Page 4061 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 30 November 2022
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Under a stage 2 tram scenario, I would take the 79 to Calwell, but the R5 would take me to the Woden interchange. I am assuming, based on form, that it would take me to the Woden interchange. That is a 22-minute ride, additional to the eight minutes to get to Calwell and the Calwell transfer. So we are up to 37 minutes. We have the additional transfer time to the tram, which will then take very close to half an hour to get me to Civic. My 55-minute journey has been pushed out to around an hour and 10 minutes, if not more. We are talking about adding an extra 2½ hours travel time per week for me. That does not sound like a great public transport outcome to me.
People in the south have been thoroughly neglected by this government in the public transport space, and I am here to make sure that it does not happen in the future. I signal to the minister that we will be heavily focused on this particular issue, as I know Ms Clay will be, because I know that Ms Clay is very keen for public transport outcomes to become better for people.
Mistakes have been made in this space in the past, and I want to make sure that those mistakes are not repeated. I noted this morning, because I got a Twitter notification, that the RiotACT story on this had been put up. I clicked on it, and I saw that there were five comments. I thought, “Here we go.” But I was quite pleased that the comments were all in favour of the motion. I do not think Ryan and his crew are on there yet. Ken Behrens—probably not his real name—says:
History has shown that the government will cut bus routes to force people into LR. They won’t be running 4a, 5s and direct services from Weston Creek along Commonwealth Avenue. 4s and 5s will terminate at Woden. The Weston Creek services will be redirected to Woden or connected somewhere else. Frankly, I can’t imagine too many people electing to get off their bus and onto LR if they can stay on the bus and reduce their travel time.
Ken Behrens goes on to say:
Mr Parton is flogging a dead horse and he probably knows it. I expect he’s hoping that the media will start asking the government some serious questions, but that hasn’t happened …
That is what Ken Behrens said in the RiotACT. Chewy14 says:
An open and transparent government would have already released these details.
But we all know that isn’t the case in the ACT, which is why the opposition is using these … tactics.
Tactics designed to get the government to admit the obvious truth, that the light rail to Woden will take significantly longer to travel the distance and most buses will need to be redirected through to the interchanges to funnel people onto light rail.
Those currently using the express buses should be resigned to slower and more complex public transport options.
It is not just me saying this. It is up to the minister and the government to assure people that this will not be the case. Rob says:
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