2016-02-02 Infrastructure & Services Committee Agenda

INFRASTRUCTURE & SERVICES COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                             2 FEBRUARY 2016


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 29 and 31 December and 2 January (these days were selected based on busiest passenger
data from 2014/15). The passenger assistant addressed passenger enquiries and movements at
the station.

5.   Feedback Survey

A feedback survey was available on Council’s website, Facebook, a link was referenced on the
Free Hiolday Bus posters and hard copies were distributed by the passenger assistant at the
Noosa Heads bus station. 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 65 surveys were completed (39 online & 26
hard copy). The passenger assistant reported that passengers were often unable to complete the
survey before their bus arrived.

Points of interest include:
 Nearly 60% of respondents who caught a Free Holiday Bus had access to a car in Noosa.
 The main reason people caught a free holiday bus was to avoid traffic and congestion, followed
   by limited parking.
 33% of users were satisfied with their trip and 61% were very satisfied.
 71% of users caught a bus for recreational purposes e.g. to get to the beach, entertainment,
   dining etc., 20% used it to perform errands such as shopping, 16% caught a bus to visit
   friends/family and nearly 16% caught the bus to get to work (total is greater than 100% as people
   could select more than one answer).
 If the buses had not been free, 49% of the respondents would have driven their car and 20%
   would have caught the bus anyway.
 Street banners were the primary means by which people found out about the Free Holiday
   Buses (28%), followed by word of mouth (26%), the newspaper (23%), and roadside traffic
   signs/posters (13%).
 The residential status of respondents included – Noosa Council residents (54%), Queensland
   residents (11%), Sunshine Coast Council residents (14%),International visitors (14%) and
   Interstate visitors (8%)
 32% of respondents were aged between 26-40 years and 28% were 60 years and older.
 Of the Noosa respondents, outside of the Free Holiday Buses, nearly 23% only catch a bus
   once a year and 17% never catch a bus. The main reason cited for not catching public transport
   was that it was inconvenient followed by cost.
 When asked if there were free buses year round, would you/your household consider reducing
   the number of vehicles you owned, 60% of respondents said yes!

The open ended feedback was mostly positive with requests for the service to run for longer and
for all buses to be free. There continues to be confusion/negativity about Route 620 & 631 which
are not part of the free services.




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