ConuntryLink Buses and Other Operators Disrupted by Hotel Upgrade

A 26 million dollar refurbishment and expansion of a Novotel Hotel in Civis has been disrupting bus services, as well as upsetting tenants who live on the 1st floor, claiming they are being motivated to leave in order to make room for more shops. They are adding 89 more rooms, 2 more stories, and 37 extra parking spaces. The project includes expanding the lobby, redesigning the conference rooms, adding a new restaurant and bar, and restyling the already existent 197 rooms. Coach companies who operate from the ground floor from Jolimont Tourist Centre have complained that the rent has risen from 200 to 1200 percent. Novotel says that these increases come from a review that was carried from the coach companies, plus, they hadn’t risen the rent since the 1990s.

The buses that are operated by CountryLink were relocated to West Row from the Jolimont Centre during June. A spokeswoman says that a long-term, alternative arrangement will be chosen in due time. Transborder Express has been operating services on Northbourne Avenue in the front of the hotel and double-parking beside cars that are parked in the zone for dropping people off. Murrays Coaches, Greyhound Australia, and other small coach companies use the centre as well. A spokesman for Greyhound said that while the company is looking at expanding their services to Kingston due to it being more convenient for some of their customers, they will not leave Jolimont Centre, of which is convenient and in a central location. Wayne Greenwood, the manager of Jolimont Centre, says that they will have an upgraded bay for the buses completed by November.

Find out more at: www.countrylink.info