Page 5155 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 18 November 2009
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properly and squandering $1 million which could have been spent so much better for Gungahlin transport.
MR DOSZPOT (Brindabella) (11.06): I would like to thank Mr Coe for bringing this very important motion to the Assembly today. Mr Coe has put forward a very thorough case for his motion and covered many of the anomalies that accompany the Redex bus trial. As Mr Coe has said, everything about the name of the service and the way it has been marketed would suggest that it is a faster option for commuters. The use of the colour red in the promotional material intimates that it is an urgent, fast, expedient way to travel. But underneath the spin we see that it really is not the fastest option at all. What we see underneath all of the hoopla is a service that actually replaces services from west Belconnen that have been cut and does not provide anything extra for the residents of Gungahlin.
Mr Coe has also highlighted the other areas of concern: that Redex services travel on the same road as existing bus services, with little potential for time improvement; that there are no park and ride facilities at the Gungahlin town centre; that in the absence of park and ride facilities there are concerns that commuters will occupy private car parking spaces in the Gungahlin town centre and therefore restrict trade for local business operators; that the lengthy travel times are often caused by indirect suburban services; and a lack of bus priority in key locations.
I guess the most telling point is that the $1 million investment in public transport would be better spent by providing a choice to Gungahlin commuters, with more direct route services from Gungahlin suburbs to the Gungahlin town centre and the city; resources for improving bus priority on existing routes to cut travel times; and a park and ride facility at the Gungahlin town centre.
I would like to take the opportunity that this motion provides to discuss ACTION bus services in more general terms and to put some focus on to the ACTION bus routes that service the whole of the ACT, including the electorate of Brindabella, and on some of the forward-thinking ideas of the Canberra Liberals.
The $1 million being spent on the trial of the Redex service could be better spent in other areas of the transport network. We have already heard from Mr Coe that this trial does not provide anything extra or any real value to the taxpayer in Gungahlin, let alone to the rest of the ACT.
The ACT government should have a long-term commitment to provide public transport services that meet the needs and expectations of the community, particularly those members of the community who need support with additional transport. They also need to ensure that these public transport services are safe, reliable, sustainable and frequent.
In the 2006 budget delivered by the then Stanhope government, savage cuts were made to ACTION’s funding, which in turn forced the introduction of unpopular network changes which featured substantial reductions in services. The impact on ACTION’s patronage was so great that the government was forced to reinstate some funding in 2008, but the damage had been done. Even the Transport Workers Union,
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