Council Erases Rail Trail Data

October 31, 2019

Two years’ data about usage of the South Burnett Rail Trail has been removed from Council records because of concerns about its accuracy.

A request to remove the data from the Council’s annual Operational Plan was raised by Cr Ros Heit at October’s general meeting.

Cr Heit said she had raised concerns about the accuracy of the data at the previous month’s meeting, and found the latest monthly data equally suspect.

She wanted the data removed because she knew the figures were incorrect from her own involvement with a number of recent events held on the Rail Trail.

“Secondly – and more importantly – as decision-makers (who have to rely on) the data that is brought to us, particularly in an annual Operational Plan, it should be correct or it shouldn’t be there.

“While this isn’t the most important data of the day, it should still be correct and if it isn’t correct how can we have confidence in other data?”

CEO Mark Pitt said Council staff did their best with the data that was available to them, pointing out the counters had suffered ongoing problems since they were installed a few months after the Rail Trail opened in October 2017.

Those problems had been magnified by vandalism, with some instances of people putting tapes over the counters that had affected the monthly figures.

“The question is, Councillors, do we take those counters out?” Mr Pitt said.

“Up until this point council has always directed us to keep those counters in place.

“The data that the staff are presenting is the best data available given the equipment that we have been able to purchase.”

Mr Pitt said he agreed with Cr Heit data in the Operational Plan needed to be correct, and was happy to remove the Rail Trail counter data from the report.

Councillors agreed.

On Wednesday, the South Burnett Rail Trail Users Association (SBRTUA) said they had been debating the issue themselves at recent meetings.

The group is now considering applying for a grant to install counters of their own in an attempt to gather impartial Rail Trail usage data.

“Our members have been collecting daily data on the usage of freestay parks at Wondai and Wooroolin for the past 15 months,” SBRTUA president Dafyd Martindale said.

“This has provided a very good picture of grey nomad tourism in our region, and it is now starting to produce valuable year-on-year comparison data as well.

“But not every caravanner uses the trail, so we need Rail Trail usage data to develop a more complete picture of what’s happening along the corridor.

“If we’re successful in acquiring and installing counters, we’d be very happy to share that data with Council and anyone considering setting up or expanding a business to service Rail Trail tourists.”

• Related article: Rail Trail Counter Data Queried

[Disclosure: Dafyd Martindale is also the CEO of southburnett.com.au]

  Council