Getting Around Brisbane
Brisbane's excellent transport infrastructure makes it relatively easy to get from point A to point Z and virtually anywhere in between with minimal interruptions or changes. Buses, trains, CityCat Ferries, hire cars, taxis and even water taxis ar all available at regular intervals throughout the day and night and there's little chance of you being stuck in the middle of nowhere and no way to get home. Perhaps the one area where Brisbane's transport system lets the city down is getting to and from the airport at night — express trains run throughout the day, but after 7.30pm the domestic and international railway stations shut down, leaving it to public and private bus companies (and of course taxis and limousines) to pick up the slack.
The Queensland Government's transport website. http://www.transinfo.qld.gov.au/, provides a detailed trip planning guide with fare calculators, timetables and suggestions on the best way to get between (almost) any two points in Queensland, right down to how far you have to walk to the bus stop.
In fact, using the Transinfo site you can do quite interesting comparisons between getting around Brisbane and other major cities in the country which highlight how easy it is to get around Brisbane. For example, a trip literally across the city from a backstreet in the northeast suburb of Redcliffe, to a back street the southwest suburbs past Ipswich (60km as the crow flies) will take you just over 2.5 hours and set you back $4.80 (or $2.40 if you have a concession card, or about $110 if you take a taxi). A comparable trip 60km across Sydney from the northeast to the southwest would take about 3.5 hours on public transport according to the NSW Government's http://www.131500.info website. Take a similar journey from Croydon east of Melbourne's CBD down to the Mornington Peninsula and you won't get there in under five hours, according to http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au
