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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 9 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 2817 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

I am fortunate because my bus stop is at the end of two routes, so I have a choice of two buses. If I were further into my suburb I would have to wait for an hour after 6 o'clock. It would be very interesting for you to sit there for 40 minutes or an hour, as I have, because you would see who are the people who are waiting there in the cold and the dark. They are parents; they are women with children, often small children. I do not know why; I suggest that they are probably working a little bit late and they have to pick the child up from child care. Tantrums occur regularly because, as you are probably well aware, small children at 6 o'clock at night need to be home. There are tantrums on the buses as well. Poor people are waiting there, and students. I do not see many people in suits; sometimes you see people who are obviously reasonably well off. The majority of people who are forced to use our public transport system - - -

Mr De Domenico: How can you tell by looking at people whether they are well off or not? That is an incredible statement.

MS TUCKER: If you were sitting there I think it would be quite obvious. People do not choose very often to sit for an hour after 6 o'clock in the cold and dark. I choose to do it because I have such a commitment to public transport. Not many other people do, Mr De Domenico. They drive their cars because they do not want to sit in the cold and the dark for an hour at the end of their working day. It is the poor and disadvantaged people who are copping a public transport system that is not up to scratch by any means. No wonder people who have a choice normally choose not to use public transport.

Public transport is more fuel efficient and takes up less road space. A bus with as few as seven passengers is more fuel efficient than the average commuting car. Thirty people riding on one bus is equivalent to 25 cars, on current private vehicle occupancy rates. Public transport is indispensable for those many people in the community who do not have access to a car or who cannot drive. Nationally, a large percentage of all public transport users are senior citizens, and this can be expected to increase in the future with the ageing of the population. Low-income people who may not be able to afford a car also often rely on public transport. Schoolchildren are also major users of public transport, with about 20 per cent of public transport nationally being to and from schools.

Public transport provides a public service to the community. It cannot be regarded simply as a business that must pay its way. Cities could not function without a transport system, so access to affordable and convenient transport should be regarded as a right of citizens. Users of public transport should actually be congratulated by the Government rather than penalised by increasing bus fares. People who use public transport instead of private cars have prevented millions of tonnes of pollutants and greenhouse gases from being emitted into the atmosphere. They have saved millions of litres of petrol, conserving a non-renewable resource and reducing petroleum imports. They have also delayed the need to build many more freeways, arterial roads and parking spaces to accommodate more cars.

In the ACT we have seen a steady decline in the standard of public transport. Prices have increased and services have been cut. The 99.9 per cent, or whatever the percentage is that Mr De Domenico keeps quoting, in reality is a lot of services. Particularly if you are regularly dependent on the bus services, the number of services that do not turn up is significant and extremely inconvenient. On the other hand, car parking charges have been

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