Page 4491 - Week 12 - Thursday, 26 October 2017
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positive. In Narrabundah, which we have talked about at some length, the change from a local bus service to the green rapid has left a number of regular bus users—people with mobility issues, children, elderly people, people with a disability—having to walk possibly a lot further, or possibly wait a lot longer, for their bus in terms of transit times between one place and another.
For some people this is not a big issue. They are physically capable of walking or the timetable works for them. But that is not the case for all residents. Some of them cannot walk that sort of distance. For some of them, the wait time becomes prohibitive. For all of us who are bus users, I think we actually need to be considerate about the amount of time that it takes to travel using buses.
Mr Parton’s example of 2½ hours each way was extraordinary. I did not realise it would be quite that bad. But we have to take quite seriously how long people take to do a fairly normal bus trip. It is only 3½ hours to take the bus from Canberra to Sydney. That is another way of looking at it. That, of course, is a rapid bus. It only stops at the two ends.
Given that there are reasonable complaints about the reduction of coverage of suburban services, it is important that the government this year, as part of the parliamentary agreement, committed to, and in fact already has, expand the flexi-bus service to the inner north. The flexi-bus cannot replace the independence, regularity and familiarity of the local bus service. Of course, many people, fortunately from their point of view, are not people for whom the flexi-bus service is an option. They are simply not vulnerable enough. They are simply independent enough. But this is an option for our more vulnerable residents. I think it is really great and it is vital that it is available.
I will talk about one very current issue that no-one else has talked about as yet. I am a regular bus user and a regular bus runner too, because I am always running late. I was really pleased when Transport Canberra announced the policy of rear-door boarding. This was announced in estimates. The minister confirmed it. That is great. I observed that this happened for a while. The boarding stickers were slowly being removed.
However, in the past couple of weeks this has changed. I and other passengers have been told that rear-door boarding has been cancelled. I guess this is a question I would like to ask the minister. Unfortunately, she is not here but hopefully one of her staff is listening. What is happening with the rear-door boarding policy? Is it a temporary glitch? Are bus drivers voting with their door controls and saying, “No, we do not want you coming in the back”? Has the policy changed? Please, Minister Fitzharris, let us know the answer to this vital bus question.
MRS KIKKERT (Ginninderra) (4.28): I am delighted that Mr Parton has brought this matter of public importance before the Assembly this afternoon. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to it briefly. Recently I spoke with a 13-year-old girl who is a student at one of our ACT public schools in the Belconnen area. She explained to me that since the latest changes to the Transport Canberra timetables, she now has to walk to school every morning. Previously she was able to take the bus, but now her only choices are an early bus that gets her to the school before the doors even open,
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