Queensland's Liberal National Party opposition has thrown its support behind Brisbane City Council's Metro project ahead of the upcoming state election.
The LNP has committed $10 million dollars to investigate further expansion beyond the current proposal, as well as two parcels of land at Eight Mile Plains and South Brisbane worth $20 million.
Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls said the project would take cars off the road as well as remove the need for extra bus routes to the city, which will mean greater coverage for Brisbane's suburbs.
"This is a real plan that the council has put forward, and it is a plan that the LNP will support if elected to give commuters better transport options here in the southeast corner," Mr Nicholls told reporters on Wednesday.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the extra funding and land was welcome, and would greatly help the project.
"This is just the start, we have Metro One and Metro Two due to kick off but any money that goes towards future studies to look at what those future options might be are very welcome," Cr Quirk said.
The Palaszczuk Labor government initially blocked the Metro proposal in favour of its Cross River Rail project, but it eventually relented and put forward a plan to integrate the two projects.
Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Jackie Trad lambasted Mr Nicholls' announcement as more spin when congestion-busting projects are required rather than studies.
"Instead, the LNP have only got a study for Metro, a study for a Very Fast Train and a petition for the M1," she said.
"The LNP's announcement is nothing but smoke and mirrors. It does not commit one single cent to actually building the Metro - just some funding for land and a study."
The Metro features long two-bend buses capable of seating 150 people which would run frequent high-capacity services on two main routes on the existing busway.
It would see upgrades to a number of stations, most notably a dedicated underground station at the Cultural Centre.
Share
