2019-04-09 Services & Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                     9 APRIL 2019


majority of their needs across the Noosa River. Residents are regularly affected by queuing
times at weekends and holidays and occasionally by natural hazards, with these delays being a
source of frustration for many. NNSF fields complaints from residents from time to time and
these are elevated to Council staff where necessary.
Residents are broadly represented by the Noosa North Shore Association (NNSA) (of which the
ferry operator is a member) and the Teewah Landowners Association. The NNSA is in regular
contact with Council and has previously detailed concerns with the ferry service. Review of key
issues follows below.
Ferry Service Review
White and Grey Consulting was engaged in mid-2018 to undertake a review of the ferry service
and consider options available to Council. Summary details of their findings are provided below.
Hours of Operation
Ferry operating hours are currently prescribed at:

 Sunday to Thursday            5:30am to 10.30pm

 Friday and Saturday           5:30am to 12:30am

 Long Weekends                 5:30am to 12:30am

Residents have expressed a desire for extended ferry operation hours on Sundays to Thursdays
from 10:30pm to 12:30pm. Schedule B of the Lease Agreement states that, subject to a further
agreement at a fee to be negotiated, the parties may arrange extended hours of service, if in the
opinion of the Council, traffic levels warrant it.
Since NNSF does not log hourly crossing figures (only daily figures), Council placed traffic
counters on the road approaches to the ferry in April and May 2018 spanning the Easter holiday
period to get an indication of the distribution of customers across the operating hours. As shown
in Figure 6 below, the traffic figures present as bell curves, with customer numbers highest
between 7:00am-4:00pm and dropping sharply during evening hours. Traffic count data
indicates that vehicle crossings after 9:30pm represents only 1% of total crossings.




                  Figure 6 – Indicative Hourly Moorindil Street Traffic Count Data

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