Page 5377 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 16 November 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
totally ignores the tens of thousands of Canberrans that get stuck in traffic jams on a daily basis. It is not acceptable to have a government that tells us that infrastructure levels in this city are okay.
Minister Corbell tells us that there is no need for motorists to benefit from the transit lane, yet in 2008 this government were lauding the move. There is no logic behind removing the T2 lane on Adelaide Avenue. As a result of this move the car pooling motorist is the loser. Motorcycles, taxis and buses will all still have the right to use the lane, but the humble motorist who is trying to reduce congestion by sharing a ride misses out.
The government and the TWU cite safety as the reason to revert back to a bus-only lane. However, the hazard is still going to be there for buses while taxis and motorcyclists can still share the lane. The lane will still be there and it will still be possible for all motorists to zip in and zip out, albeit illegally. On the issue of safety and speed, if there is a 30 or 40-kilometre speed differential, illegal cars are going to be using the 80-kilometre-an-hour lane and they will do this anyway regardless of whether it is a T2 lane or a bus lane. Even though buses will now have priority in the lane we see no changes in bus timetables. So in effect if the government in introducing the T2 lane thought it was going to slow down buses why did we not see the bus timetables change in 2008? If the bus times are going to improve as a result of reinstating the bus lane, surely all the bus timetables should be updated to reflect this change.
The fact is—and I think you, Mr Speaker, and indeed all Canberrans know—that there are going to be no winners as a result of this policy. The buses are not going to get to the city or Woden any faster, but motorists are going to be caught up on Adelaide Avenue more and more. There are no winners as a result of this change. What we are left with is yet another example of this Labor government impeding Canberrans’ use of their cars, without doing anything to change the public transport options. We have an $85 million public transport subsidy with only eight per cent of Canberrans using it. This government needs to do better when it comes to the transport portfolio.
I think it is worth quoting one of many recent emails to my office expressing disgust at the move to change the T2 lane to a bus lane:
… is indicative of how out of touch I feel that this Government has become. I am not aware of any evidence or publicised statement that the T2 lane was interfering with public transport times, it encouraged multiple occupancy of passenger vehicles and it removed the anomaly that otherwise exists where motorcycles (including very small capacity and slow ones and extremely powerful but inefficient ones) but not cars can occupy these transit lanes. Indeed, I would have thought that what I understood was the success of the T2 lane on Adelaide Avenue supported trial introductions of T2 or at least T3 lanes on many other bus only lanes around the ACT.
He goes on to say:
It seems particularly odd to remove the T2 lane prior to your consideration of public comments about the ACT's draft Transport Policy.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video