Gold Coast’s on-demand transport trial reaches 50,000 trips

Credit: Kinetic

Kinetic has announced that the on-demand transport (ODT) trial in the Gold Coast’s northern region has been a success, with over 50,000 trips having taken place since the service had commenced a year ago.

The two-year trial, launched by the Government of Queensland in partnership with Kinetic in March 2022, offers a personalised service seven days a week to and from key locations within the service area, in Pacific Pines and Nerang/Highland Park, providing public transport coverage in locations where regular transport services are not available.

“The service meets the needs of a large group of regular users and continues to attract new users, with more than 9,000 app downloads for the service,” said Meaghan Scanlon, Member for Gaven and Queensland Minister for the Environment and the Great Barrier Reef and Minister for Science and Youth Affairs. “Customers say they enjoy that our on-demand buses offer a flexible public transport option, connecting people with essential services, such as shopping centres, employment and healthcare; and also integrates with the Translink bus, tram and train network.”

Bridging transport gaps with on-demand and shared mobility

Building on the success of the initiative, the government has launched a similar ODT service north of Brisbane. In February 2023, Queensland Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said that the Hervey Bay service would align closely to the successful Gold Coast trial.

“The on-demand transport trial on the Gold Coast has been a roaring success so far and we’ve received a lot of positive feedback about it,” Mark Bailey said. “So, it makes sense to role out a similar model in other locations like we are doing here in Hervey Bay.”

The Translink on-demand app managed Gold Coast customers’ bookings easily, tracked where their service was and showed real-time notifications to see when services will arrive.