Brisbane City Council’s Civic Cabinet hassigned off on the purchase of 620m2 of land on the corner of Hoogley and Orleigh Streets for about $1.6 million.

The Lord Mayor said this would allow Council’s new high-frequency CityGlider service to turnaround without having to use local streets.

Cr Newman said the turnaround would take about 816 buses out of West End streets each week and meant that Orleigh Park and its heritage-listed fig trees would remain untouched.

“I am committed to delivering Brisbane residents faster public transport services more often, but not at the expense of local parkland,” Cr Newman said.

“To be able to take these buses out of West End streets without losing valuable green space shows that my Can Do team not only listens to local residents, but it delivers.”

Local Labor Councillor Helen Abrahams, who was also the Council’s former environment chair, wanted the Council to remove large chunks of Orleigh Park and the adjoining ferry terminal to build the bus turnaround.

This would have meant the removal of two highly protected fig trees, Cr Newman said.

The new option will see a large roundabout built at the intersection of Hoogley and Orleigh Streets using the newly purchased land that will allow buses to directly turn around.

Cr Newman said he expected the bus turnaround to cost about $2.3 million on top of the price of the land and to be completed early 2011. He said Council was also investigating ways for other routes like the 199 to use the turnaround instead of local streets.

Council had originally planned for the CityGlider service to follow the same route as the 199 and turnaround using a combination of Morry, Ryan and Hoogley Streets.

The route was then moved to Gray Rd after a successful petition from Ryan St residents. The CityGlider bus service, which is expected to be up and running in coming months, will continue to use a combination of these streets until the turnaround is completed.

Cr Newman said the CityGlider bus service will run between West End and Newstead every 5 minutes during peak hour and every 10-15 minutes outside of these times.

The distinctively-marked buses will be in service 24 hours on Fridays and Saturdays, and 18 hours Sunday to Thursday. Commuters will be able to use their Go Card on the CityGlider, which will be prepared only and will provide all-door boarding.