The first section of the Northern Busway, from the intersection of Roma Street to Herston, opened on 23 February 2004 with only one station, QUT Kelvin Grove.

It then proceeds north-west to the King George Square busway station, a large interchange with several stops on each of its two underground platforms.

The busway then continues north alongside the Exhibition railway line and then north-east through the Victoria Park Golf Complex, with stations adjacent to the Normanby Fiveways, the Queensland University of Technology campus at Kelvin Grove and the Royal Children's Hospital.

The busway then turns left and on to a bridge structure alongside the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital precinct over Butterfield Street.

[19] A series of draft alignments in order to identify the corridor for preservation have been released, however no final route has been selected.

The Newman government's stated preference was for bus or transit lane level priority along the highly congested Gympie Road corridor.