Page 857 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 6 April 2022
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
For instance, there are some people who absolutely have to drive for work. This includes delivery drivers and those who work at multiple sites in a day. I have family members who have worked as drivers. I used to run a business where I would sometimes work at Tidbinbilla and sometimes in Belconnen or Civic. I could get to Belconnen or Civic without a car, but I had to drive to Tidbinbilla. That was a really functional, structural element of the job that I could not change, and I could not do the job any other way.
Another example of barriers that are really hard to change is those faced by people who have mobility issues, such as those who are older or have a disability. For some of these people, driving is their best choice or maybe their only choice. That experience is different for different people. I know a lot of older Canberrans who do not have a licence and who would be housebound if they could not catch the bus or walk or get around by the footpaths some other way, perhaps in a motorised wheelchair. I also know a lot who really need more flexibuses, more and better public transport, subsidised taxis, and really, really good paths.
We have around one in seven adults with a disability who cannot use public transport and around one in six who have difficulty using public transport. We also have around one in two adults with a disability who do not drive at all. That shows pretty clearly that we need a range of options for different people and that we have some work to do.
I recently put out a discussion paper about a lot of these issues. I highlighted the need for better paths and shared paths to help us get around our city, and to help get more cars off our roads. That actually has a lot of benefits because, if we get the people off the roads who do not need to drive, we leave enough room for the people who really do need to drive and leave those car parks there for the people who really need them.
Another set of structural barriers comes from trip chaining by parents with kids, carers and people who need to run errands in all parts of the city. We have built a big, spread-out city, and often people’s work, home, school, day care, shops and services are all in different suburbs. It is really hard to take the bus in one day to lots of different suburbs. It is not always feasible.
But there are a lot of barriers that we could fix by making the bus more convenient, by making it better. Here are the most common barriers I hear about and that have come up again and again in the data: “The bus does not go where I need to go. The bus takes too long to get where I need to go. The bus does not come often enough to be convenient. I can’t rely on the bus to turn up on time, or maybe I can’t rely on it to turn up at all.”
A motion about our public transport network could address these problems. Unfortunately, this motion has not done that. It does not acknowledge the special circumstances we are in right now and it does not acknowledge the workforce problems arising from COVID. It looks primarily at ticket price. It asks for a free trial that we are just not quite ready for. It also does not provide financial relief to those who need it most.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video