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Sustainable Transport Options
About this issue
The City of Moreton Bay (CMB) is expanding rapidly, with expected growth from just over 510,000 people to over 800,000 by 2046. Most of this growth will happen in the northern corridor close to Bribie Island. The population in the new development of West Caboolture alone is expected to be over 70,000.
An increase in population will come with a corresponding increase in traffic, unless we change how we get around. The growth in traffic will be especially large at popular recreation areas as more and more cars are funnelled into the same few destinations every weekend. That growth is already having a terrible impact on Bribie Island.
All islands are special, and Bribie Island is a unique sand island protected by national and international environmental protection agreements like RAMSAR. Approximately one third of the island is National Park, and Pumicestone Passage is partly Marine National Park with the remainder a Conservation Park. It’s the only island in the City of Moreton Bay region, and the only island in Queensland accessible by road, and therefore deserves special attention when planning for future growth in population and traffic.
Yet Bribie is treated like any other area in the Moreton Bay region. There are no special considerations in Council's Planning Scheme, and there is no Local Area Plan specifically for the island. Even where the Planning Scheme does afford some general protections, it seems too easy for Council to disregard them whenever convenient for commercial interests, without consideration of the unique conditions on such an ecologically sensitive island.
So, despite the good intentions expressed in Council's own strategic plans and token efforts at community consultation, planning decisions are not being made in the best interests of the island's community or environment; they appear to be made solely in order to improve Council's indicators for the whole region, like economic growth and population expansion.
The state government (specifically DES) also talks about the need to protect the natural environment and native species like the critically endangered marine turtles that nest on the National Park beach, yet at the same time they promote Bribie as a recreation destination, actively encouraging jet skis, 4WDs, and other high-impact forms of recreation in our National Park and Marine National Park.
This lack of consideration for the special nature of Bribie Island is made abundantly clear in the limited, unsustainable transport options available on the island, which are heavily biased towards private cars and recreational visitors using the island as a playground. Residents and visitors are forced to use their cars because there are so few viable alternatives.
There is ongoing work to expand Bribie Island Road, for example, and plans to expand the bridge capacity to pile on more 4WDs, boats, and jet skis to the island every weekend. This is happening despite ample evidence that when we expand roads, the traffic just grows to fill the available capacity and we end up back at congestion, just on an even bigger scale.
The problem of increasing traffic volume is compounded by an inefficient and inadequate bus service, no ferry services, patchy active transport routes for walking and cycling, and very little support for sustainable ecotourism operations.
We believe that by providing transport options that consider the special needs and conditions on Bribie Island, the impact of regional population growth can be managed sustainably and the unique nature of our island can be preserved for future generations.
How it impacts our mission
How management traffic choices affect all aspects of BIEPA's mission:
Wildlife — More cars inevitably leads to more roads, and roads destroy huge areas of habitat that's vital for native wildlife. They also fragment habitat, creating barriers that prevent animals from moving safely between the areas in which they feed and rest. That fragmentation leads to more wildlife injuries and fatalities as animals are forced to cross busy roads.
Flora — Native plants provide vital wildlife habitat, and loss of habitat is the primary cause of the present biodiversity crisis. In addition to the loss of native plants from road construction and widening, cars on the beach often drive on the dunes, destroying the plants that stabilise the dunes, leading to erosion and undermining of coastal trees .
Environment — Along with the obvious pollution from exhaust fumes, plus the noise and light pollution, there's the rain run-off from roads that's polluted with oil, rubber, metals, and plastics, which flows through storm drains into Pumicestone Passage. And then there's the carbon dioxide from transport; the single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change, and cars are the second biggest emitter.
Sustainability — A focus on cars is not a sustainable transport strategy for Bribie Island. Encouraging people to travel by car inevitably leads to congestion. Adding more lanes or more roads just leads to more traffic as it grows to fill the available space, and we're back to square one; this has been demonstrated by countless failed traffic management projects worldwide. We want people to come to Bribie for the nature, and stay for the nature. They're not going to do that if it's become a giant car park.
Community — Busy roads destroy communities. They create a dangerous and unpleasant environment for residents, stopping people doing the things that bring a community together, disconnecting them from each other and from nature. A lack of transport options forces residents to travel everywhere by car, adding to the traffic problem and eroding their appreciation of the natural wonders of Bribie Island.
What we are doing about it
On this issue to date, BIEPA members have:
hosted the Bribie Island Eco-Tourism Forum in April 2022 with more than 100 attendees;
participated in the Community Reference Group for Coastal Buildings on Bribie Island;
participated in the Transport & Main Roads (TMR) Bribie Bridge Consultation process from February 2023 through March 2024, and circulated a report to local government;
participated in TMR’s Bribie Island and Surrounds Transport & Mobility Study in November and December 2023 (more on this below);
created a Better Bribie Transport (BBT) Facebook group with 780 members as of 1st March 2025;
started work on a Master Plan for Bribie Island that includes sustainable transport options (see below);
strongly advocated for the City of Moreton Bay Council Planning Scheme to include a Local Area Plan for Bribie Island; and
worked to progress sustainable transport options with State and Local Government that will in turn progress nature-based tourism for Bribie Island & surrounds, helping to protect Bribie as an island sanctuary.
BIEPA encouraged members and supporters to provide feedback to the TMR's Bribie Island and Surrounds Transport & Mobility Study, with over 3,480 completed survey responses received. TMR says the key themes emerging from the study are peoples’ desire for “improving safety, connectivity and accessibility across all modes of transport”.
We are asking Local and State Government to commit to:
run a pilot study of ‘Demand Responsive Transport’ (DRT) on Bribie Island, that is, a fleet of small electric buses that respond to demand by picking the fastest and most efficient routes based on requests from users, connecting with regular buses to Caboolture train station and hospital, Morayfield, North Lakes, and Brisbane Airport;
build an active transport network around Bribie Island (Local Government funded) and continue this westbound to meet up with the Caboolture Rail Trail and Moreton Bay & Glasshouse trails as part of the Bribie Island Road upgrade program (State & Federal Government funded);
develop a Park & Ride facility on Bribie Island Road as it is upgraded, as an alternative to car travel for tourists coming to Bribie and Sandstone Point, to integrate with a DRT bus service (above); and
where economically viable, support regular or weekend ferry services integrating with a DRT bus service, connecting Bribie suburbs with Sandstone Point, Toorbul, Scarborough, Redcliffe, Sandgate and Brisbane city.
BIEPA will continue to advocate for Bribie Island to be recognised by planners as a highly sensitive environmental area that requires specific solutions to safeguard its long-term sustainability as a flora and fauna sanctuary for all future generations to enjoy.