Page 2944 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 15 August 2018
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ACTION bus service—timetable changes
MISS C BURCH (Kurrajong) (12.06): I move:
That this Assembly:
(1) notes that:
(a) from 2019, only 55 percent of Canberrans will be within walking distance from a Rapid bus stop, meaning 45 percent of Canberrans must walk over 800 metres or catch connecting services to access Rapid public transport;
(b) the new routes service fewer areas and leave many commuters forced to:
(i) walk longer distances to a bus stop; or
(ii) travel on a service that is slower; or
(iii) change buses and take two or more bus routes to get to major town centres and hubs like Civic, Woden, Tuggeranong, Belconnen, Gungahlin and Barton;
(c) more than half of all dedicated school buses will be cut, forcing children to use the general public bus network and travel through interchanges to get to and from school;
(d) as of August 2018, the ACT Government is yet to release the 2019 bus timetable for consultation;
(e) without access to the proposed timetable, it is nearly impossible to ascertain the impact of the new network on commuters or for the community to provide genuine feedback in the consultation process; and
(f) there is strong dissatisfaction in the community of the ACT Government’s consultation process, and many feel their concerns are not being heard; and
(2) calls on the Minister for Transport and City Services to:
(a) explain to the Assembly why the language concerning public consultation has changed from wanting to understand the impacts of the new bus routes on commuters to “how we can best support you to use the bus network and improve your overall experience when using and connecting to public transport”;
(b) hold a further round of consultation for the proposed bus network, which would include releasing the proposed 2019 timetable for consultation, and detailing how community feedback has been incorporated into the proposed network; and
(c) make publicly available the results of the consultation, including a report to the Assembly which details community sentiment regarding the proposed changes, by November 2018.
Two weeks ago I rose in this place to speak on behalf of all the Canberrans who feel let down by the government’s consultation processes on the new bus network, and provided example after example of how constituents feel that the government is not listening to them. That is why today I am calling on the Labor-Greens government to
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