Page 157 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 14 December 2016
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ACTION bus service—sustainability
MRS KIKKERT: My question is to the Minister for Transport and City Services regarding ACTION bus services. Is the current ACTION budget sustainable and what cuts to services are being developed?
MS FITZHARRIS: I thank Mrs Kikkert for her question. Certainly ACTION under the Transport Canberra agency is a very sustainable operation. As members will know, we have made investments this year and we also, prior to the caretaker period in the last Assembly, made significantly more investments in the ACTION bus network. We have seen innovations, for example, the city loop service, which is very successful, carrying 350 people each weekday around the city, a service not previously available which we have funded.
We also have innovated with the new Nightrider service where not only are we taking more people home at night in the December period but we are partnering in a really innovative partnership with Uber to get people what is commonly called the last mile home.
We are planning to increase the number of people in Canberra who choose to walk or cycle or catch an ACTION bus. We plan to do that by providing them with a more appealing service and giving them real opportunity to leave the car at home and catch public transport. Of course, over all that is an integrated transport system, and key to that will be building light rail stage 1, getting underway with the planning of light rail stage 2 and integrating our bus network into the light rail network as well.
MRS KIKKERT: What is the rationale for changing the livery of ACTION buses, and is it your plan to change the livery on all existing buses or just for new ones as they are delivered?
MS FITZHARRIS: I thank Mrs Kikkert for the supplementary. Certainly new buses will contain new livery but on many occasions you will see buses with a lot of different livery operating around the city. That is a legacy issue of buses being bought at different times. Members of the previous Assembly will have been familiar with the relaunch of the Transport Canberra agency. The city loop bus, which you will see operating around the city, has some new and exciting and quite a dynamic design. We are certainly looking to be able to expand that across the fleet as we bring new buses into the fleet, which we are expecting to do in the very near future.
MR DOSZPOT: Minister, when will the city loop bus be cancelled?
MS FITZHARRIS: There are no plans to cancel the city loop.
Cycle paths—signage
MR DOSZPOT: My question is to the Minister for Transport and City Services. The Canberra Times reported on Monday, 5 December the very sad story of Ravinder Singh from Monash whose family pet dog was killed by a cyclist on a shared path near her home as she and a friend were out walking with a two-year-old girl in a
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