Sunshine Coast mass transit survey response numbers remain in council vault

Council refuses to say how many responses it has received so far on its mass transit survey, as community consultation reaches its final days.

Sunshine Coast Mayor Mark Jamieson and councillor Rick Baberowski announcing the start of community consultation for the Mass Transit Plan Options Analysis.

The number of responses to a survey on a major transport proposal remains a mystery as Sunshine Coast Council refuses to release the figures.

Less than a week remains for residents to have their say on the Sunshine Coast Mass Transit Survey as an eight-week community consultation process on the future of transport, namely mass transit options which include light rail, wraps up on June 22.

Sunshine Coast Council again refused to reveal how many responses it had received to-date nor would it confirm how many in-person interactions had been recorded at pop-up booths across the region.

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A council spokeswoman said the organisation appreciated the community's ongoing engagement in the consultation process and was "thankful to all those people who have completed the Sunshine Coast Mass Transit survey to-date".

"All survey responses are being considered and a report will be presented to council in due course," the spokeswoman said.

"The outcomes of the community and stakeholder feedback about the mass transit options will inform the finalised Mass Transit Options Analysis report, which will be considered by council later this year."

An artist's impression of bus rapid transit, which is one of the options presented in Sunshine Coast Council's Draft Options Analysis for a mass transit plan.

Former Organisation Sunshine Coast Association of Residents president Greg Smith said he had seen some improvements in the new council, but in other ways none in terms of transparency issues.

He said the number of responses received to-date should be public knowledge and he thought all submissions should be published on this and other major consultation processes.

"People need to understand if they make a submission it's going to be in the public domain," Mr Smith said.

Mr Smith had been a strong advocate for greater transparency within Sunshine Coast Council and several current councillors had campaigned on platforms of greater transparency ahead of the last local government election.

The council spokeswoman encouraged people to have their say in the final days of consultation.

"Subject to council's agreement, the finalised report will be sent to the state government for consideration and further assessment as the basis for the next phase of the business case process - the Detailed Business Case," the spokeswoman said.

Originally published as Mass transit survey response numbers shrouded in secrecy