You can fly into the Sunshine Coast Airport but you can’t get a public bus to connect to planes, a situation State MP Fiona Simpson says is stupid and has to change.
Ms Simpson, the Member for Maroochydore and LNP spokesperson for Transport and Main Roads, said it was ridiculous that a major transport hub such as the Sunshine Coast airport was disconnected from the public transport system.
"The Gold Coast has public buses connecting to their airport. For the Sunshine Coast to have people lugging their bags a kilometre down a long road looking for the bus stop on David Low Way is farcical. This isn’t good enough and I’m lobbying the State Government and its transit authority Translink to do their job and fix it.
"Now I know why the Transport Minister has been handing out free pedometers and backpacks to the public to promote public transport – it’s so the average public transport user who doesn’t have a ministerial car can put shoes on and take a hike to find the bus."
Despite road upgrades to the Sunshine Coast Airport in which a new entrance direct from the Sunshine Motorway was built, Translink continues to use a previous bus route which drops passengers off on the David Low Way.
Passengers who travel by public transport to the Airport are unable to catch a bus that will deliver them to the terminal. Instead, passengers are dropped off on the main road, nearly a kilometre from the terminal.
When questioned about adjusting bus routes to deliver passengers to the terminal, the Transport Minister said that such a new bus route "must be considered and prioritised against the competing needs of the network."
Minister Nolan’s office advised that a direct route to the Sunshine Coast Airport is not expected to be completed until mid 2011.
Ms Simpson said it was a contemptuous answer which was unacceptable. They have spent millions on boffins planning "integrated" transport solutions but they can’t figure out how to integrate the service between a major transport hub, the airport, and their buses. "They’ve got their priorities wrong."