Sold as reducing wait times and congestion, a new ferry operation seems yet to live up to those great expectations for users and residents.
Users remain frustrated at long queues for the Noosa North Shore Ferry at peak times – on the low tide on long weekends and holidays.
The ferry queues on the Tewantin side mean residents of Moorindil Street and its side streets struggle to get in and out.
A supposed road upgrade, mentioned when council officers recommended the council award the contract to the new operator, has not yet materialised.
In 2022, Noosa councillors backed a staff recommendation to award the ferry contract to Divers Den Investments Pty Ltd, aka Entrada Travel Group, for the next 20 years.
With a 27-vehicle and 12-vehicle barge, DDI has a greater carrying capacity than Cliff Andreassen’s Noosa North Shore Ferries, which had two 10-vehicle vessels. DDI also offered cashless payment while Noosa North Shore Ferries only accepted cash.
A council office report recommending the switch said: “The significant vehicle capacity increases will provide a major improvement to the service and substantially eliminate vehicle queuing issues, while also addressing a number of operational risks and allowing council to future-proof the service”.
The report also referred to intent to add a second northbound lane to the Moorindil Street approach to the ferry landings, extending approximately 600m south.
The new operator took over in the middle of this year but social media posts from users angry about long queues have persisted in peak periods.
A user told Sunshine Coast News that although the new operator had a bigger vessel, it took more time to load and unload.
“It’s got more vehicles but it’s also got this gate system – it’s hard to explain – that’s got to open and close,” he said.
He said the queues were still bad during peak periods and a wait of 1.5 hours was standard to return to Noosa at the end of a weekend.
Ferry prices for visitors have also increased from $20 to $30 return for standard cars and utitilies and a user said the only difference was that passengers were now paying more for the same thing.
Sunshine Coast News attempted to speak to DDI/Entrada about the ferry operation but received no response.
Noosa Council is working with the ferry operator to streamline service and is deploying traffic counters to monitor traffic flow and the performance of the new ferry service and the potential impacts on the area.
Noosa Council’s chief executive officer Larry Sengstock remained confident the new ferry operator has queuing under control.
“The new operator appears to be managing queuing loads at the moment, and we are in regular discussions with them to ascertain how traffic is flowing, particularly during peak periods,” he said.
“The popularity of Noosa North Shore during school holidays and weekends provides obvious challenges on Moorindil Street, but we are confident the larger ferries will help better manage traffic queuing.”
A long-term resident of Cobham Street, a cul-de-sac off Moorindil Street, said the ferry traffic was a nightmare, choking the roads and intersections.
She said some residents took back ways but those living in cul-de-sacs which relied on Moorindil St for access could not get through the traffic.
She was not sure that a slip lane would make any difference, saying, “A slip lane to where?”.
The resident said the council could help immediately and at relatively little cost by marking “clear-ways” at all of the Moorindil Street intersections and roundabouts.
“We have an elderly population around here. If an emergency vehicle needed to get down the road, I don’t know what they’d do,” she said.
The resident, who did not want to be named, said she had written to the council about a year ago requesting a clear-way be painted at the entrance to Cobham Street but was yet to receive a reply.
Mr Sengstock said any changes to roads such as slip lanes required a detailed investigation.
“Data from the traffic counters will provide good information,” he said.
“At this stage, we have forecast a design and traffic lane upgrade program in future years, subject to council’s annual budget program.”
“The proposed upgrade will use data from the new ferry operation arrangements.”
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