In short:
The Climate Council has released a report that suggests 1.5 million greater Brisbane residents do not have access to frequent, all-day public transport.
The organisation says access to "good" public transport services across the region ends 8 kilometres from the Brisbane CBD for most people.
What's next?
The state government says it is increasing bus services in key growth areas, while Brisbane City Council says its Brisbane Metro will add an extra 30 million trips a year.
About two-thirds of residents across the greater Brisbane region do not have access to frequent, all-day public transport services, according to a new analysis from the Climate Council.
The organisation wants services to operate at least every 15 minutes, between 7am and 7pm, and within 800 metres of every home in Australia's capital cities.
In its latest report released on Monday, the Climate Council found about 66 per cent of residents within the greater Brisbane area were not serviced by that standard of public transport.
The Climate Council said that equated to more than 1.5 million people living across the region, which also took in suburbs from the Logan, Moreton Bay, Ipswich, and Redlands local government areas.
The report put the Queensland capital behind Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney — and warned access to "good" public transport services ended 8 kilometres from the Brisbane CBD for most people.
Greg Bourne, who is a councillor for the Climate Council, said a lack of frequency with public transport services was a barrier to getting people out of their cars.
"As soon as you start going into the peri-urban areas … (of) any of the capital cities, you find that the standard [of public transport] is not nearly so good," he said.
"So people hop into their cars just to go where they need to go, and usually it's within sort of 3 or 4 kilometres of where they are, but they're forced to do that."
Needs for 'liveable cities'
According to the analysis, the suburbs with the best availability of frequent, all-day public transport included Woolloongabba, West End, New Farm, Fortitude Valley, and East Brisbane.
The Climate Council's analysis also suggested the suburbs with some of the worst access included Bray Park, Fig Tree Pocket, Riverhills, Marsden, Redbank Plains, and Bundamba.
Mr Bourne said the transport sector in Australia emitted about 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
He acknowledged the carbon emissions from cars would reduce as drivers transitioned to electric vehicles.
"But we mustn't think about just a complete electric world where we've got cars going everywhere," he said.
"We've got to promote the shared and active transport if we want to have much more liveable cities."
Transport investments
Transport Minister Bart Mellish said the state government had invested more in public and active transport than any other government in Queensland's history.
"This includes massive, game-changing transport infrastructure like Cross River Rail, uplifts to bus services in key growth areas including Redlands, Logan, and on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast and significant investments in active transport corridors," he said.
"We will continue to work constructively with Brisbane City Council to improve bus services in our capital so our public transport network can work better for those who don't live near a ferry stop or train station."
A Department of Transport and Main Roads spokesperson pointed to a recent $70 million announcement the government made to introduce new bus services in Logan and Ipswich.
"These upgrades will target Queensland communities experiencing significant population growth and will introduce bus services to many areas for the first time," they said.
"Public transport has a finite budget and requests for additional bus services must be considered against other priorities across Queensland."
Brisbane Metro services are expected to launch within the Brisbane City Council area by the end of the year.
The council's civic cabinet chair for transport, Ryan Murphy, said the "turn-up-and-go" Metro would service 18 stations and deliver an extra 30 million public transport trips per year.
"Council's investment in public transport services has more than doubled over the past decade to keep Brisbane moving," he said.
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