April 5, 2012

A trial of a new bus service connecting the South Burnett to Gympie will begin on April 30.

South Burnett Regional Council CEO Ken McLoughlin said the current Pursers’ bus service that operates between Kingaroy and Murgon would be extended to Gympie on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays as part of Blueprint for the Bush funding.

The bus will leave Kingaroy at 8:45am and arrive in Gympie at 11:00am, with pickups in towns along the way. It will leave Gympie at 12:30pm to arrive in Kingaroy at 2:45pm.

Mr McLoughlin said it was not designed to be a shopping bus but rather a link to allow residents to connect with train and bus services to the north, south and to the coast or to visit health specialists.

“The Kingaroy to Murgon service links with the Blackbutt to Kingaroy service, so residents south of Kingaroy have the same access to Gympie,” Mr McLoughlin said.

The operators of Pursers Buses, Harvy and Andrew Dascombe, said they were excited about the opportunity provided by the Blue Print for the Bush grant.

“Pursers Buses have been keen to try a run to Gympie but the cost of establishing it was beyond the level of risk we could take,” Harvy said.

“Now with this subsidy we have two years to trial it and to get it established.

“Since the idea first started being talked about a few weeks ago a number of people have contacted us asking when it will start. So now we have the start date of April 30 and people will need to use it or lose it.”

Seats on the new service can be booked by contacting Pursers on (07) 4168-1533.

UPDATE May 9: The start of this service has been delayed until May 15.  It will now operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.