Noosa Council still on board for free bus service

Noosa Council has agreed the popular Easter and Christmas free buses will keep rolling, but it wants to gauge just how effective the service is at reducing our holiday gridlock.

Thursday night's council meeting decided to support the free bus service again for a fortnight this Easter, from April 14th to 21st.

The council will kick in $81,500 towards the innovative service from the transport levy.

As well as the existing Translink services, there will be extra shuttles this Easter between Peregian Beach and Noosa Heads, as well as a continuous loop between Noosa Junction and Noosaville.

The Noosa Heads Lions Park will also be used as an extra car park for the busiest five days of the Easter holiday, from Thursday April 17th to Monday the 21st.

While the free public transport service has grown in popularity right across the Sunshine Coast since it was first introduced in Noosa, Mayor Noel Playford says it's a good time to measure what the service is achieving and whether it should be fine-tuned.

For instance, he says he's not sure if there's a clear benefit in free services very early in the morning or late at night, or in more remote areas where there's little traffic congestion to deal with in the first place.

Mr Playford says "we need to be clear about what we're trying to achieve here.  Is it to reduce congestion in peak holiday times, or is to promote public transport usage in general?"

"It's part of our job" he says "to keep asking these questions when we're spending ratepayers' money."

The council will seek more detailed figures on how the public uses the free service during the Easter period.

7 February 2014