PUBLIC BUS: New Douglas-Cairns public and school share bus service Mon-Fri

Members of the public in Douglas will be able to get to Cairns and back on two new bus services being offered by FNQ Bus Lines – from Monday.

Both services – which share buses with a revised school timetable – will travel Monday to Friday via JCU and Newman Catholic College. A Wonga/Mossman service will terminate at the JCU Bus Terminal, while a Port Douglas service will continue to Cairns Central. 

The Port Douglas to Cairns Central service is new – while the other service is an extension of the existing Mossman to JCU Smithfield service – so that it begins in Wonga. 

FNQ Bus Lines Operations Manager Mark Johnson said the services will be limited-stop and limited-seat Intercity style services. 

“Booking prior to travel is encouraged to avoid disappointment,” Mr Johnson said.

Douglas to Cairns bus timetable revised

Around 70 Students from the Newman Catholic College who had been facing the possibility of satellite classes in Douglas until the Captain Cook Highway was restored to two lanes, will now be travelling to school as normal.

“There will be delays each way of about 20 minutes,” Mr Johnson said. “But we can still get them there before the bell rings usually.”

Mr Johnson said before the new, finalised timetable, FNQ Bus Lines had allowed for much longer delays given the uncertainty of travelling through stretches of single-lane major roadworks on the Highway, “but drivers have found that the delays have only been about 20 minutes each way,” he said.