting to work out options.

 

It's put us off booking other cruises leaving from Brisbane. 

 

If others are like us, Brisbane is losing quite a bit of money. We would have booked a hotel for a couple of nights, bought meals, used transport etc...

 

It wouldn't be too difficult to make transport to the ship easier for passengers.

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, GandM-nq said:

OK.     Good to know, thanks.  

 

p.s.  Can't understand why the city hasn't provided some sort of public transport link to the BICT for days when ships are in port...  bit pathetic

A shuttle bus is what is required, not a 'public' bus that stops constantly at bus stops and takes forever to get to the CBD.

 

Princess has a shuttle to the CBD. For two people the shuttle is a little bit cheaper than a taxi, but for a group of four, a taxi would be better. The problem could be that there are plenty of taxis at the terminal on turn-around days, but probably not many on days when a ship has a port call. Of course, a taxi can be ordered by phone. To get a taxi back at the end of the day would be easy.

[MicCanberra]

9 hours ago, GandM-nq said:

 

OK.     Good to know, thanks.  

 

p.s.  Can't understand why the city hasn't provided some sort of public transport link to the BICT for days when ships are in port...  bit pathetic

Agreed but it is not alone. Around the world there are many that do not have transport to or even close to the cruise terminals.

[SinbadThePorter]

On 3/14/2024 at 6:30 AM, GandM-nq said:

Can't understand why the city hasn't provided some sort of public transport link to the BICT for days when ships are in port...  bit pathetic

 

Because that would take buses away from scheduled services at very irregular intervals. But the main reason that there is no public transport is that nobody thought to built a Circular Quay right next to it.

 

There actually is a bus, the 303. Which goes from the corner of Main Beach Road and Marine Road (which is the road that leads to the Cruise Terminal) to Doomben train station via Portside. It takes about 30 minutes.

 

It leaves Myrtletown (the suburb of the Cruise Terminal) at 6:50am, 7:19am, 7:57am and 8:27am Monday to Friday. It's about a 20 min walk from the Cruise Terminal to the bus stop. You aren't actually supposed to walk out, but nobody seems to care. I've done it several times.

 

Getting back is trickier as the bus only starts afternoon runs from about 3pm.

[cruiser3775]

I've seen people doing that walk. There is no paved footpath, so you have to drag your luggage along uneven ground, which is painful.

[SinbadThePorter]

1 hour ago, cruiser3775 said:

I've seen people doing that walk. There is no paved footpath, so you have to drag your luggage along uneven ground, which is painful.

 

I've done that walk. It's not particularly difficult.

[colourbird]

3 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

Because that would take buses away from scheduled services at very irregular intervals. But the main reason that there is no public transport is that nobody thought to built a Circular Quay right next to it.

 

 

 

Brisbane is getting 200 new train replacement buses. I'm sure some of them could be used for cruise ship passengers.

[SinbadThePorter]

18 hours ago, colourbird said:

 

Brisbane is getting 200 new train replacement buses. I'm sure some of them could be used for cruise ship passengers.

 

The Brisbane bus and ferry network is owned and run by Brisbane City Council, not the rail service which is state owned.

[colourbird]

36 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

The Brisbane bus and ferry network is owned and run by Brisbane City Council, not the rail service which is state owned.

 

Good, then they can run the service.

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, colourbird said:

 

Good, then they can run the service.

If 200 new buses are used to replace 200 old buses, then it is parity. If Brisbane City is increasing their fleet by 200 buses, they will need to find 200 more bus drivers to move them around between bus stops.

 

If they were to have an hourly scheduled public bus run from the terminal to the city, how many hours do you think you will be waiting at the terminal in a queue for the next bus? It doesn't fit, and that is why they run private shuttles that match the number of buses to suit passenger demand via pre-purchased tickets.

[colourbird]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

If 200 new buses are used to replace 200 old buses, then it is parity. If Brisbane City is increasing their fleet by 200 buses, they will need to find 200 more bus drivers to move them around between bus stops.

 

If they were to have an hourly scheduled public bus run from the terminal to the city, how many hours do you think you will be waiting at the terminal in a queue for the next bus? It doesn't fit, and that is why they run private shuttles that match the number of buses to suit passenger demand via pre-purchased tickets.

 

They are extra buses, not replacement buses.

[SinbadThePorter]

10 hours ago, colourbird said:

 

Good, then they can run the service.

 

Queensland Rail is not likely to setup a bus service just for the BICT. The buses are for use during track closures, stoppages and linking country towns. It would be impractical to have them unavailable for their actual purpose on cruise days.

 

I don't understand this insistence that the BICT has to be another OPT, with the facilities that the OPT has. It would be much fairer to compare it to the White Bay Cruise Terminal. Or even more appropriately to the Grain Terminal wharf across the river.

 

The OPT happens to be sited next to Circular Quay, the best public transport nexus in Sydney. Which was not built in order to service the OPT or even with the OPT in mind.

 

The BICT is not and never will be the OPT. If someone wants to run a bus shuttle service to there, I'm sure that Port of Brisbane would oblige. In the meantime if I want to catch the public bus, I'll walk to it.