MORE than half the seats on Cleveland line trains are vacant during peak times, according to August figures from Transport Minister Mark Bailey.
This comes after an extra 960 bus and 105 train services were started on the public transport network to support social distancing.
Two additional train services depart Cleveland station each weekday morning at 8.54am and 9.24am and an additional service departs Central station for Cleveland each weekday evening at 7.32pm.
Oodgeroo MP Mark Robinson called on Mr Bailey in Parliament last week to explain the spare capacity by line during peak and off-peak times.
"These extra services allow passengers to spread out across the mornings and afternoons, and add almost 58,000 extra seats on buses and trains," Mr Bailey said.
He said utilisation of public transport services in south-east Queensland had been significantly impacted by the COVID-19.
"Estimates are therefore given for the month of August, excluding the public holiday on August 14 (August 1--21)
"Peak running times are taken as inbound services arriving at Central Station between 7.30am and 8.30am, and outbound services departing Central Station between 4.30pm and 5.30pm," he said.
In August there was estimated 55 per cent spare seated capacity during peak times on the Cleveland line
There was estimated 85 per cent spare seated capacity during off-peak times on the Cleveland line.
The Beenleigh line recorded a 64 per cent spare seated capacity during peak times and the Gold Coast line had 60 per cent spare.
"Calculations have been based on ticketing data, which means these represent an estimate on capacity only, as incomplete go card trips are unable to be correctly counted," Mr Bailey said.
He said as Queensland Rail run routine maintenance requiring track closures over weekends and late nights, data can be incomplete in these periods due to rail replacement operations and, therefore, estimates have been taken across weekdays only between 4am and 9pm.
