Getting to work at Australia TradeCoast: buses, trains and driving

Where is Australia TradeCoast?

Brisbane City Council describes Australia TradeCoast as the city's trade hub, home to the Port of Brisbane and Brisbane Airport; Council's planned Colmslie industrial precinct in Morningside, Bulimba and Murarrie is part of it.^[1] A Queensland Government page from 2016 described it as an 8,000-hectare precinct run as a partnership of the State, Council, the airport and the port, linking road, rail, air and sea transport.^[2]

For a commuter, the useful split is the river. On the north bank are Eagle Farm, Pinkenba, Hamilton's Northshore and the airport. On the south bank are Murarrie, Hemmant, Lytton and the port at the river mouth. The two halves are joined by the Gateway Bridges, and public transport between them is limited, so which bank your job is on decides most of what follows.

The airport and the port each have their own guide: getting to work at Brisbane Airport and getting to work at the Port of Brisbane.

Eagle Farm and Pinkenba: the north bank

Three bus routes do most of the work here:

• 590 (Garden City to Toombul). Runs through Cannon Hill and Murarrie, along Kingsford Smith Drive at Eagle Farm, through the airport's business streets and on through Hendra (East West Arterial Road at Nudgee Road) to Toombul. It doesn't go to Pinkenba.^[3]
• 303 (Pinkenba to Doomben). Starts at Doomben station, runs via Nudgee Road and Kingsford Smith Drive, and serves Eagle Farm Road and McBride Road in Pinkenba, ending at Serpentine Road.^[4]
• 302 (Pinkenba to the city). Starts in Eagle Farm at Fison Avenue and runs via Kingsford Smith Drive and Holt Street, Pinkenba, to Adelaide Street in the city. On the day we checked, the trips shown were in the afternoon only, so check whether it suits a morning start.^[5]

The nearest trains are on the Doomben line, which stops at Ascot and Doomben, close to the racecourses and the western edge of Eagle Farm.^[6] From either station, the 303 continues into Pinkenba.^[4]

If you can ride, Council has upgraded the Moreton Bay Cycleway between Schneider Road at Eagle Farm and Viola Place at the airport, with a new shared path and a link under Schneider Road.^[12]

Murarrie, Hemmant and Lytton: the south bank

The Cleveland line runs along the southern edge of the industrial area. Murarrie and Hemmant stations are on the T4 line towards Cleveland,^[8][9] and Lindum station is served by the T4 Cleveland and Shorncliffe services, with buses 223 and 224 stopping at Sibley Road beside the station.^[10] The 590 also passes through Murarrie on its way north.^[3]

From those stations, many warehouses and yards are a long walk away along streets without footpaths. We couldn't find a Translink route serving Lytton's industrial streets, so check the journey planner for your exact address before you accept a shift pattern.

Driving to TradeCoast

By road, Kingsford Smith Drive is the main way into Eagle Farm and Pinkenba from the city side. The Gateway Motorway connects both banks: it has interchanges at Kingsford Smith Drive, Lytton Road, Wynnum Road and the Port of Brisbane Motorway, with some ramps open in one direction only.^[11] Crossing the river on it is tolled; what a car pays and how the toll point works are in the Gateway Bridge toll.

A daily crossing adds up over a month, so price the toll into your choice of where to live: a job in Murarrie and a home on the north side, or the other way round, means paying it twice a day unless you go the long way through the city.

Ask your employer about parking on the first day. Most industrial sites have their own car park, but some share street space with heavy vehicles, and large sites can mean a walk from the car park to the gate.

When does a car make sense for a TradeCoast job?

• Your shift starts before the first bus on your route, or finishes after the last one.
• Your site is on the south bank and you live on the north side (or the reverse), so a bus trip means going through the city.
• You work at more than one site in a week, or move between depots during the day.
• You're new to Brisbane, starting immediately, and haven't yet settled where you'll live.

For a short contract, our guide to a 3-month contract in Brisbane weighs the options. If you're a nurse or hospital worker on similar hours, see getting to hospital shifts.

Renting near TradeCoast

Directions and opening hours are on our Hendra location page.