Catching a bus from Elizabeth Quay should be simple. The bus station sits right beside the train station, the convention centre and the quay itself. But for many commuters, getting from the waterfront to a bus stand is a trek of stairs, crossings and hunting for signs.
One Perth commuter summed up the complaint this week: to catch a bus you walk away from the quay, cross the big Mounts Bay Road and William Street intersection, climb up towards the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, look for the station entrance, find your platform and then take the stairs back down to your bus.
"It easily takes 10-15 minutes to go from EQ to your platform." - Perth bus commuter
For a short hop to Perth station, they said, getting to the bus can take longer than the ride itself.
Built for a different Perth
The simple answer is that the bus station is far older than the quay it is named after.
It opened as City Busport on 30 November 1991, opened by then-premier Carmen Lawrence. It became the Esplanade Busport in 2004, and was only renamed Elizabeth Quay bus station in January 2016, when the old Esplanade train station was also renamed. That renaming was controversial at the time, with an estimated cost of about $700,000.
Elizabeth Quay itself opened in 2016, on land that had been the Esplanade reserve. So the bus station was designed around a CBD that no longer exists.
"It was not designed around EQ and wasn't designed for EQ." - Perth local
Photo: The bus lanes under the concourse, taken when it was still the Esplanade Busport, by Orderinchaos via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
How the station works
The station has 35 stands spread across five ground-level platforms, labelled A to E, with seven stands each. Passengers enter at the north and south ends of an upper-level concourse, then go down to their platform. Pedestrian bridges link the concourse to buildings north of Mounts Bay Road.
It is served by more than 50 Transperth routes, many of which start or end there, plus South West Coach Lines services. In 2024 it became the first station on the Transperth network to get electric bus charging.
Transperth publishes a station map that shows the entrances and platforms, which is worth a look before your first trip.
Locals share the frustration
Plenty of Perth commuters agreed the design is awkward, even if they knew the history.
Several pointed out that it is not the only one. Locals said the newer Perth Busport on Wellington Street works well in some ways, but questioned why it is not linked directly to the underground train platforms, meaning a walk outside to transfer in the rain.
"The idea of co-locating a major train line station and a bus port together... is fantastic. But as usual - we fall down in the execution." - Perth local
Others suggested an underpass at the Mounts Bay Road and William Street intersection, while some said the whole precinct, including the convention centre, is due for an update. A few offered a practical tip: if you are heading to the CBD, it can be easier to take the train to Perth Underground and walk.
Name confusion
The history also leaves visitors confused. "Busport" used to mean the Esplanade station by the river. Now Perth Busport is the station at the other end of the CBD, near the old Wellington Street bus station site, so telling someone to "meet at the busport" can send them to the wrong side of town.
Photo: The entrance sign the day after the 2016 renaming, by Evad37 via Wikimedia Commons (CC0).
Sources: Wikipedia; Transperth; comments from Perth commuters.
Photo (top): Elizabeth Quay bus station seen from the convention centre side, by Orderinchaos via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).
Comments