Page 191 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 14 February 2018
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Kootara Crescent, will continue to be serviced by an all-day service with 30-minute frequency, providing access to Manuka, Kingston and the city. The service also provides connections to the rapid routes that surround the suburb, which, under the new rapid network proposal, provide connections to Woden, Barton and the city through the green rapid, and soon to Barton, the city and Belconnen on the new pink rapid or rapid route 2. The area also has access to a community service bus located at the old Narrabundah shops.
I am pleased to bring to the attention of members that the new route 4 and green rapid have seen patronage increase by eight per cent in comparison to the old routes 4 and 5 in the same period in 2016. On the weekend the new route 4 and 6 equivalent has seen patronage increase by 31 per cent in comparison to the old routes for the same period in 2016. Last year, when we announced the October updates as part of a network redesign, we also announced that all rapid services would be delivered in 2018. Under this plan, the reach of fast, frequent and reliable public transport would expand to be within a seven to 10-minute walk of 53 per cent of the ACT population. This is an increase from 26 per cent in 2016 and 36 per cent in 2017 with the introduction of new rapid services. That is over half of our community.
Unfortunately, the public bus system may not work for everyone, and we understand that. For some members of our community, walking as far as 50 metres to a bus stop can be difficult. There are some areas that are isolated and with low populations, and it would be very difficult and inefficient to service these suburbs with a commuter bus. That is why the ACT government also provides complementary or tailored services to meet the wide range of needs in our community.
The government runs the flexible transport office, which manages a suite of specialised transport services, including the network design and operation of special needs school transport, the community transport coordination centre, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community bus, and the flexible bus service. The special needs transport network provides transport to and from ACT public schools for 386 students with a disability and 61 introductory English class students, using 44 buses and 13 taxis to each school. The service delivers to 47 specialised and mainstream schools Canberra wide.
The government has also delivered on another election commitment to provide free off-peak travel for senior concession card MyWay users on our public transport network. The commitment for this trial is also part of the parliamentary agreement which the ACT government delivered within the first 100 days of our new term. Through the first 12 months of the trial 1.46 million trips were taken by eligible passengers and the trial has been extended whilst transport Canberra evaluates the initial 12 months.
The ACT government has also been trialling innovative solutions to what transport planners call the “first and last mile problem”. Connecting every household to the urban bus network simply does not make sense in a city as dispersed as Canberra. In 2016 and again in 2017 transport Canberra partnered with ride-share company Uber to deliver a first and last mile option for customers. Under this partnership customers were able to use a discounted trip to connect to and from rapid services to move
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video