Page 559 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 17 February 2016
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Of course, they obviously think, and their polling obviously tells them, that light rail is not a strong issue for them, but that executing a termination for convenience clause is a stronger negative against us than light rail is a positive for them. That is obviously what their polling suggests, because that is the course of action that they are taking right now.
I will briefly touch on recent media statements regarding light rail. It was reported today that improvements to Northbourne Avenue have been placed on Infrastructure Australia’s priority list. As reported, Infrastructure Australia does not endorse light rail. The report only notes that improvements should be made along Northbourne Avenue in the near future. This is something which Infrastructure Australia has said since 2013, when Northbourne Avenue improvements were actually first put on the priority list in its early stage. It actually has not progressed at all in the past three years; it is still in the early stages, as it was three years ago, with Infrastructure Australia. Of course, it was Infrastructure Australia that also wrote to the government and said, “I don’t know why you’re pursuing light rail when bus rapid transit has double the economic return.”
Last year the opposition was pleased to release our Northbourne Avenue options paper. The paper looked for and identified three options to improve transport on Northbourne Avenue. These options provide the potential to improve public transport times on Northbourne Avenue over and above the estimated time savings of light rail. The options also discussed how cyclists could indeed travel more safely on Northbourne Avenue, as well as providing a way for first responders to improve travel times in an emergency. Notably, the options were all vastly cheaper than light rail.
The opposition has been very pleased with the level of feedback we have received on our options paper both for certain proposals and against certain proposals, and with certain ideas that were not included in any of the proposals. We look forward to further promoting these ideas in the future.
Infrastructure Australia has previously noted that the level of congestion in Canberra is increasing. Of course, this has become a bit of a catchcry for the ACT government as they promote light rail. However, contrary to the government’s spin, light rail will actually make congestion worse. A traffic and transport assessment study found that introducing light rail between Gungahlin and the city would “slightly increase” congestion in the morning peak and lead to “significant congestion” in the afternoon peak. This is the government’s own report. The government’s own report, the traffic and transport assessment study, said congestion will slightly increase in the morning peak and that there will be significant congestion in the afternoon peak. The study also found that the level of service, a measure of the quality of an intersection, declined with the introduction and operation of light rail.
Furthermore, a study of the proposed Civic to Russell leg noted:
The introduction of the Project within the City extent of the network generally leads to further impacts to general traffic … in several locations, predominantly along Northbourne Avenue and Constitution Avenue, delays and queues could compromise the performance of the wider road network.
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