Best Brisbane suburbs for public transport
Auchenflower tops the ranking, with 123.75 scheduled peak-hour arrivals an hour. Bowen Hills and Clayfield round out the top three. These 15 suburbs came from a field of 302 eligible Brisbane suburbs.
This ranking scores every eligible Brisbane suburb on public-transport quality — a composite of peak and off-peak arrivals, median headway, span of service, mode weighting (rail > tram > bus), and peak-hour direct-CBD access. Walkability, safety, and CBD distance are blended in as tie-breakers.
The transport-quality score is derived from each state's GTFS timetable feed. We sample a representative weekday and Saturday and count arrivals at every stop inside the suburb, then weight the mode mix (a train station outranks a bus stop at the same headway) and layer in the peak headway of any trip that terminates in the Brisbane CBD. Percentile ranks are computed within Brisbane's candidate pool, so a suburb's transit ranking is relative to other Brisbane suburbs — a Sydney "top 5%" and a Perth "top 5%" both hit rank 1 of their own city's pool.
Brisbane suburbs with the best public transport
Ranked on the GTFS-derived transport-quality score — peak / off-peak / weekend arrivals, median headway, span of service, mode weight (rail > tram > bus), and peak-hour direct-CBD headway. Blended with walkability, safety, and CBD access as secondary factors.
Auchenflower
QLD 4066 · 6,053 residents94.7/100 transport · 123.8 arrivals/hr peak · 0-min headway
Bowen Hills
QLD 4006 · 4,898 residents96.2/100 transport · 144.0 arrivals/hr peak · 0-min headway
Clayfield
QLD 4011 · 10,897 residents95.2/100 transport · 203.2 arrivals/hr peak · 0-min headway
Fortitude Valley
QLD 4006 · 9,708 residents94.6/100 transport · 583.0 arrivals/hr peak · 0-min headway
Milton
QLD 4064 · 3,144 residents94.4/100 transport · 210.2 arrivals/hr peak · 0-min headway
Toowong
QLD 4066 · 12,556 residents94.4/100 transport · 262.5 arrivals/hr peak · 0-min headway
Keperra
QLD 4054 · 7,014 residents95.7/100 transport · 53.2 arrivals/hr peak · 1-min headway
Nundah
QLD 4012 · 13,098 residents94.8/100 transport · 154.0 arrivals/hr peak · 0-min headway
Brisbane City
QLD 4000 · 12,587 residents94.3/100 transport · 2112.8 arrivals/hr peak · 0-min headway
South Brisbane
QLD 4101 · 14,292 residents94.3/100 transport · 854.0 arrivals/hr peak · 0-min headway
Mitchelton
QLD 4053 · 9,244 residents94.8/100 transport · 108.8 arrivals/hr peak · 0-min headway
Coorparoo
QLD 4151 · 18,132 residents94.2/100 transport · 350.0 arrivals/hr peak · 0-min headway
Woolloongabba
QLD 4102 · 8,687 residents94.2/100 transport · 668.5 arrivals/hr peak · 0-min headway
Northgate
QLD 4013 · 4,876 residents96.4/100 transport · 39.8 arrivals/hr peak · 1-min headway
Greenslopes
QLD 4120 · 7,941 residents94.0/100 transport · 257.2 arrivals/hr peak · 0-min headway
Ranked from 302 qualifying suburbs.
60% transport-quality composite (peak / off-peak / weekend arrivals, median headway, span of service, mode weight, and direct-CBD headway) · 15% walkability · 15% safety (bushfire, crime, flood risks combined) · 10% CBD access. Percentile ranks are computed within Brisbane's candidate pool. Suburbs below the ingest arrivals-per-week floor are excluded rather than ranked at zero. See how we calculate for the full methodology.
Common questions about this ranking
What are the best Brisbane suburbs for public transport?
Auchenflower tops the ranking, with 123.75 scheduled peak-hour arrivals an hour. Bowen Hills and Clayfield round out the top three. These 15 suburbs came from a field of 302 eligible Brisbane suburbs.
How is this ranking scored?
Each eligible Brisbane suburb is scored on a composite transport-quality signal blended with walkability, safety, and CBD access. The transport-quality signal itself blends peak-hour (7-9am + 5-7pm) and off-peak weekday arrivals, Saturday service, median headway, span-of-service, mode weighting (rail > tram > bus), and peak-hour direct-CBD headway. The composite carries the heaviest weight in the final score (60%); percentile ranks are computed within Brisbane's candidate pool, not nationally.
Where does the timetable data come from?
Every state government publishes a GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification) timetable feed covering all scheduled buses, trains, trams, and ferries in the state. We ingest these feeds and aggregate arrivals across every stop inside each suburb boundary on a representative Wednesday and Saturday. Nothing paid, nothing scraped — it's the same data that powers the transit-planner apps.
Does this measure reliability or on-time performance?
No — scheduled service only. GTFS-realtime feeds carry delays and cancellations but they're per-agency, per-day, and not part of this ingest. A suburb whose bus network runs 20 minutes late every peak still scores here on the timetable. Reliability data is a candidate for a future layer.
How often is this list updated?
The top 15 is recomputed whenever we re-run the GTFS aggregation pipeline. Feeds themselves refresh weekly to monthly per agency; big service changes (a new metro line, a route reshuffle) land in the next re-computation.
Same list in other cities
- Best Sydney suburbs for public transport
- Best Melbourne suburbs for public transport
- Best Perth suburbs for public transport
- Best Adelaide suburbs for public transport
- Best Hobart suburbs for public transport
- Best Darwin suburbs for public transport
- Best Canberra suburbs for public transport
- Best Newcastle suburbs for public transport
- Best Central Coast suburbs for public transport
- Best Sunshine Coast suburbs for public transport
- Best Gold Coast suburbs for public transport
- Best Wollongong suburbs for public transport
- Best Geelong suburbs for public transport
- Best Townsville suburbs for public transport
- Best Toowoomba suburbs for public transport
- Best Busselton suburbs for public transport
- Best Ballarat suburbs for public transport
- Best Cairns suburbs for public transport
- Best Albany suburbs for public transport
- Best Ballina suburbs for public transport
- Best Geraldton suburbs for public transport
- Best Warragul suburbs for public transport
- Best Bundaberg suburbs for public transport
- Best Launceston suburbs for public transport
- Best Bendigo suburbs for public transport
- Best Rockhampton suburbs for public transport
- Best Mackay suburbs for public transport
- Best Albury – Wodonga suburbs for public transport
- Best Camden Haven suburbs for public transport
- Best Burnie suburbs for public transport
- Best Wagga Wagga suburbs for public transport
- Best Coffs Harbour suburbs for public transport
- Best Alice Springs suburbs for public transport
- Best Mount Isa suburbs for public transport
Related
Rankings last computed 28 September 2026. Recomputed after each ACARA schools data refresh.
Was the information on this page useful to you?
Thanks! Anything we could improve?
We hate spam as much as you do — we'll never use your email for marketing, and we might not be able to reply to everyone.
Thanks for your feedback! 🙏