Sunshine Coast mass transit: Poll favours bus corridor, 4500 people line beach in light rail protest

Thousands of residents voiced their opposition to light rail on the weekend ahead of a council meeting to decide the next step on the mass transit plan. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Light rail has turned out to be surprisingly popular in an online poll ahead of the council’s vote on the controversial project.

The Sunshine Coast Daily asked readers what their preferred mass transit option from Maroochydore to Caloundra would be with light rail coming in second, after quality bus corridor.

The results come after 4500 people lined beaches between Mooloolaba to Maroochydore to protest against the controversial form of transport on Sunday.

At the time of publication 24 per cent of 450 respondents voted in favour of a quality bus corridor while 22 per cent supported light rail.

Meanwhile, 20 per cent of readers voted for none of the five options currently before council, while 17 per cent were in favour bus rapid transit plan, 12 per cent supported the trackless tram and only five per cent wanted to see wireless light rail introduced.

Mass Transit Action Group member Mark Attwell said he was surprised when told about the Daily’s polling results.

“None of the polling we’ve done has come near that,” he said.

“(Light rail) is really getting under locals skin and it’s really struck a nerve.

“I don’t know what more the community can do to show how much they are against the plan for that sort of infrastructure to be built on the Coast.”

Many residents have questioned why the controversial option of light rail, which would see the project be built along 13km stretch from Maroochydore to Kawana including the beachfront, was included in the mass transit plan.

Sunshine Coast Council said the light rail plan was one of five options to be considered and it had not come to a final decision on which project would best meet the needs of residents.

Massive light rail protest on Alexandra Beach ahead of the crucial vote on mass transit options. Picture: Patrick Woods.

The state government will decide on which mass transit mode was most appropriate for the region.

Long term Cotton Tree resident Peter Dun said he attended Sunday’s protest because he felt the light rail project was the wrong option for the Coast.

“It makes no sense at all to take the pristine and invaluable land behind the beach and turn it into a light rail railway track,” Mr Dun said.

“It makes no sense at all in my opinion, the council has had the opportunity to plan for some major transport corridors for decades and unfortunately they haven’t but this isn’t a way to solve that problem.”

Massive light rail protest on Alexandra Beach ahead of the crucial vote on mass transit options. Picture: Patrick Woods.

Mr Dun said there were people standing “shoulder to shoulder” on Sunday in an effort to show council what the community really thinks of the plan.

“There was a lot of people there, it was a bit of a conga line from Cotton Tree caravan park to Mooloolaba down to Brisbane Road,” he said.

“There was a large crowd, it was representative of a broad cross section of the community from retirees to working age to the younger generation with their children and people who were interested in the area because of the ocean.”

The council will be attending the special meeting on October 20 to discuss the mass transit plan with council officers.

Division 4 councillor Joe Natoli said he’s received a lot of calls from residents concerned about the light rail plan.

“They just don't understand why council don’t want to listen to them,” Mr Natoli said.

Mr Attwell said councillors would have to be “deaf, dumb and blind” by now to not know what residents wanted out of the mass transit plan.

“The amount of community outrage out there now, the amount of people who are against it you could fill a whole suburb with, you couldn’t fill a tin shed with the amount of people in favour (of light rail),” Mr Attwell said.

Stay tuned to sunshinecoastdaily.com.au on October 20 for all the latest, live, as councillors make their decision.