Neil Smith is not giving up on his goal of establishing better public transport for Tamborine Mountain until the job is done.
Since 2020 he has been the driving force behind the push for a full public transport service on the mountain.
Now, as Neil and fellow Rotarian Zoe Ross prepare to hand their next submission to Translink seeking stage two – a weekend service – Neil reflects on the six-year journey.
“It’s been intensive. It’s taken a lot of time,” he said of the battle to provide a service for residents.
After working with many elderly people through TMCCA and discussing the issue with local doctor Jan Zomerdijk, he knew people were having to sell up and leave because they had no means to get to medical facilities.
Through the Coomera River – Tamborine Mountain Rotary Neil set up a steering committee who sought community input and spent months putting together a submission that was sent to the transport minister, premier and Member for Scenic Rim, Jon Krause.
“We had a lot of support from Tom Tate, but not a lot of support from the Scenic Rim Mayor at the time, Greg Christensen, although we did have support from the local councillors in divisions one and two,” Neil said.
He and Zoe had several meetings with Translink about the issue.
Finally, in 2021 Translink agreed to a trial using a taxi which was then transferred to Transitcare to operate.
Unfortunately, this has meant many locals don’t realise the service is available for everyone, not just the elderly.
The Transitcare Demand Responsive Transport service remains a Monday to Friday bus service with four services a day to Helensvale and back and one afternoon service to and from Beenleigh using a car.
A spokesperson for Transport and Main Roads said hundreds of trips are taken on the service each week.
“We did ask for a seven day a week scheduled hourly bus service, but they said they could only do the Monday to Friday,” Neil explained.
“Everyone I’ve spoken to has been very complimentary and loved it but would like more buses running.”
The committee have been calling on locals to share their stories about how the current service has helped them and how the lack of a weekend service and an around the mountain bus has impacted their lives as part of the next submission.
“It’s a very good submission and I would think it would be very difficult for them to reject it,” Neil stated.
He hopes Tamborine Mountain will benefit from state government project, Better Roads and Transport, which includes a $15.5 billion investment in railways and bus infrastructure.
“I started it and I have to finish it,” he said determinedly.
However, the spokesperson for Transport and Main Roads said there are currently no plans to expand the service to operate on weekends.
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