Page 240 - Week 01 - Thursday, 15 February 2018
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focus on walking and cycling safely to school; updating our key policy work, transport for Canberra, to align with important policy work in planning and climate change. In city services we are improving our city services through the better suburbs project; delivering important upgrades to town centres; continuing our focus on responsible pet ownership; delivering a range of important waste initiatives; and completing major road duplications and delivering more improvements to our roads network.
The government’s transport vision is very clear—a modern, sustainable and integrated transport system that provides a real alternative to the car. We are working on a refresh for transport for Canberra that will update our transport policy framework to include opportunities for improvement and consider emerging transport trends, data and innovation. It will include community consultation and draw close parallels with the ACT planning strategy refresh and the climate change strategy work.
The construction of light rail, with stage 1 due for completion later this year, will help achieve our vision. As our city grows, if we do not invest now in public transport infrastructure congestion will only get worse, impacting travel times, productivity and our quality of life. We simply cannot leave public transport investment until the city is gridlocked. The construction of our light rail network is the most significant infrastructure project this city has embarked upon, and construction of stage 1, from Gungahlin to the city, is now well underway. The momentum of construction will continue to increase along the corridor until later this year.
Work is also progressing on planning for light rail stage 2, which will extend the network from Gungahlin through to Woden, connecting the north and south of our city, linking employment and cultural hubs and creating a public transport spine. Unlike our political opponents, our government will not kick the can down the road; this is a vital piece of infrastructure that will set our city up for many years to come. In decades from now, Canberrans will look back and be glad the consecutive ACT Labor governments took this revolutionary step for transport in Canberra.
Extensive community engagement, combined with MyWay data and customer feedback, has told us Canberrans want three key things out of a transport network: quicker trip times and more direct routes; more frequent and reliable services and increased services on and off peak. We also know Canberrans want value for money. It is the case that building an integrated and efficient transport network cannot be achieved by a bus stop on every street. We have tried this for years and it has not worked. All modern public transport networks across the world are integrated, connected and innovative, using all available modes to drive patronage and get people out of their cars.
What this means for Canberra is a service that is easy to navigate and provides frequent, reliable services seven days a week. This year we will see five more rapid services and a range of customer service innovations. We are excited about the possibilities and look forward to working with Canberrans soon to design a modern and integrated transport network. Stage 1 of our consultation closed late last year, and we look forward to stage 2 opening soon.
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