Page 2702 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 16 September 2014
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There are, of course, also significant environmental benefits from reducing our city’s level of car dependence. Twenty-three per cent of the territory’s carbon emissions are from transport, compared to the national average of 14 per cent. All the world’s cities need to act now to stop the upward trend in vehicle emissions, and investment in light rail will help us play our part.
The project also has important health benefits. The American Journal of Preventive Medicine released a report in 2010 tying weight loss to transit systems. Researchers found the construction of a light rail resulted in increased physical activity and subsequent weight loss by people using the system. The study found there is a significant association between light rail transit use and reductions in body mass index. The study also reported light rail transit users were 81 per cent less likely to become obese over time. At at a time when our city’s obesity rates have grown from 23 per cent in 1995 to 63 per cent last year, this must be a key consideration in the government’s decision-making.
We also need to apply some common sense and invest in a well-integrated transport network with light rail as its spine. Over the past few years we have explored different options, looked at different transport modes and understood their weaknesses and strengths. Importantly for the Northbourne corridor, light rail must integrate with the surrounding areas. A busway would need to have barriers and be segregated, acting as a divisive structure within the important Northbourne Avenue corridor and turning this avenue into an eight-lane road and a concrete landscape. It would split communities along the corridor and turn it into solely a bus and car thoroughfare.
In contrast, light rail can blend with urban areas and soft landscaped areas and bring communities together. You can see this in Bourke Street in Melbourne and in cities throughout Europe. Maybe this is why people demonstrate a preference for light rail, and why it is the only public transport mode that has demonstrated its capacity to attract passengers directly out of using their cars.
Public transport in Canberra requires an excellent integration of buses and light rail. As the government has said before, we will use transport modes in an integrated and appropriate way.
Through the transport for Canberra policy and the light rail master plan we are planning a broader city-wide network. The success of stage 1 is imperative to lay the foundation for light rail to the rest of the city. It is the government’s intent that all of Canberra is serviced by a high quality, strongly integrated public transport system.
This is a vision that befits our planned legacy and one we intend to deliver in partnership with the best knowledge and skills of the transport industry. The government will be consulting, through my colleague Mr Gentleman, as Minister for Planning, on the wider light rail network over the coming months.
The territory has clear aspirations for this project, which I will briefly outline. It must attract Canberrans to public transport through a high quality customer experience, focusing on a reliable, frequent, easy to use, safe and modern light rail service. It must
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