Free, informed personal choice and efforts to help residents in all areas of the shire move around Noosa remain at the heart of the Go Noosa program.
In peak times, motorists remain free to drive in to Main Beach, travelling no faster (or slower) than the free or 50c buses, but can often still be circulating looking for a park while the thousands of bus passengers have finished their swim, coffee and are heading home.
Taxi transport costing $2 and $1 for residents aged over 60 or living at Boreen Point remain part of this year’s Go Noosa transport program.
For the over 60s, Council cabs will collect you from your home in the morning (from 8.30am, depending on passenger numbers) and drive you to your local shopping centre.
Cooroy, Federal, Black Mountain, Cooroy Mountain and Lake Macdonald residents are driven to Emerald Street, Cooroy on Wednesdays.
Pomona, Cooran and Kin Kin residents are transported to Memorial Avenue, Pomona on Thursdays. To book a Council Cab, call 1300 511 163 by 12.00pm the day before your trip.
Boreen Point residents are driven to Tewantin on Mondays to Saturdays.
All fares are $2 one way or $1 one way for children or concession card holders.
Refined by multiple innovative trials over many years, Go Noosa aims to manage peak period congestion through smart, simple changes that maximise traffic flow by removing disruptions to key roundabouts and feeder roads, improve safety and the overall experience for residents and visitors, all while putting people first and respecting Noosa’s unique character by not sacrificing green space for major traffic-related infrastructure.
The Go Noosa Program is funded by the sustainable transport $30 levy on all rateable properties. It takes an integrated, multi-action approach to making it easier to move around Noosa at all times of the year.
There is work under way to find alternative revenue streams (instead of the levy) to fund Go Noosa, such as paid visitor parking.
A Queensland First reviewed
The promised review of Queensland’s first Short-Stay Local Law shows it has been effective at reducing impacts of short-term accommodation on Noosa’s residential neighbourhoods.
Data indicates the registration process, compliance action and the 24-hour hotline have made a difference.
Since the start of this year, 97 per cent of calls made to the 24-hour hotline were answered and responded to by the contact person within the required timeframe of 30 minutes.
Three complaints out of the 136 calls made this calendar year were not responded to within
30 minutes, resulting in three $806 fines
The number of complaints to the hotline fell from 592 in 2023 to 266 in 2024.
Hotline responses by managers and owners plus compliance action has reduced the
impacts some short-stay letting properties were having on neighbourhood amenity.
The review found 87 per cent of STAs have not been the subject of a complaint.
The review consulted resident groups such as Noosa Residents Against Unregulated Short
Stay Accommodation, the Noosa Waters Residents Association, Cooroy Area Residents
Association, Noosa Residents and Ratepayers Association, other community advocates
plus business and industry groups.
Since 2022, 386 Compliance Notices and 169 Infringement Notices have been issued.
More than 330 short-stay properties had been cancelled by property owners or not renewed
by Council, a majority of which were dwelling houses.
Eighty-seven percent of STAs have never been the subject of a complaint, 10 per cent have
received one complaint, while three percent have received three or more.
This data tells us most STA properties are doing to a good job to manage their impacts. Future compliance efforts will focus on those with history of complaints.
The review recommends improvements, including:
• Develop criteria to expand fee categories to reflect resort-style complexes.
• Audits of property managers’ complaint handling processes.
• Enforcing the mandatory display of guest code of conduct at all short-stay properties.
• Increased promotion of the code of conduct and hotline via social media.
Council is looking to work with online booking platforms such as AirBnb to align
efforts and action taken against those with history of complaints.
Residents affected by noise and other issues from short-stay properties should report it via
the 24-hour hotline on (07) 5329 6466.
