Lord Mayor Graham Quirk is proposing a subway network for Brisbane, while Labor candidate Rod Harding says light-rail is the way to go.
Last week, Lord Mayor Graham Quirk announced plans to build a $1.54 billion subway system in Brisbane if re-elected at the upcoming council elections.
"The growth of our city and the demand on the bus network to feed this growth is looming as one of the greatest challenges Brisbane is facing," he said.
"Brisbane Metro will offer comfortable, high-frequency, fast, time-reliable and high-capacity links between the suburbs and inner city using a subway system this is quick and easy to get on and off."
But Labor Lord Mayoral candidate, Rod Harding, is investigating the option of returning trams to Brisbane's streets. "All around Australia, all around the world, modern cities are moving towards light rail," he said.
Harding has not released costing arrangements or further details of his light-rail plan.
The Courier Mail has conducted an online poll to gauge the public's support for each option. Voting closes at 6pm tonight. At the time of writing, 60% preferred Rod Harding's light rail, while 40% had voted for Quirk's Brisbane Metro.
Quirk's rubber-tyred rail system would operate above and below ground, and would remove up to 200 buses from Brisbane streets. It will link Woolloonbagga with Herston, and will partly run on tracks installed on existing busways.
Quirk said continued employment growth in the CBD and inner city needed increased public transport, and many parts of Brisbane's bus infrastructure are already at capacity.
"The Brisbane Metro is a step up from Light Rail - it's a segregated, high-frequncy subway system with the potential to carry 30,000 passengers an hour.
"Long-term solutions are required for both the bus and rail networks and I call for the State Government to be cooperative in terms of what we are proposing," he said.