Page 4084 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 18 November 2015
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The Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Mr Rattenbury, is failing to build and modernise the ACTION bus fleet as required by the transport for Canberra plan. This was seen earlier in the year when a new weekday timetable had to be put on hold because ACTION did not have enough buses to run the proposed timetable. And just a week ago we saw a situation where there were not even enough bus drivers to run a regular weekday afternoon shift. Failing to replace old buses and add new ones impacts the effective implementation of the frequent network. In effect, it erodes confidence in public transport in Canberra.
Both the Auditor-General and MRCagney, in their separate reviews, stress concerns that the ACT government will not have enough buses to implement the transport for Canberra plan. For the first time, we are beginning to see the opportunity cost of light rail hurt public transport in the ACT. Since the release of transport for Canberra, this government has pumped more than $50 million into capital metro. More than $50 million has already been spent on capital metro, and this is separate from the $783 million which is stated as a construction cost. And of course this is a project that will carry only one per cent of Canberrans in peak hours. All the while, ACTION’s fleet replacement program has all but stalled. Perhaps instead of spending money on cardboard trams, Mr Rattenbury should be investing in steel buses. Maybe then we would have enough buses to implement timetable upgrades which benefit all Canberrans.
Ultimately, the failings of these ministers have led to transport for Canberra’s targets not being met. For 2016 this government had a target of achieving 10.5 per cent of Canberrans using public transport to get to work. However, recent estimates for 2015 indicate that just 6.9 per cent of Canberrans use public transport to go to work. Consequently, for the 2014-15 financial year, ACTION boardings per capita have reached one of the lowest ever levels. Indeed, under Mr Rattenbury, ACTION boardings per capita have been on a steady decline, and in actual fact ACTION boardings in general have been on a steady decline.
When discussing the targets in the transport for Canberra plan as it was released, Mr Corbell stated:
… we are setting ourselves a new benchmark to demonstrate performance …
We are setting ourselves a new benchmark to demonstrate performance! On these numbers, the government has performed extremely poorly and Canberrans should be very disappointed. The government have had the chance to demonstrate performance and they have failed. Instead of having 10½ per cent of Canberrans on public transport, we have 6.9 per cent and we are going backwards.
Since releasing transport for Canberra, the government has gone on to commit to light rail. The decision to build light rail is another error on behalf of this government when it comes to public transport. The Auditor-General’s report picks up on a number of issues associated with light rail. Notably—indeed, on five occasions—the Auditor-General references a cost-benefit ratio of 3.59 for a bus-based frequent network. Light rail, of course, has an inflated cost-benefit ratio of just 1.2. With buses
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