A revised Brisbane Metro plan promises to halve travel times, reduce costs by a third and transport more commuters in an hour than the Gold Coast Light Rail service can do in a single day.
Lord Mayor Graham Quirk unveiled the plan on Saturday, saying the Brisbane City Council would not sit on its hands while the city's bus network was stretched thinner and thinner.
Cr Quirk said the council would also find an alternative to the Go Print site, with problems encountered in trying to secure the site as a maintenance and stabling depot – including significant costs and arguments with the state government – were "just too hard" and making the project "unaffordable".
The site will be left for the Palaszczuk government to use in its Cross River Rail plans, with an alternative being sought after "in the outer suburbs" and a several sites under consideration, according to a spokesman from the Lord Mayor's office.
Cr Quirk also said the new Brisbane Metro system was independent of the state government's plans for the Cross River Rail project, but incorporate two interchange points.
The new Brisbane Metro would be split into two parts. One route would run from Eight Mile Plains to Roma Street and the other from the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital to the University of Queensland Lakes campus.
It would run across 21 kilometres of existing busway infrastructure, incorporating 18 stations and 11 interchange stations, including two with Cross River Rail at Moggill Road and Roma Street.
Cr Quirk said the new plan would mean more people would be reached by the Brisbane Metro system and would reduce the overall cost from $1.54 billion to less than $1 billion.
It would also lead to a 30 per cent decrease in travel time from Woolloongabba to Roma Street in the morning peak-hour and halve travel time in the afternoon rush.
Congestion through the cultural precinct and Victoria Bridge would still be addressed, with an underground bus station to be built at the cultural precinct and Victoria Bridge to be turned green, with plans to remove the 8000 cars that use it every day.
There would be 125 less buses going into city centre and the hourly capacity of the Brisbane Metro, combined with rocket and glider bus services, had increased from 18,000 to 22,000 since the Lord Mayor's initial announcement in January last year - which was more than the Gold Coast Light Rail service achieves in a single day.
Cr Quirk said the improvements showed how important it was to look at the detail and that change could be good.
"We've made changes to all of the original plans we've done – Legacy Way, Go Between Bridge and Clem 7," he said.
"It's going to be a better outcome because not only is it reaching more people but it's also reaching more employment nodes in the city and much cheaper."
"This is very much about squeezing the lemon, it's about creating a world-class facility and upgrading what (infrastructure) we already have, rather than starting from scratch."
Deputy Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the new plan would ensure the city "won't grind to a halt" and nowhere else used anything like the vehicles that were planned to be used for the Brisbane Metro system.
The Lord Mayor described the vehicles as buses, flexible in terms of their movement and not limited to set tracks. Council aimed to have 60 vehicles ready to go by completion, each able to carry 150 passengers.
In a statement, Deputy Premier and Minister for Transport Jackie Trad welcomed the integration of the Cross River Rail and Brisbane Metro systems.
"Cross River Rail is critical to the future of south-east Queensland and will mean better public transport and more jobs right across our region.
"We welcome the integration of Brisbane Metro with Cross River Rail and look forward to seeing more detail and working with Brisbane City Council to deliver the best public transport outcomes for commuters.
"Our public transport infrastructure should complement each other and we need these critical projects for south-east Queensland."
Construction on the new Brisbane Metro was scheduled to begin in 2018 and be completed by 2020.