What’s the Buz?
Why I’m no longer a train person. Plus: media gossip and my guest spot on a podcast
A recent move — more on that in future missives — means I’m no longer living near the railway station and now have to make my weekly commute by bus.
My verdict after the first return trip: slower and bumpier than the train, but efficient in its own way.
I enjoyed the experience of checking out my fellow passengers and trying to guess what they did for a living and why so many of them were heading to the CBD at 5:45am. (I caught a very early service because I feared the bus would fill up beyond my comfort level if I travelled closer to the morning peak hour.)
The novelty of people-watching will probably wear off, and I’ll be using X or Threads to post regular suggestions to Translink and the council in no time.
Actually, I have already taken to social media to make this point …
My biggest complaint is that the service I caught is considered a “Buz”, which I’m led to believe means it’s a partial express. But I could be wrong; it might just mean they can’t spell “bus”.
Brisbane may brand itself as a “world class” city but, when it comes to public transport, our civic parents do very little to assist visitors, or even locals, who are confused by such silly or misleading names.
And, yes, once again, I’m going to mention the Metro that isn’t a Metro. But I’m pleased to see that, at the time of writing, somebody has edited its Wikipedia entry to say it’s “commonly referred to as the BERT (Busway Electric Rapid Transit)”.*
At least I’m pleased to discover that the platforms at the Queen Street bus station are no longer named after native animals. (Or did I just imagine that they once were?)
SPIN CITY
A media personality who recently disappeared from the spotlight is being greatly missed by one side of politics in the lead-up to this month’s state election. Seems their apparently well-crafted opinions were forged almost entirely from lengthy, very chummy, daily phone calls with one of the candidates.
HEAR ME HERE
I was very pleased to be invited by Alan Roebuck to be the guest on the 400th episode of his Ipswich Today podcast. Click on the “Happy memories…” link here and you can listen to me reminisce about Brisbane and Ipswich (drawing on my two tours of duty at the Queensland Times newspaper) and hear my predictions on a few important issues, including the future of local media and the election result.
*Yes, I know that’s a little silly, too, but it’s a memorable acronym in line with BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) in San Francisco not a misnomer.
I was annoyed at the spelling of BUZ until I found out what it meant.
https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/traffic-and-transport/public-transport/buses/buz-services