Page 331 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 7 March 2007

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(c) that Network 06 disregards the needs of shift workers and all people who want to use the system during off-peak times; and

(d) that Network 06 has created high levels of inconvenience for Canberra bus users; and

(2) calls on the ACT Government to:

(a) as an interim measure, immediately reinstate the bus timetable in operation before the introduction of Network 06, specifically addressing school services, after hours and weekend services and increased frequency of daytime off-peak services;

(b) conduct an immediate revision of the ACTION timetable to ensure the service better meets the needs of all users and encourages further use of the service; and

I thank members for their indulgence on this matter. This is a most important constituent issue for all members in the ACT. The changes in relation to buses brought in by John Hargreaves since he became the Minister for the Territory and Municipal Services have been an absolute disaster. My office has been inundated with complaints—complaint after complaint. In the last month I have detailed in excess of 30 specific complaints—detailed complaints—to Mr Hargreaves’s office; these have been matched by many other complaints of a more general nature which would make it difficult to make considered representations.

For 50 per cent of the bus routes now in operation, I have had people come to me and complain about the lack of service or the changes to the service. In the very brief time that is available to me, I want to talk about this. First, there is the failure of the school bus services. There is overcrowding to the extent that children are being forced to ride in the luggage racks or children have just been told, “You cannot get on the bus. Make your own way home.”

The impact on shift workers is a really important issue—people who do not work nine to five jobs in Russell, Campbell or Woden. These are the people who have a real problem. Nurses have come to me and said that before this bus timetable they used to take an hour to get home on their buses, and now take two hours to get home after a shift—a nine-hour or 10-hour shift at the Canberra Hospital. This is unreasonable.

The people who work in Fyshwick have an appalling service. Interestingly enough, the bus leaves the depot two minutes before the end of the working day. They miss that bus and have to wait three-quarters of an hour for the next bus to come around so they can get from Fyshwick to Woden. The bus snakes through four or five other suburbs and takes three-quarters of an hour. A constituent who lives in Ngunnawal tells me that it is now quicker for him to ride his bike to Civic than to catch a bus.

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