Traffic and Parking Woes in Noosa

OSCAR member John Hare’s article over in Noosa Matters suggests public transport can provide the answers to traffic congestion. I recognise OSCAR’s primary interest is in broad, region-wide transport issues, but to translate these solutions to Noosa’s specific issues seems to me counterproductive. Since comments are not allowed on the Noosa Matters pages I thought it desirable to bring the issue here where we CAN have a debate, because whatever my politics I don’t think it’s ethical to not allow or listen to counter arguments.

Noosa’s most immediate and pressing problem is the sheer volume of traffic trying to access Main Beach, the Spit and Noosa NP on weekends and holiday times and the way this congestion now spreads out across roads in town and in the shire. All roads lead to the Hastings Street precinct. If you’re on a bus you won’t have the hassle of trying to find a parking spot, but you’re just as likely to experience the frustration of sitting in a line of traffic as anyone else.

Anyone who’s been to Main Beach lately and seen the mountains of paraphernalia (and the trolleys to cart it) that are seen as necessary for today’s beach going experience will understand that to pile all this into the car and drive to a bus stop (because there are few bus stops anywhere where people live), find a long term carpark near the bus stop, unload all the gear and try to get it on and off the bus, then reverse this effort on the way home, makes a trip to the beach a mammoth task one would only attempt once or twice a year if it was absolutely necessary. Ditto for the idea of parking in the AFL grounds and catching a bus. Does anyone else notice that there are rarely more than one or two cars parked there during the free loop bus times and 50% of the drivers of these cars are walking their dogs in the AFL grounds, not on their way to the beach.

Who is it using the free bus loop? My guess is it’s mostly tourists from accommodations on the route, and as Mr Hare notes there are questions about whether residents should be picking up the tab for this.

Maybe the free buses do keep a few cars off the road. At the end of a holiday season they’re always justified with the same survey that asks would you have driven a car if you couldn’t take the bus? My feeling is that a Mum in Cooroy would know better than to attempt to drive her kids to the beach at midday in peak season. The bus does provide access, but I really doubt she’d be getting the car out and trying to find a park in Hastings St if there was no free bus. (Maybe that $10m water park is going to be the solution for her.)

Council have been putting in bike lanes all over Noosa for quite a few years now, and while they are used, they’re used by a tiny number of people, and if they’ve had any impact on congestion or parking woes it’s very hard to see and impossible to quantify.

So many of the solutions offered rely on what people SHOULD do – ride a bike, walk, catch a bus, but for every local who catches the bus or decides to stay home there are plenty more visitors who’ll take their place in the vehicle queues. People WANT to drive their cars to the beach and they’ll continue to do so however many bike lanes are built or however many free buses are provided.

What’s the solution? Multi-story carparks on the Lions Park? A four lane bridge across the Sound to the Spit? A roadway from Sunshine Beach through the National Park? Making everyone stop/park in the Junction so it gets some of the action? Paid parking ? The success of the Lions Park paid parking shows that people WILL pay, and that paying for parking won’t keep people away. My feeling is that none of these solutions will have much support from the community, and if they were put in place to bring more cars into the Hastings St precinct it would, as Mr Hare points out, just move the congestion to other parts of the road system (eg Reef St roundabout) and affect more residents just trying to go about their daily lives.

There is a disconnect between what the tourism industry sees as most desirable (more people, more tourists, easier access to their businesses, more parking) and what the community sees as desirable. Do we want to turn Noosa into a six lane highway system catering for thousands per hour with their destination the beach? How would that help residents?

There are two adages that come to mind here. The first is ‘If you build it they will come’. So if we built more carparks and more roads for visitors to Main Beach, are we prepared for what that means for the rest of Noosa and for the people who live here? (I’m aware this adage doesn’t apply to bike lanes – it seems an exception. If you build bike lanes a few stalwarts will use them is all that happens).

The second adage is ‘If you want to change attitudes, you have to first change behaviour’. It seems to me our Council has played around with the idea of bike lanes and free buses for long enough. Behaviour is NOT changing, so it’s time to consider compulsion. If you want cars to stay away from the beach precinct make it harder for them, make it so darn hard the alternatives look better. Paid parking is not going to do it. What we need is to NOT use the Lions Park, restrict parking elsewhere in the precinct, and have a BIG sign at the entrance to Noosa Drive/Parade or preferably at the entrance to Noosa saying ‘Beach Parking Full’ – like they do at the State Library, or the Art Gallery, or The Ekka. And THEN give viable travel alternatives. It would be chaotic for a while, but I think it would end up making Noosa a better place to live and to visit.

Noosa Council has shown it’s just not up to the job of juggling the diverse interests in this issue. It just gives us more of the tired old solutions that are not working. The draft Economic Plan doesn’t even mention tourism or its impact. Council is apparently working on a ‘Destination Management Plan’. What’s the bet that there will be no community consultation about how they want the PLACE to be and it will have nothing in it about Transport solutions? Best to keep all these things in their boxes it seems.