JIM FAGAN
Noosa Council is expected to approve a free holiday bus shuttle service during Easter (April 14 to April 21) at its meeting tonight. But is calling for costs for the future.
This was recommended at the council’s general meeting on Monday but not before considerable discussion on whether ratepayers were getting value-for-money, Mayor Noel Playford saying he had no idea what the costs per head per journey were. “If we are talking about trying to solve the problem of congestion in Hasting Street, how does it help with a free bus service from Peregian Beach to the Junction or from Tewantin to Cooran or Tewantin to the Junction? Has anyone ever looked at why are we spending $300,000 a year or something like that? Are we using a sledgehammer here to crack a nut?” He asked if council transport project officers could obtain for council after Easter a cost per trip. “In other words if we are providing free bus transport to people, say, $10 per head per journey or maybe it’s 50 cents, I have absolutely no idea, could you at the same time make some judgement because of past figures on the same metric “One of the things I am asking to do is how can we restructure this so that we are covering the problem. We started this back in the 90s. It was different then and it has developed over the years but it’s not enough to say we keep it because some people like it. “The argument should be what are we spending the money for? Is this the correct solution and the most appropriate solution? I don’t think we have actually investigated enough to tailor the solution to what the problem is. “And I’m not sure of what effect it has on traffic. We have hundreds of thousands of dollars collected from people by way of a transport levy. Therefore the thought is we’ve got the money let’s spend it. I think it’s an attitude that’s got to stop.” The issue of what impact the shuttle service had on day shift taxi drivers – “some of the lowest paid workers in Noosa” – was raised by Councillor Frank Wilkie. “The drivers say they take home one-third of the $300 they get through the meter during a standard 10-hour shift in non-peak times. That is, after paying the taxi owner half the take and paying their own GST and tax, they earn approximately $100 for a 10-hour shift. “They reported this drops to $230 for a 10-hour shift when free buses are running during peak holiday times, meaning a take home pay of $70-$73 for a 10 hours’ work.” He asked if council officers could include some way of measuring the impact of the free bus service on taxis in their free-bus customer feedback surveys so the total cost to the community of this service can be gauged. The recommendation includes using Lions Heads Lions Park as a car park and making an agreement for Tewantin Noosa Lions Club to manage the car park on a 60-40 revenue share arrangement. Council will also undertake a customer feedback survey to gather Noosa-specific data for future comparative purposes.
