2019-06-11 Services & Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA   11 JUNE 2019




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SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                  11 JUNE 2019

              Noosa Heads and Peregian Beach, Council must seek approval from the Director General of
              the Department of Transport and Main Roads to operate a competing service to the existing
              Route 620 as this contravenes the Transport Operations (Passenger Transport) Act 1994.
              Permission was granted for the Go Noosa trials and Council contracted Sunbus to deliver the
              temporary Route 064 Shuttle bus.
              Table 3: Free Bus Costs

               Free Bus Routes                             Amount Excl GST for 9 weeks

               TransLink services 626,627 628,629,632      $109,068 (Christmas)
                                                           $43,980 (Easter)
                                                           Total: $153,048
               Temporary 064 shuttle bus                   $71,719 (Christmas)
                                                           $39,795 (Easter)
                                                           Total: $111,514
              Paying TransLink for loss of revenue is good value for money when compared to paying the
              full cost of a bus service e.g temporary 064 shuttle bus. Staff have endeavoured to devise a
              “work-around” to avoid needing to provide shuttle 064 and to utilise the existing 620 TransLink
              bus service however until a new ticketing operating system is in place there is currently no
              viable alternative.
              As an overall cost per trip comparison, 285,913 passengers at a cost of $264,562 gives an
              average cost of 92 cents per passenger trip. This compares to an average cost of $1.15 per
              passenger trip in 2017/18 - a 20% reduction in cost per passenger trip.
              Areas for improvement:
              Bus services in Queensland are controlled by State Government entity TransLink and not
              Noosa Council. The size of buses, timetable, and routes are all determined by TransLink.
              In order to offer free public transport over the peak holiday periods Council must seek approval
              from TransLink and in turn pay TransLink for loss of revenue.
              Noosa Council has an excellent working relationship with TransLink and their local operator
              Sunbus, and will continue to work on areas for improvement including but not limited to:
                  e  Inclusion of free travel within Noosa on buses that travel outside of the Shire including
                     Route 620 Noosa Heads to Maroochydore, Route 630 Nambour to Noosa via
                     Eumundi, and Route 631 Noosa to Nambour via Cooroy and Eumundi.
                  e  Improvements to real-time predictions for all buses.
                  e  Timetable legibility.
                  e  Evening services.

              2.    Initiative - Information Systems: Car Parking Availability and Park & Ride
              Roadside digital information boards were situated at four key entry points to Noosa over the
              Christmas and Easter trials. The boards cycled through a number of positive messages with
              imagery to evoke a relaxed holiday atmosphere. One of the key messages was congestion
              and car parking availability in the Noosa Head’s precinct and encouragement to Park & Ride.
              Operational effectiveness:

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