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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 4 Hansard (22 April) . . Page.. 1224 ..

"It is heartening that the figures show the majority of parents and students have got behind the new service. We have always said that ACTION will rise and fall based on patronage and while we still have a way to go before we can crow about the new network's success, these initial figures are encouraging."

Other points made in the report include:

The new ACT school bus fares for both one-zone and two-zone, for catholic high school students were compared with Brisbane, Gold Coast, Melbourne and Sydney. It found that excluding the free travel concession for most NSW students, fares between areas varied. But the fares charged by ACTION to students of St Edmund's and St Clare's are by no means high compared to those charged to Catholic secondary school students in other cities. In fact the pre-purchased discount tickets available to students in Canberra would appear to be below the average price for pre-purchased tickets (for travel of a similar distance) in these other cities.

Despite an increase in journey times to and from St Edmund's and St Clare's, when compared to interstate routes of a similar distance to Catholic secondary schools in Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast, the ACT journey times are well within the average journey times achieved for similar trips in the suburbs of other Australian cities.

In relation to safety, previous studies have shown children driven to school in the family car are 7 times more at risk of serious injury or death than those travelling by bus (including standing passengers), children walking to school are 31 times more at risk of serious injury or death than those travelling by bus, children cycling to school are 228 times more at risk of serious injury or death than students travelling by bus.

It has also shown that the maximum number of pupils being carried to and from school on any one bus is no greater in 1999 than 1998 and that, contrary to some public claims, school buses are operating in line with the authorised carrying capacities.

However ACTION acknowledges that the St Edmund's and St Clare's pick-up is one of the busiest school pick-ups in the country. As part of ACTION's on-going efforts to make school services flow as smoothly as possible, the department has been working hard with the school principals and a number of changes are plannned.

They are in line with recommendations from Roger Graham's report and include altered bus bay arrangements on McMillan Cres, bus zones, an additional pedestrian crossing, a designated pick-up and set-down area for general traffic in McMillan Cres and Wills St and another bus for the busy Weston Creek services.

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