Page 3718 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 28 October 2015
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the urban sprawl. We could have a population of half a million in 20 years time potentially clogging our main transport corridors unless we act now to invest in a better future now.
We are the most car dependent of any Australian capital city. The other capitals have a mix of public transport options including light and heavy rail moving huge numbers of people every day. We Canberrans like the freedom of commuting in a car, but as the city grows we must offer a greater range of transport alternatives or we will end up in a gridlocked city every peak hour. The current draft Belconnen master plan points out that about 70 per cent of Belconnen district workers drive to work and only just over six per cent catch a bus. The figures for workers going to work in the Belconnen town centre show 80 per cent go by car and there is an increase to 10 per cent of workers going by bus. There are similar imbalances in other parts of the city as well.
The Belconnen town centre population is anticipated to grow by 40 per cent by 2031, that is, over the next 16 years. Many of those people will walk to work, if they also work in the town centre, or they will be close to the rapid bus routes and eventually light rail increasing the use of public transport. However, the increased population density of the town centre also puts space for car parking at a premium.
The light rail network report that the government released this week shows further 25-year projections, including a 45 per cent population increase for Canberra overall. In Belconnen, it anticipates a third more jobs in the town centre, a 63 per cent increase in retail space and an almost 50 per cent increase in the number of residences, including flats and apartments. The Belconnen town centre, like the other town centres, will intensify with the people living there, people visiting to use services, shop and work. It will be more dynamic and vibrant but, again, parking, congestion and public transport need to be well managed.
Labor has a long-term transport plan, and we are getting on with it. Buses have an important role to play in our future. That is why we are continuing to build and improve the rapid bus network. We are connecting the suburbs and town centres across Canberra with dedicated bus lanes and priority traffic signalling improving the passenger experience and trip times. I know the new interchanges rolled out in Belconnen, including the one integrated with Westfield Belconnen, are also making public transport a more attractive option. A similar upgrade is underway in Woden.
As the government announced yesterday, we are creating a single agency, transport Canberra, from 1 July 2016, bringing together our bus and light rail agencies, ACTION and capital metro. Transport Canberra will be responsible for integrating Canberra’s bus and light rail systems into one network, with one ticketing system, one central point of contact and one timetabling system. I know the Canberra Liberals want to divide and hope to conquer different parts of the city playing one off against another, but I want to remind them that we are one city, one Canberra.
Our transport network is designed to service all Canberrans with a combination of suburban and rapid transit buses and eventually light rail. We have to start the light rail somewhere. The Gungahlin to city corridor is the most congested and the
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