Brisbane City Council will examine buying smaller Metro vehicles to extend frequent public transport into more suburbs. Brisbane Times reported on Wednesday (21 October) that the proposal remained an investigation, with the power source, procurement process and delivery timing still to be detailed.
The council told the newspaper that the current Metro vehicles were designed for busways. Smaller vehicles could take rapid-transit services closer to thousands more residents, with battery electric buses and other sustainable energy technologies among the options it was considering.
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner argued that constructing busways and tunnels through established suburbs could require billions of dollars, years of work and significant disruption. He said the city could instead make better use of existing road corridors to encourage more people onto public transport.
Labor opposition leader Jared Cassidy told Brisbane Times that the priority should be a broader public transport overhaul rather than another type of bus. His response called for additional services and better connections between the places residents need to reach.
The newspaper reported that an existing Metro carries 150 passengers, rising to 170 in event mode, compared with 79 on a standard bus and more than 110 on an articulated bus. It said the council had yet to explain how the smaller proposed vehicles would differ from the buses already operating.
Suburban connections
The idea follows RACQ's October 2025 call for Metro Glider services. The motoring organisation proposed smaller electric buses that could connect suburban passengers with frequent main routes and serve corridors that the larger Metro vehicles could not reach.
RACQ argued that those connectors could be introduced sooner than entirely new busways because they would rely on upgrades to the existing road network. Its electric-bus proposal was a specific advocacy position; the council's current investigation includes a wider range of possible power sources.
Network planning
The council's March 2026 Living in Brisbane publication described more than 6.8 million Metro trips in its first year. It also outlined work with the Queensland and Australian governments on future extensions, covering route choices, depot planning and discussions with industry.
That publication identified corridors from the city centre towards Springwood, Capalaba, Carseldine and Brisbane Airport as subjects for business-case planning. The smaller-vehicle investigation now adds another option for suburban services to the public transport debate, alongside that previously outlined work on extending the Metro network.