JIM FAGAN
A vision of Noosa-style electric buses transporting passengers for free was described to Noosa Council’s infrastructure and services committee by Mayor Noel Playford on Tuesday.
And he gave an indication that the future may not be too far away when he revealed discussions have already been held with the Queensland major bus transport and bus manufacturing company, Transit Australia, and “they were interested.” He told Councillors Sandy Bolton (acting chairman) and Frank Pardon that in two weeks’ time he and council’s interim director of community infrastructure, Martin Drydale, were meeting senior executives of Translink, council’s public transport provider, and “we have a reasonable chance of pulling something off in the not too distant future.” Mr Playford was commenting on a recommendation to the committee by project design and delivery co-ordinator Ross Sanderson that all works at the Noosa Parade bus facility, including pavement overlays, be put on hold until planning is carried out and agreement reached in the area between Noosa Lions Park and the “Maze” car park. This included a $300,000 plan to provide cycle lanes in Noosa Parade between Noosa Drive and the entrance to Lions Park. According to Mr Sanderson, Noosa Parade Transit Hub was the second most important stop within Noosa Shire with more than 140,000 people using it in a 12-month period. The Noosa Junction Transit Centre had shifted some demand but the attractions of Hastings Street, Main Beach and Noosa National Park were causing it to remain popular with bus passengers. Mr Playford said: “We have talked about it for 30 years that it would be nice to have a Noosa-style bus service. Most of us have understood it is probably pie in the sky but I don’t think it is any more. There are electric buses running all over the world and we’ve got a particular situation that actually lends itself to doing that in a relatively confined urban area. “The improvements in electric vehicles and battery technology in recent years are such it will be a relatively short space of time before you’ll find electric buses everywhere in the world including Australia. “Not too far down the track, we may end up with a smaller, local electric bus system and that could mean a huge change to the transport hubs with more people using buses, particularly if they are free.”
