2016-05-10 Services & Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                  10 MAY 2016


3.    Marketing

Marketing of the Free Holiday Buses included:

 Provision of signage at major bus stops, 15 street banners, and 4 variable message boards
   on major connecting roads.
 Posters in all Council facilities and visitor information centres.
 Council communication tools including website, Facebook, and messages on hold.
 Promotion through external stakeholders (Tourism Noosa, Accommodation Providers,
   Shopping Centres, Traders Association etc.) via inclusion on websites, emails, Facebook and
   newsletters.
 Front page story of the Noosa News.

TransLink also provided in-kind marketing support including but not limited to:

 Inclusion of the additional shuttle services on TransLink’s journey planner.
 Inclusion of messaging on webpages of all relevant TransLink routes.


4.    Passenger Assistant at Noosa Heads Bus Station

One Sunbus Passenger Assistant was based at Noosa Heads Bus Station from 9.30am to
4.10pm on the 29th, 30th and 31st March to assist with passenger enquiries and bus movements.
(These dates were chosen based on patronage numbers from 2015).


5.    Feedback Survey

A feedback survey was available on Council’s website and hard copies were distributed by the
Passenger Assistant at the Noosa Heads Bus Station. A total of 68 surveys were completed
(40 hard copy and 28 online).

Points of interest include:

 Nearly 65% of respondents who caught a Free Holiday Bus had access to a car in Noosa.
 The main reasons people caught a free holiday bus was convenience (49%), to avoid traffic
   and congestion (46%) and limited car parks (39%).
 17% of respondents were satisfied with their trip and 80% were very satisfied.
 80% of respondents caught a bus for recreational purposes e.g. to get to the beach,
   entertainment, dining etc.
 If the buses had not been free, 56% would have come by car and 23% would have caught
   the bus anyway.
 The primary way people found out about the Free Holiday Buses was via the street banners
   on power poles (30%), road side traffic signs (30%) followed by word of mouth (23%).
 The residential status of respondents included: Noosa Council residents (43%), Interstate
   visitors (26%) Sunshine Coast Council residents (12%), Queensland residents (11%), and
   International visitors (8%).
 38% of respondents were aged between 41-60 years and 35% were aged between 26-40
   years.
 Of the Noosa respondents, outside of the Free Holiday Buses, 29% never catch a bus and
   29% catch a bus once a year. The main reason cited for not catching public transport was
   inconvenience and cost.
 Of the Noosa respondents, 46% said they would catch public transport more in the future as
   a result of the Free Holiday Buses, 36% said they might and 11% are already regular bus
   users.
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