The Greens' plans to convert the Victoria Bridge into a green bridge. There would be one entry lane for buses at either end, with two exit lanes to prevent queueing. Car traffic would be removed from the Victoria Bridge, which would have two 2.9-metre footpaths, two 1.8-metre bike lanes and three 3.5-metre bus lanes. "Buses queue back right across Victoria Bridge, wasting passengers' time and clogging the network. To make matters worse, half of them are not even 50 per cent full," Mr Pennings said. "Our plan to 'green' Victoria Bridge will add bus stops for specific buses, introduce bike lanes, and halve bus congestion." Brisbane's existing green bridge, the Eleanor Schonell Bridge between the University of Queensland at St Lucia and Dutton Park, was opened in 2006 and only allowed bus, cycle and pedestrian traffic.

Two extra platforms would be built at the Cultural Centre bus station under the Greens' plan. Under the Greens' proposal, Victoria Bridge would have the same restrictions. Mr Pennings said increasing the bus capacity on the existing infrastructure would improve public transport performance across the city. Greens lord mayoral candidate Ben Pennings. Credit:Michelle Smith "The Cultural Centre bus station has reached capacity and is clogging up our whole bus system," he said.

"The shortage of platform space means that stops aren't dedicated to specific bus routes, resulting in passenger stress and chaos on platforms during peak times." The Greens would also allocate bus stops to specific routes, rather than the so-called "lead stop" system that was currently in place. Bike lanes would also be built in both directions. "A simple re-design would stop half-empty busses clogging up Victoria Bridge, improve frequencies and travel time, and allow people to move around Brisbane without always going through the CBD," Mr Pennings said. "Our proposal is literally $1.5 billion cheaper than the LNP's poorly developed and unfunded plan that will add considerably to Brisbane's debt.

"It's at least $1 billion cheaper than the ALP's unfunded plan but we can't be exact because the ALP have yet to detail their plans or the true cost of their proposal." Victoria Bridge was opened as a four-lane general traffic bridge in 1969. Two lanes were dedicated to the South East Busway routes in 2000. Cr Quirk said the Greens' plan did not address capacity issue at the Queen Street and King George Square bus stations, nor did it provide for future growth. "We need to be looking to the future," he said. "What we've got to do is have a high capacity system which provides for the future growth of public transport.

"We're expecting public transport users to grow by 80 per cent by 2031. "If we're going to spend money, we've got to do it so we're providing not just for today, but also for the growth in public transport. "This is why I have put the Brisbane Metro subway plan on the table. It will grow the capacity and will enable people to have fast, guaranteed travel times to the CBD." Labor has yet to release a detailed public transport plan, but its lord mayoral candidate Rod Harding ruled out removing traffic lanes on the Victoria Bridge "without the proper analysis". "There must be sound logic and reason to this sort of proposal," he said.

"Any proposal to close the Victoria Bridge must come with careful consideration of the possibility of it causing greater traffic congestion in the city and the south side. "The Story Bridge, William Jolly Bridge and Captain Cook Bridge are already chocka block at peak hour, without the added burden of taking cars from the Victoria Bridge." RACQ public policy executive manager Michael Roth said he was concerned about the loss of traffic lanes, which could funnel motorists on to the tolled Go Between Bridge. "We do support the need for improving public transport into the CBD, so we wouldn't rule out the possibility of Victoria Bridge's operations changing, but we need to see more detail of exactly how it would work," he said. "What we've failed to see so far from the announcements is a commitment to community engagement and to implementing the best solution rather than someone's pet project.

"We're looking for a long-term vision and a commitment to a process of implementing a good solution, not defining it up-front and implementing it regardless of whether it works or not, or regardless of what the negative impacts might be."