Page 189 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 6 March 2007
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MR HARGREAVES: I said a few minutes ago that we are not satisfying everybody and I am paying heed to the feedback received. Some of the things we can change and some we cannot.
Mr Pratt: Does that include about 78 per cent of the population?
MR HARGREAVES: Are you finished? I will deal with you later. Among those we cannot change are the delays caused by traffic congestion. Twenty thousand vehicles a day are avoiding Glenloch interchange, where roadworks are taking place. Those vehicles are taking alternative routes, but sooner or later they must end up on the limited number of roads into the town centres. That congestion is being felt even on minor suburban roads, not just Adelaide Avenue and Northbourne Avenue. There is nothing that can be done about that until the roadworks are finished. In addition, in the last three years an additional 15,000 vehicles have been registered in the ACT. An additional 5,000 vehicles a year enter our road network.
Mr Pratt: On an average of two hours each in the queue for registration.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Pratt! Mr Hargreaves has the floor.
MR HARGREAVES: That is not, as the Canberra Times says, through people buying second cars because the bus service does not meet their needs. That is through people using the extra money generated by the boom economic times that we are having to buy a second family car or cars for teenagers in the family.
There are some simple things that ACTION can do at no or little cost. For example, small cumulative delays are caused by passengers paying in cash. ACTION will encourage all passengers to purchase prepaid tickets and validate them before joining a bus. The timing of the green lights on Northbourne Avenue can be, and will be, adjusted to allow for a freer flow into and from the city.
I have been advised that there have been minimal complaints from public schools. ACTION management is to meet ACT P&C representatives next week. One complaint received by my office about connections from Narrabundah college to the Manuka-Deakin area is still being investigated.
In relation to Daramalan, Merici, St Clare’s, St Edmund’s and the grammar schools, there were complaints that the students were arriving late. Investigations showed that the only cure for that was for the services to depart earlier. I apologise to the parents and the students who read that solution in the paper. The solution was meant to be conveyed by ACTION so that parents would not be taken by surprise, but the Canberra Times published it.
ACTION cannot go back to what it was last year. It has been asked to make savings in administration and services to contribute to the overall budget for the city, and all staff have worked hard to achieve those savings. I believe that further savings can be made if some of the archaic work practices still in place among drivers are changed. Those issues will be addressed during the coming enterprise bargaining negotiations. At this point I would like to acknowledge the contribution to this problem and to finding a
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