Page 2785 - Week 09 - Thursday, 27 September 2007
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ACTION bus service—bus shelters
MR GENTLEMAN: My question is to the Minister for Territory and Municipal Services. Minister, can you inform the Assembly of what efforts have been made to provide improvements in the provision of bus shelters across the city?
MR HARGREAVES: I thank Mr Gentleman for the question. Yes, I can. The ACT government has identified a deficiency of bus shelters in many areas of the ACT and a general need to upgrade existing shelters. Established practices within Australia and internationally have demonstrated that public transport street furniture which hosted third party advertising offset supply and installation costs, achieved a higher standard of maintenance and contributed positively to the public transport experience. On that basis, an extensive and detailed tender process was undertaken in 2005, with a number of potential suppliers expressing interest in the ACT market. Adshel Street Furniture Pty Ltd was selected as the preferred tenderer and a contract awarded in December 2006.
Adshel are the largest provider of advertising funded street furniture in Australia and New Zealand and have long-term agreements with many councils and government authorities. The shelters will incorporate the latest modern design, technological advancements and internal lighting. Some of the shelters will be powered using solar energy, with technology pioneered by Adshel. I am sure that will impress Dr Foskey. I hope it will.
Dr Foskey: It did.
MR HARGREAVES: Yes, I thought it might. All shelters will provide improved safety and amenities for commuters and are designed to comply with Australian disability standards—something else that I expect would impress Dr Foskey.
Mr Mulcahy: You are going green!
MR HARGREAVES: We do not have to impress you. The contract will involve the provision and installation of 241 new shelters, of which 133 will include advertising panels and 108 will have no advertising. The project will be undertaken in three phases and completed by not later than December 2009. This first phase, which has just commenced, will involve the installation of 55 shelters, comprising 37 advertising and 18 non-advertising units. These shelters will be provided by Adshel at no cost to the community and will also be maintained and cleaned over a term of 15 years, after which they will be handed back to the ACT government. I will repeat that. There will be no cost to the community. There will be 241 shelters and there will be no maintenance or cleaning costs for 15 years. What part of that deal is a bad idea?
This project will provide further benefits to the Canberra community by substantially increasing the number of shelters in the ACT. Do you hear that? There will be more shelters. What part of more shelters do not you understand?
Mrs Dunne: We understand.
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