2020-07-07 S&O Agenda - Item 1 - Attachment 1 - Go Noosa Initiatives Evaluation

Operational effectiveness:

Using live data from Google Maps and correlation with previous year car park counts,
algorithms were developed to automatically change the display with congestion level updates
of green (low congestion & parking available), orange (congestion & some parking) and red
(heavy congestion & limited parking) followed by encouragement to Park & Ride. The boards
sought to reinforce positive messaging rather than negative reinforcement of congestion
issues.

The Go Noosa App was downloaded by 6,563 phone users and the website version of the
App was downloaded by 1,273 users. The App was promoted via advertisements on the side
of TransLink buses servicing the entire Sunshine coast, TV, radio, print and social media.

Upgrades to the App required processing via Google Play store and this resulted in some
delays to App improvements.

Data obtained:
A traffic, pedestrian and car parking occupancy survey was conducted on 3 January 2018, 3
January 2019 and again on 3 January 2020 in the Noosa Heads and Noosa Junction precincts.

Data collected over 13.5 hours at the Hastings Street roundabout showed an increase in
pedestrian activity however there was also an increase in vehicles entering and a decrease in
other modes. Refer Table 4 below.

Table 4: Mode Comparison– 3 Jan 2018, 2019 & 2020




Directly comparable data on the number of bus patronage on the 3rd January 2020 is not able
to be obtained due to data restrictions from TransLink, however, interpolating the overall
figures suggest that there may have been a 20% increase in public transport use which may
have contributed to the decline in some modes e.g more people choosing to catch a bus
instead of bike ride which may be influenced by difficulty riding a bicycle on Noosa Parade or
Noosa Drive at busy time of year.

Feedback:

Approximately 36% of survey respondents indicated that the roadside digital information
boards helped to inform their travel choices (27% - not applicable, 23% - no, 15% - unaware
of the boards)