Getting from Gladstone Airport to the city

The stop

• Aerodrome Rd at Gladstone Airport appears in the published Queensland data about 280 metres from the runway reference point, marked hail and ride.
• Wistari Street at Campbell Street is the same distance, and there is a cluster of hail and ride points along Wistari Street and Anderson Street.

The routes

• Route 502, Kin Kora to Clinton, about 264 scheduled calls, 09:13 to 17:27, headed for Stockland Gladstone.
• Route 506, Stockland Gladstone to Little Creek, about 126 calls, 09:34 to 16:52.
• Route 504, Kin Kora to New Auckland, about 48 calls, 09:20 to 17:38.

The timing problem

• Nothing runs before about 09:13 or after about 17:38. That is a narrow window even by regional Australian standards.
• Gladstone's flights are heavily weighted to early morning and evening, because the airport serves the industrial workforce.
• In practice, plan for a taxi. The city is about 7 km away.

The town

• Gladstone is a major industrial port, handling coal, alumina and liquefied natural gas.
• Its airport traffic is largely business and shift work, which is why the passenger peaks and the bus timetable do not line up.
• Heron Island and the southern Great Barrier Reef are reached from Gladstone, which is the other reason to arrive here.