Page 212 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 15 February 2012
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location and uses for transit lanes and bus lanes in the ACT. The guidelines are to consider traffic safety, congestion and transport sustainability goals. So there was an acknowledgement three months ago that in order to determine appropriate use of transit lanes, there was a need for guidelines to be established to consider traffic safety, congestion and transport sustainability goals.
I am sure all of those are covered off in Mr Coe’s announcement that Barry Drive should immediately be turned into a T2 transit lane! Here we are being asked to convert a bus lane into a T2 transit lane without the benefit of those guidelines, without any information about traffic safety, congestion or other factors and without having considered its implications against an integrated transport strategy.
The government’s draft transport for Canberra strategy is to increase priority for public transport on key bus corridors. The report by our consultants advises that the benefits of the Barry Drive bus lane are expected to continue to increase over time and that the installation of a T2 lane would see the average speed of buses reduced. So the government wants to ensure that its work on improving bus travel times and bus frequency is not compromised by uninformed calls such as this motion today.
In response to the Assembly’s motion of 16 November, I will be providing a report to the Assembly on T2-related issues tomorrow. I will be outlining the work that has been done to date on both the guidelines and on bus lane and transit lane options. I do not think it is helpful in considering this issue when we are asked to take knee-jerk actions without having all of the information available to the Assembly. The government released its comprehensive draft transport strategy late last year and we will be considering a final version following community input as part of the consultation on the transport for Canberra strategy.
The AECOM report, which will be tabled tomorrow, will identify links on the frequent rapid bus network and provide advice as to the suitability of the link for implementation of a bus or transit lane based on their three key criteria: numbers of lanes, levels of service for traffic and level of service for buses. The TAMS Directorate would use this advice when planning for future improvements in traffic management along these corridors.
For example, Eastern Valley Way is identified as potentially being suitable for a T2 transit lane. This is because one general traffic lane and a T2 lane would potentially move people more efficiently than its current two general traffic lanes. The report to the Assembly tomorrow will also respond to the issues around high occupancy vehicle measures like car pooling.
Transport for Canberra, which was released as a draft, details the government’s approach to planning and delivering transport for Canberra. Amongst other policies designed to create a safer, more efficient, more sustainable, more equitable city, transport for Canberra includes a network of rapid corridors, the transport corridors on which public transport will now and into the future be given priority over general traffic and a travel demand management approach, which means traffic lane space should be prioritised to move more passengers with less congestion, rather than simply managing the number of vehicles per lane. This approach encourages car pooling.
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