Noosa councillors voted this week to call on the state government to make Noosa a future trial site for a “fully subsidised public transport system“ on top of continuing its free weekend bus service.
Riding on the success of a free weekend bus service that has been trialled for 10 months, but acknowledging Noosa’s ongoing traffic problems, Cr Amelia Lorentson put forward a motion to request free public transport at Monday’s general committee meeting and all councillors agreed.
Cr Lorentson said Go Noosa data showed 20,000 people worked in Noosa each day but only 183 used public transport to get to work.
There are about 13,500 cars on the road every day driven by residents to work, she said.
“In addition we have 8224 school kids, many driven to school.
“As you can see we have a problem,“ she said.
Cr Lorentson said the problem needed a radical solution but making public transport free was not a new initiative. It was already being used in 180 cities across the world.
A report prepared by council prior to the introduction of the free weekend bus initiative described its benefits as being habit-changing in reducing car usage and freeing staff from the need to drive.
It would reduce parking issues (particularly during peak season when Hastings Street employs 2800 people), it resonated with council’s “different by nature” vision and would break the local mindset that Noosa Heads was out of bounds due to parking issues, the report stated.
This month council revealed a report on the free weekend bus trial which showed after a slow start when it began last February, usage had increased each month, more than doubling in August and September with numbers growing from about 6000 in 2021 to more than 14,000 in 2022.
Feedback on the weekend bus trial showed it had other positive outcomes.
Pomona and District Chamber of Commerce indicated the free weekend buses were helping to counter social isolation with seniors using the service to access the Noosa Civic and the Noosa Junction cinema. They were also proving popular with young people in the hinterland accessing attractions on the coast and in encouraging more travel to the hinterland to activities including the Pomona markets and hiking trails.
Cr Lorentson expected a free transport system would be part of a broader policy that rewarded public transport use and disincentivised car use by means such as priority bus lanes to enable faster travel and paid parking.
Subject to agreement from Translink, council aimed to continue the free weekend bus service trial on routes 626, 627, 628, 629 and 632 until February 2024 and would continue to negotiate with Translink on their ticketing systems, enabling the addition of other routes such as one to Peregian Beach that enters and departs the Noosa Shire.
A final decision on the issue will be made at Council’s Ordinary Meeting on Thursday.
