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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 9 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 2821 ..

MR WHITECROSS: That is 20,000 fewer people sitting on a bus in a week, through his cuts to the public transport system. That does not sound like a coordinated strategy for encouraging the use of public transport. It might be a coordinated strategy for reducing the use of public transport.

As Ms Tucker said, what we need is strategies that are going to encourage people to get on the buses and to use them. A key to making our overall transport system in the ACT more effective is to get more people on the buses, not fewer, and you do not get more people on the buses by cutting the number of routes by 10 per cent and increasing the fares by 50 per cent. One way you could make some progress towards making the buses more attractive is to listen to what the customers say. ACTION's own customer surveys show that what customers want is more frequent services. What has Mr De Domenico delivered to them? Less frequent services. There is a way forward on this, which is to do what the customers want; and there is the way Mr De Domenico has gone, which is not what the customers want.

There are perhaps some hidden benefits in Mr De Domenico's new bus system, which have been brought to my attention by one of my constituents. I am sorry that Mr Stefaniak is not here because, as Minister for Education, he might appreciate how Mr De Domenico's public transport strategy coordinates with the education strategy. My constituent writes:

The times between bus runs is causing a revolution in literacy rates. You see one has to wait an hour between suburban buses with the new timetable and one is obliged to entertain oneself somehow, so thousands upon thousands of people are opening books, magazines and newspapers as they never have before.

Hourly buses are very inconvenient to people. Usually my business can be completed according to the old timetable, ie every half hour. But when my business takes an hour, I am then obliged to wait half an hour or take an alternative route home and walk the rest of the way. Frequently I am "wasting time" by reading myself into some entertainment because I am inconvenienced by the bus timetables.

There is only one way I have been able to identify any coordination or integration in Mr De Domenico's approach to public transport in the ACT, as highlighted by my constituent, and that is in encouraging people to spend more time reading while they are waiting for their buses and having more time to do that reading because of Mr De Domenico's new bus routes.

Public transport is an important issue. It is integral to the planning of Canberra. If I have one disagreement with Ms Tucker, it is that I do not believe that public transport is an afterthought in Canberra. I think public transport is integral to the planning of Canberra. It is important to the successful operation of this city that there be a healthy public transport system which is well used. I urge the Government to think again about a more coordinated strategy for public transport.

MR SPEAKER: The discussion is concluded.

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