For the record, I don't think Gold Coast has shifted a few kilometres closer to Central since I lived there. Nor have the buses been fitted with rocket boosters, nor has the traffic eased, nor have the expressways been re-routed
By the way, for the OP the 962 can take over an hour from Central to Gold Coast - it isn't a reliable 50 minute journey. I actually took it again the other day to pick up some goods from a GC resident and all the painful memories of long smelly slow commutes came flooding back.