Commuting to Brisbane, when does the traffic build up?

[Guest gail.crease]

I know this question has probably been asked a million times but......We're considering moving to the north of the Gold Coast and OH alternating driving or going by train to Brisbane. He's used to commuting to London and leaving at 6am to miss the traffic. I was thinking he could try and work from home one day a week, drive 2 days and get the train 2 days to break it up a bit. If he drove he could leave really early and go to the gym in Brisbane before work or something. If he went by train he'd go from Helensvale.

 

My questions are what time does the motorway traffic build up both ways in rush hour? And would he get a seat on the train in Helesvale around 7.30am? Do the trains have good aircon and are you able to use your laptop on it?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Cheers

 

Gail

[nickyc88]

Friends of mine who are out there say def get the train on fridays - the motorway is lethal! We drove up from Gold Coast to Brisbane a couple of times at 7am and didn't think it was too bad. Can't remember how long it took though and no idea how long it takes to park & ride.

 

N

[peeka]

My husband drives to Carina from Helensvale so not quite in Brisbane CBD - he leaves home at 6.05am (after he's woke me with my coffee and toast!) and gets into work around 6.50am.

 

Coming home usually takes him 5-10 minutes longer (leaves work around 5pm). He doesn't particularly notice a difference on Friday. However, the big difference was noted for the State of Origin match - the roads were chocca !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Clearly the Queenslanders racing to get home.....

 

There is a direct train from Helensvale into the CBD - takes 1 hour but is pretty crammed if leaving work at 5.00pm but I guess a good time to chill before getting in...

 

Hope this helps.

[Guest gail.crease]

Thanks for your comments. We've just returned from a long weekend to the Gold coast. We drove from Brissy to GC on Thursday evening in rush hour at 5pm. It was a bit congested and could imagine it gets quite bad. We then travelled on the train to Brissy for the day. We caught the 4.25pm train back which was packed and there was a lot of people standing even then. It's totally put hubby off commuting as an hour is too long to stand all the way home. We're not going to move until a job comes up on the GC now which is a shame as it's such a fabulous place.

[Guest Happyone]

Remember it is school holidays in Queensland at the moment. The traffic is always better/less during school holidays, and the trains will have less commuters too.