Local businesses reveal how Gympie Bypass has impacted trading

With the recent opening of the bypass, small business owners in Gympie share how the shift in traffic flow is reshaping their daily operations and future outlook.

Gympie small businesses have shared optimism that the bypass won’t impact them too negatively.

The opening of the long-awaited Gympie Bypass has brought up questions as to how businesses will be affected due to traffic being moved away from the town centre.

Mike, the new owner of Tramcars Cafe located on Hall Road, is optimistic about the changes and explains the business has not been poorly affected.

“I really don’t think [the bypass] has affected us, but time will tell during the holiday season,” he said.

“Some tourists may come off [the Bruce Highway] and find us, but 95 per cent of our customers are locals. We get a mix of people from interstate and the Sunny Coast, but we see mostly local people.

“I believe it’s taken a lot of the traffic out of town which is nicer for the locals, but a couple of the service stations have been impacted in a negative way with not getting enough traffic. I don’t think that’s a good thing.”

Smitty, the new owner of Tramcars Cafe, located on Hall Road just off the Old Bruce Highway.

Mike, who is affectionately known as ‘Smitty’, told us what he thought could be done better with the bypass opening.

“[There needs to be] a bit more signage when it comes to the off ramps,” he said.

“Our off ramps say ‘Noosa Road Flood Road’, it doesn’t say ‘Welcome to Gympie’, it doesn’t say ‘Service Station’ or ‘Come and see Smitty’.

“I feel for the businesses in the middle of town because we have an off-ramp way before them and another off-ramp way after them.

“If you want to get off at the Centro or a service station, the off-ramps are spread so far apart with no signage to direct people.

“There should’ve been a more central off-ramp rather than at the very start of town and at the very end of town. You’ve got to get off the old off-ramp to get into town.”

The new Gympie Bypass only has signage that says ‘Flood Rd’ and ‘Noosa Rd’ to direct travellers into the heart of town.

Angelina, the owner of S&J Cafe on Mary Street, has a different experience.

“The day [the bypass] opened, the town felt immediately quiet,” she said.

“It has affected us. I don’t have the figures at the moment, but it’s definitely a lot quieter in town.

“Locals are still here, but travellers, not so much.”

Angelina said the local government should have put effort into “advertising what Gympie has to offer” to make travellers more inclined to stop by and check out local businesses.

Angelina, the new owner of S&J Cafe, located on Mary Street.

George, the new owner of Room Motels on the old Bruce Highway, explains “we haven’t really seen a drop off yet.”

“The only downside so far is we are a little down is the last couple of days have been a little bit of a drop off. This week isn’t usually as busy as we normally are, however, we do normally catch up throughout the week - but nothing immediate yet.”

“I suppose the biggest drop off would be people who are travelling from somewhere like Rockhampton, where they now think ‘I can make that distance,’ so we might miss out on those.”

“I suppose we won’t know until 3 or 6 months time when the data comes in.”

“There’s the question as to whether or not the Christmas and New Years period will be a quieter, but looking at the data here, it didn’t suggest that. We’ve compared this year to last year and nothings changed much yet.”

George, the new owner of Room Motels, located on the Old Bruce Highway.

“We get a lot of the corporate people and construction workers, but I’ve noticed with the 50c trains, there are a lot more people coming from Brisbane, so it’s not attracting the type of people we’re expecting, so it’s interesting.”

Regarding whether or not they would need to adjust the business to suit the new traffic patterns, “No, we’re very consistent here. So far so good.”

“If we were negatively affected by the bypass opening, I’d be hoping the council would remunerate us or something. I’ve looked for significant surveys and research, but I couldn’t really find anything.”

“If they were doing a billion dollar project, you’d think they’d have a serious look into the town and do some reports. If they had done more research into how the town would be affected, that’s what I would have liked to see.”

“It seems like Gympie is large enough to sustain itself, but I think the servos will be a bit more affected than us.”

Michelle, the manager of Eastern Motor Inn, located on the Old Bruce Highway.

Michelle, the manager of the Eastern Motor Inn on the Old Bruce Highway, says that there’s hasn’t been any changes in customers or foot traffic and does not plan on adjusting business hours, services, or staff.

“We don’t get as many workers, but otherwise, it’s pretty much the same. We still get a lot of travellers in.”

“The best thing about the bypass would be less trucks coming through town and we’d receive less noise complaints from the customers.”

“We knew the noise levels were going to drop and it would be easier to get out onto the road.”

Richard, the owner of Two Bears Secondhand & Record Bar, located on Mary Street.

Richard, the owner of Two Bears Secondhand & Record Bar on Mary Street, also hasn’t noticed too much of a difference in customers.

“It’s about the same sort of mix, people coming from everywhere. We actually had few from Townsville yesterday.”

“It’s easier to get to Gympie - it’s obviously quicker, time is money.”

While the effects of the bypass have not been immediate for most of Gympies small businesses, time will tell whether or not it has had an overall positive or negative impact on the community as a whole.