Brisbane's Public Transportation System: General Review

WOW. Yes. That's a big emphasis over there on a TERRIFIC public transport system. It is just so amazing. And I'll tell you why.

The minute I arrived in Brisbane I had to take a bus to West End. In the bus, there were 2 options, 1 was to use the Go Card, something like Touch n Go in Malaysia and 2 was the standard coin affair. 90% of the passengers used Go Cards most of the time. And my Goodness the frequency of the busses is just heavenly. And you can really get to anywhere anytime you want to.

The idea that the busses operate in zones are actually better than how RapidKL does their own service. While they have the Utama Line, Tempatan Line, the idea of the busses in Brisbane is that fares are charged by zone. When you're in 1 zone, the fare is less than 1 dollar. When you add another zone, you'll have to add a few more cents for that. The best part, in the 5 zones it covers, you can really get to anywhere easily by switching busses and making sure that if its the same zone, you're just travelling at cheap.

The trains at Brisbane are also splendid. You can get from Brisbane city center to Harbor town or even Movie World in an hour. And the rate? 5 dollars. Cheap. Really. Its like taking a trip from KL to Melaka, but faster and definitely cheaper. Heck, at the train stations, you can even top up your Go Card there. This is something that RapidKL should really consider.

The taxis are also great. While there are older type of car models used as taxis, some opt for more newer models like a Camry, and all at good fares. My trip back to Malaysia I was already in a Camry. And it was splendid. In case the guy is lost, he can actually navigate his way around the city with his GPS. Very nifty.

So busses are frequent, and did I mention the busses also follow a tight schedule? Well they do. Frequency can range from 10 minutes to even as less as 5. That's just short. And you can always refer to the busses arriving on time based on that schedule. The system really took its time to calculate even to the minor of bus stop distances. Cool!

Now, if you've got an Iphone, or some phone that can surf the web, don't hesitate to use to it to find your way around the city employing the best method possible. Go to their website and by simply searching from where to where you would like to go, and the web will give you a few suggestions on the best route possible in the shortest time. Now that's efficiency.

Bored of either trains or busses? Take a ferry. Yup, even ferry's are available, considering the river is quite wide and long. It was not only my first ferry trip, but my first boat ride too on water. And again, I didn't like when it became bumpy. haha.

There might be 1 slight problem. If you miss the bus, you missed it. If they've closed the door, that's it. but I understand the implementation. And its good too to be honest. So, this slight hinderment is nothing really.

The fact that busses have their own tunnels, routes, lanes, makes this public transport system super heavenly. And the busses available at that town keeps on increasing. I think there's more than 1000 operating every day in the city. Malaysia should really take a tour down under and learn from one of the best public transport system I've ever come acrossed. Seriously, its the best thing for me to see that I know there's no jams at all, in a frigging city. Malaysia, learn very very well. Smart Tunnel is a good concept and is implemented nicely, now make 1 for busses. Get to it!