Page 3316 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 19 October 2022
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Transport—Tuggeranong bus services
MR PARTON: My question is to the Minister for Transport and City Services.
Minister, you stated in the Canberra Times on 9 October that timetables would be updated in 2023 to reflect community feedback, among other things. I can only assume that your office must have received similar feedback to mine regarding the removal and downgrading of Tuggeranong services and so those changes would include the return and the upgrading of a swathe of Tuggeranong services. Minister, are you able to detail all of those Tuggeranong improvements?
MR STEEL: I thank the member for his question. We continually, every year, make changes to update the network and timetable based on community feedback. Since 2019, when I took over as the transport minister, we had made a number of changes to the network, including in Tuggeranong. One of those changes was to the route of the R5, going through large parts of Tuggeranong and into the city, where we addressed some feedback, as well as changes to local routes to cover more parts of Longmore Crescent, in Wanniassa, and tweaks right around the network that responded to community feedback, and we will continue to make improvements to the network as we move forward into the future.
We made a range of changes that we have announced that will take place in term 1 2023. I have outlined a number of those to the Assembly, but I am happy to go through them again. We have adjusted Belconnen routes to allow the Fraser West terminus to be downgraded as per our community commitment.
Mr Parton: On a point of order on relevance, the question was specifically about Tuggeranong improvements in the network.
MADAM SPEAKER: As you stood on your point of order, I understood the minister was referring to details.
MR STEEL: Yes, these are changes that we are making across Canberra in relation to the network. I have outlined a number that we have made in Tuggeranong already. If the opposition does not want to hear what changes we have made, that is fine; they are available on the Transport Canberra website, to have a look at. And we will be making the timetable available on the website before the end of the term so that we can communicate, particularly to the school communities and the broader community, about what changes will be made to specific timings of buses as well.
MR PARTON: Minister, why have you been getting on with the job of making bus travel from Tuggeranong slower and less efficient, resulting in fewer southsiders using public transport?
MR STEEL: We have not. We have been making improvements to the system. We introduced a new rapid service, the R5, under our government and that is what we continue to deliver: more services more frequently to communities, and we will continue to make improvements to bus services around Canberra as we listen to community feedback and also as we expand services like light rail, mass transit, into the future as well, and we want to take that system south. This is a continuous
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video