2014-05-20 Infrastructure & Services Committee Agenda

INFRASTRUCTURE & SERVICES COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                    20 MAY 2014


Additionally, car park counts were undertaken in the Noosa Junction Bus Station precinct during
the week of Free Holiday Buses, as well as a non-school holiday period at the end of March for
comparison purposes. Due to rain and inconsistent data collection, unfortunately the car parking
comparisons were inconclusive and did not draw any meaningful comparisons.

7.    Customer Feedback Survey

An external agency was engaged to conduct face-to-face customer feedback surveys on the
initiative. The survey was also available online. The survey consisted of 16 questions seeking
feedback on areas such as age, purpose of travel, satisfaction with trip, residential status,
reasons for using the Free Holiday Buses and awareness of public transport. Of the 16
questions, 5 of the questions were targeted specifically at Noosa residents. A total of 432
surveys were completed.

Significant findings from the survey are:

1.    The majority of respondents were aged between either 16 – 18 years (21%) or 41 – 60
      years (29%).
2.    79% of respondents have a driver’s licence.
3.    57% of respondents had access to a car in Noosa.
4.    Of the respondents that had access to a car in Noosa, 48% were Noosa residents and 33%
      were aged 41 – 60 years.
5.    97% of respondents caught a Free Holiday Bus during the period and 97% of these
      respondents were either ‘extremely satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’ with their trip.
6.    Of the respondents who caught a Free Holiday Bus, 50% did so because it was
      convenient, 35% to avoid traffic / congestion and 34% to save money.
7.    Recreation was the main purpose of travel for 73% of respondents.
8.    Sign writing on buses (30%), word of mouth (25%) and street banners (21%) on power
      poles proved to be the most successful marketing mechanisms for the initiative.
9.    7% of respondents were not aware of the initiative.
10.   41% of respondents were Noosa residents and 21% of respondents were Interstate
      visitors.
11.   54% of Noosa respondents utilised buses on either a daily or weekly basis.
12.   The cost of bus fares and buses being inconvenient were the two main reasons listed by
      Noosa respondents who did not regularly use public transport.
13.   39% of Noosa respondents stated that the Free Holiday Buses program has improved their
      awareness of public transport in Noosa.
14.   40% of Noosa respondents stated that they would use public transport more in the future
      as a result of the Free Holiday Buses program.

8.    Noosa Heads Lions Park Car Park

The Noosa Heads Lions Park Car Park was approved for use as a car park from 17 April 2014 to
21 April 2014 (5 days). Due to heavy rainfall earlier in the week, in order to protect the condition
of the park, the car park did not open until Saturday 19 April 2014. There was no damage
reported to the park resulting from use as a car park.

A total of 1,200 vehicles utilised the car park over the 3 day period at a cost of $10.00 per vehicle
(per day or part thereof). A cheque has been received from Tewantin Noosa Lions Club in the
amount of $12,000 representing this revenue. Following is a breakdown of the number of
vehicles utilising the car park each day:

Saturday 19th April =      446
Sunday 20th April =        428
Monday 21st April =        326


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