Charging Up Brisbane's North: LNP Eyes Metro Expansion Plan

Brisbane's Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has unveiled plans for a dedicated electric bus charging depot on the northside, setting the stage for the city's most ambitious transport expansion into suburbs that have long lacked high-frequency services.

The Fitzgibbon charging station, to be built on five hectares of council-owned land near Carseldine if the LNP wins the March council elections, would mirror the $125 million Rochedale facility servicing the southside. The depot would be capable of charging 60 electric buses in under six minutes — the same rapid-turnaround technology that will power Brisbane Metro's first two lines launching in 2024.

For commuters on the overcrowded northern route, the implications are substantial. More than 700 bus services currently carry 9,000 passengers daily along Gympie Road, a corridor the state government is upgrading as part of its Northern Transitway project. A dedicated charging facility would enable frequent, high-capacity Metro services — potentially every five minutes in peak hours — fundamentally reshaping transport connectivity to inner-north suburbs including Chermside, Kedron, Lutwyche and Aspley.

The announcement also signals a shift in Brisbane's long-stalled northern transport planning. For years, the city has grappled with how to serve the northside's sprawling population without repeating the capital-intensive decisions that shaped the metro's southside focus. The state government previously rejected a 2022 council proposal for underground tunnel infrastructure but has since committed $35 million to investigating a more targeted solution: the Gympie Road Bypass Tunnel between Kedron and Carseldine.

Schrinner positioned the Fitzgibbon depot as the missing piece that would unlock this potential, arguing the facility represents "the catalyst to basically unlocking state of the art public transport through Brisbane's north." The charging station could support electric buses running on dedicated lanes along Gympie Road itself, or through the proposed tunnel if that project advances. Alternatively, services could expand the existing Northern Busway between the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital and Kedron, with the state government already planning extensions to Bracken Ridge.

The announcement carries distinct political weight ahead of the March council poll, where Labor mayoral candidate Tracey Price has committed to finishing the existing two Metro lines but ruled out extensions, while the Greens have proposed an entirely different vision: a $10 million study into a new tram line linking Mount Gravatt to Hamilton. Schrinner's northside charging depot frames the LNP as the party of expansion, though significant uncertainties remain.

No cost estimate or delivery timeline has been provided. Schrinner has indicated timing would hinge on negotiating new service agreements with the state government to establish a third Metro line. The existing Rochedale precedent suggests construction costs in the hundreds of millions, yet the project remains contingent on winning March's election and securing state cooperation on a route that has been repeatedly studied but never built.

For northside residents long watching southside infrastructure investments accumulate, the Fitzgibbon announcement offers a concrete, if distant, prospect of genuine transit choice — provided the LNP retains power and the state backs the project at the negotiating table.