WHY ROADBLOCK LOOMS FOR CITY LOOP SHUTTLE BUS PROPOSAL
A CITY loop shuttle bus planned to help alleviate the Cairns CBD’s parking woes looks set to be shelved after a report claimed it would cost too much and not be used enough.
The report, prepared by engineering consultants Arup, is set to be tabled in a Cairns Regional Council committee meeting tomorrow and recommends the bus plan be placed on the backburner.
Despite ongoing public frustration with parking in the city, the report also states there is “only limited issue with parking availability within the CBD” centred around Cairns Hospital.
The council last month introduced a host of parking changes that included 350 new spaces, an increase in paid parking hours, including the weekends, and higher parking fines.
The 141 new spaces near the hospital are due to be completed by July.
The bus service was pitched as a way to assist both commuting city workers and tourists travelling around the CBD.
The scenarios considered for the city loop bus included a park-and-ride system operating from areas at Cairns North or Parramatta Park.
But the report estimates costs for each option ranged between $400,000 and $6.5 million for each bus per year and there had been no funds set aside for it in the council budget or 10-year financial plan.
Infrastructure services general manager Bruce Gardiner’s report highlights recent efforts by council to make the CBD more “walkable”, including upgrades of Shields, Lake and Florence streets, countdown timers at traffic light crossings and improved street lighting.
Division 5 Cr Richie Bates has previously voiced his support for the introduction of the bus, starting with two shuttle buses running up and down the length of Lake St.
“Even if the take-up is not as good as we’d like it right now, we would be planting the seed for the future,” he said following a workshop in August.
The proposal may not be completely confined to the scrap heap, though, with the report saying it could be revisited “in the medium term”.