Page 4054 - Week 12 - Thursday, 20 October 2005
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(5) Is it acceptable that service number 83 runs only five times a day to enable a passenger to arrive near the eye hospital within business hours; if so, why;
(6) If a patient were to have an appointment say at 2 pm, do they have any other options than catching the 11:45 am bus 83 from Woden Interchange and waiting approximately one and a half hours at the hospital before their appointment; if not, why not;
(7) If the same patient finishes their appointment at 2:30 pm, do they have any other options than catching the 4:43 pm bus from Lithgow St terminus, the closest stop listed on timetable, forcing them to wait close to another two hours at the hospital or another nearby location and not arriving at Woden interchange until 5:21 pm; if not, why not;
(8) Is it acceptable that the patient listed in parts (5) and (6) takes over five and a half hours for the round trip from the Woden interchange, not including any further travel that may be necessary; if so, why;
(9) Are there any plans to increase the services to the Canberra Eye Hospital; if not, why not;
(10) What community transport options are available to patients of the Canberra Eye Hospital, when in some cases they are only given 24 hours notice of an appointment at the hospital.
Mr Corbell: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
(1) Routes 80, 83 and 86 currently provides services near to the Canberra Eye Hospital.
(2) ACTION is currently reviewing its services in the area.
(3) These routes have been in place prior to the opening of the Canberra Eye Hospital and are not designed to service the eye hospital. As part of ACTION’s network review it will be assessing all routes.
(4) It is ACTION’s policy to ensure bus services are as close to key medical facilities as possible. Currently, there are three services that are available, to the new Canberra Eye Hospital, two originating in Woden and one from Civic.
(5) Current patronage and running time checks indicate sufficient frequency and bus capacity is available to meet the patronage demand to the Canberra Eye Hospital. However, ACTION will continue to monitor patronage demand.
(6) Yes. The patient could depart from Woden interchange on Route 83 at 1:15pm and get to the near the Eye hospital at approximately 1:50pm.
(7) Yes. The patient could depart from the closest bus stop near the Canberra Eye Hospital at approximately 3:10pm on Route 83 and arrive at Woden interchange at 3:46pm.
(8) The round trip in the described scenarios would be approximately 2 hours and 31 minutes, not over 5 and a half hours .
(9) Yes.
(10) Patients that are already part of the Taxi Subsidy Scheme would be able to utilise this service for short notice appointments as well as any eligible Home and Community Care clients are able to access community transport. For those in the community not associated with these programs, ACTION regular route services are available.
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