A council committee meeting on Tuesday morning was told the first review of bus services since 2012 was about to begin.

Some Brisbane bus timeteables have not been reviewed for 10 years.

Translink – the state government's public transport authority – pays council to run the bus services based on how long it takes to travel the route, which is set out in the timetable.

Translink approves the bus timetables.

Increasing traffic congestion on major roads used by buses is now making buses take longer to cover their routes, council's public transport review team told the committee.

"So they have been hit by increasingly inaccurate running times, despite timetables being prepared as accurately as possible," the team leader told the committee.

Brisbane's deputy mayor and committee chairman Adrian Schrinner said the cost was preventing additional services.

"Translink is underpaying the council significantly," he told the committee on Tuesday.

Enoggera Ward councillor Andrew Wines said the "cascading" effect of accumulated delays on successive bus journeys meant the cost needed to be addressed.

"It really is quite a significant figure," he said.

Translink has been contacted for comment.

Brisbane's public transport committee on Tuesday morning was shown that bus routes in 2016 take an extra 25 minutes longer to complete than they did in 2012.

The report shows the worst five bus trips include:

• 353 bus route McDowall to City requires an extra 25 minutes to complete.
• 335 Sandgate station to the City requires an extra 24 minutes to complete.
• 221 Wynnum to City (inbound) requires an extra 23 minutes to complete.
• 220 Wynnum to City (outbound) requires an extra 21 minutes to complete.
• 236 Balmoral to City (inbound) requires an extra 16 minutes to complete.
• 112 Mt Gravatt to City (inbound) requires an extra 15 minutes to complete.

Council is about to begin a review of its bus services, the first since 2012 when council took over the review from Translink.

Early issues that have been:

• Increasing "under-payment" from Translink as bus routes run well over time.
• Unpopular bus runs to train stations which are not popular with commuters.
• Routes where services are being repeatedly cut, because earlier runs over lap.

That could mean removing some "frequent" services, which are becoming increasingly "cut out" as bus journeys run over time and into the next scheduled service, the briefing suggests.

Brisbane buses carry 50 per cent more people than south-east Queensland's trains, the committee was told.

While trains carry large numbers of suburban commuters in and out of the city, buses provide direct links to hospitals, shopping centres, universities and major sports grounds.

Council's Opposition Leader Peter Cumming asked if the review intended to add extra bus services to rail stations.

Cr Schrinner said unfortunately bus routes to train stations were some of the "most unpopular" bus routes with commuters, despite being popular with public transport academics.

"It is because the train frequencies are not as good as the bus frequencies and also because people do not want to be squeezed onto crowded trains," he said.

Deagon Ward councillor Jared Cassidy asked if the review meant cutting the number of seats offered on some routes.

He also asked if the line-up of buses across the Victoria Bridge and the Southeast Busway contributed to the extra time spent on southside bus routes.

Cr Schrinner said the review - only in its infancy - would ensure bus services were deployed according the 2016 customer demand.

He said increasing on-road traffic was affecting the time spent on buses, more than the time on the Victoria Bridge.

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