Page 2750 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 16 August 2017
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I have already touched upon the $30 million for active travel in the parliamentary agreement, but it is worth highlighting. An instalment towards this is in the current budget. Part of this is going to go for the Belconnen bikeway, which will be a particularly good fix for a long-term black hole in a busy part of the cycling network. I look forward to the remainder of the $30 million coming through in future budgets. I would point out that there is quite a bit of work needed, particularly in the Woden town centre.
A further point I highlight, which is also great for the Kambah part of my electorate, is the Wanniassa park and ride. It is just over on the eastern edge of Kambah. It is next to the bus stops on the Blue Rapid. It has large shelters and new footpaths. This is going to make it much easier for Canberra residents, as well as Wanniassa and Tuggeranong residents, to use the Blue Rapid. I would have to say, as someone who uses the Blue Rapid regularly, that it is a very popular route. It is usually standing room only. I think the only downside with the park and ride is the possible need for more buses on the Blue Rapid, particularly in the morning peak which, as I said, is often standing room only.
I will finish with two items that I do not think that we have right yet. They are important ones. Footpath maintenance is a very important one. That was certainly a message that I got very strongly in my doorknocking over the last election period. The Greens have been pushing for this forever. We have included path maintenance in the three parliamentary agreements.
It is because many of our paths are old and they need maintenance. The impact of poorly maintained footpaths can be absolutely huge. I met people last year who were prisoners in their houses because the footpaths near them were such that they did not feel safe to walk on them. This is an indictment. Many of the older suburbs, of course, do not have footpaths. While sometimes that is okay—the roads have little traffic and are unused enough to make walking down the middle of them viable—it is hard to say that it is ideal.
A second issue is bus services to new suburbs. This one seems never to go away. We had this discussion with the new suburbs of Molonglo. We were assured that the bus service would be there as soon as the people. Unfortunately, that did not turn out to be the case. Sometimes it does work out, as has happened with Denman Prospect at the moment. It has the 182 service, even though there really are very few people in Denman Prospect right now. I have been told that the new suburbs at Riverview and Ginninderry will in fact get buses as soon as there are people there, and I think that is absolutely great.
However, at other times we are still ending up with new homes that are a very long way away from bus services. This is happening right now in Moncrieff in Gungahlin. Presumably, soon this is going to be happening again in the electorate of Murrumbidgee. The suburb of Whitlam is on the land release program. It is on the north side of Molonglo River. The first homes are going to be over three kilometres from the nearest current bus service.
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