Page 3209 - Week 10 - Thursday, 17 September 2015
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
This is obviously a very regrettable error, but the good news is twofold. One is that this has been identified before the new network started. What it means is that right now there is a network that is running very well. ACTION has pushed the on-time running up to 79 per cent, and that network will continue. That means that from a customer point of view, the bus that they are catching today will still be there and people can keep catching the bus as they currently are.
Mr Coe interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Order, Mr Coe!
MR RATTENBURY: Mr Coe continues with his penchant for rudeness in the chamber.
Mr Coe interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Order, Mr Coe!
MR RATTENBURY: The other part of it, the reason we have taken this decision, is that if we had tried to proceed with the new network—
Mr Doszpot: Why did you sack the general manager?
MR RATTENBURY: If we had tried to proceed with the new network—you might want to listen to this, Mr Doszpot—the likely outcome would have been that ACTION would have failed on 50 services a day; the bus would not have shown up. We have made this decision because we know that the customers want their bus service to be reliable. They want to know that the bus is going to turn up. Under the proposed network, that could not be guaranteed.
So I think the people of Canberra will appreciate that, as much as there has been an error here, the government has been forthright about that. We have come out up-front and said it. What they know is that, with the retention of the current timetable—where the on-time running has been improved, the connection of services has been improved, the spacing of services has been improved—the current network that is working quite well for a lot of people will continue in place. That is the decision we have taken because that is the most responsible decision to take.
MADAM SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Mr Coe.
MR COE: Minister, when will the new weekday timetable begin which is meant to better serve drivers and also introduce new services for Crace, Florey and Latham?
MR RATTENBURY: Thank you, Mr Coe for drawing that distinction. It is quite important to note that the new weekend timetable will take effect from 17 October as planned. In terms of a new weekday timetable, I expect that to be some time next year. It is quite a lengthy process to design the entire network from the ground up.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video