Article: Commuter confusion after Queen Street bus station closed

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Commuter confusion after Queen Street bus station closed

Commuter confusion after Queen Street bus station closed
August 16, 2010 - 9:16AM

Brisbane commuters faced delays this morning after they were led to believe there was an emergency in the Queen Street Mall Bus Station.

The bus station beneath the Myer Centre was closed about 8am due to what commuters were told was a real emergency, but Translink has since confirmed the interruption was in fact a routine fire drill.

Announcements made over the bus radio network said services would be diverted due to an emergency.

"Queen Street Mall Bull Station is closed due to an emergency. Buses will be diverted down Roma Street," an announcer said.

Myer Centre operations manager Peter Kearney said the fire drill went ahead without a glitch, despite some confusion for commuters.

"This was our annual compliance fire drill. We have thousands of people in here of a morning, but it went very smoothly," Mr Kearney said.

He said commuters and shoppers were not warned about the planned fire drill, because evacuation procedures needed to be properly tested.

''It's part of the process to carry out a full evacuation to make sure all the correct procedures are in place.

''The alarms sounded ... the was no time for dialogue between people. It's a standard evacuation drill.

"It was a full system trial - all our major tenants, Myer, Target, Coles and Brisbane City Council buses were involved.

"We have just had our debrief and it was a great result."

The Myer Centre Bus Station station has since re-opened and bus services have returned to normal.