By JONATHON HOWARD
NOOSA Council is considering whether to scrap or retain the council cab service.
Council Cabs is a transport service which assists people aged 60 and over from their home to specified shops or medical precincts.
The service is available one day per week at a cost of $2 one way.
Service figures from Noosa Council reveal usage of the Council Cabs has ranged from 54 people in December last year, to as many as 93 people in a council cab in April this year.
However, a lack of actively promoting the service which has not taken place since mid-2013 has resulted in static passenger numbers.
The service was implemented in May 2010 by the former Sunshine Coast Council and is funded by the Public Transport Levy.
Noosa councillors were provided five different potential options to deal with the council cab service during the council’s Infrastructure and Services Committee meeting on Tuesday 22 July.
The five options are given below:
Continue Council Cabs without any promotion.
Continue Council Cabs and actively promote the services. With promotion, the annual cost to council will increase.
Continue Council Cabs with a fare increase without promotion. Increasing the fare to $3 each way would result in a reduced annual cost from $10,460 to about $8,820.
Continue Council Cabs with a $3 fare increase and actively promote the services. The increase in fare would partly offset the increased costs due to promotion.
Discontinue Council Cabs and advise existing users of the alternative transport options.
Councillors were asked to consider the document’s recommendation which was in favour of option five: “discontinue the service and advise of alternative transport options”.
Among those other transport options available are the State Government Taxi Subsidy Scheme, Qld Ambulance Service, Home and Community Care, ComLink, Department of Veterans Affairs, Noosa Day Respite Centre and public transport options using Translink.
Councillors were expected to make a final decision on the matter in the coming days.
