Page 3495 - Week 09 - Thursday, 23 August 2018
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As members would also be aware, the ACT government has recently completed the second phase of public consultation on our plans for public transport in Canberra in 2019 in which we focused on getting practical feedback from Canberrans about the detailed proposal for the new bus network.
A record amount of feedback has been received from the community, including on specific local services, how interchanges will work in the future and what else the government can do to help the community use public transport more. This has included 9,667 survey responses on yoursay.act.gov.au and paper survey forms at roadshows and community meetings.
Through the feedback we have received from the community, we know that many of the proposed changes have been well received, especially the introduction of more frequent rapid and local services. We also know that there is strong support from customers using buses outside peak times for better daytime, evening and weekend bus services that make the alternative to travelling by car a more attractive and realistic choice for more Canberrans.
We have also heard from many Canberrans who have expressed concerns about some of what is proposed, including Xpresso services, dedicated school services and how people will change between different services at our interchanges. A key initiative in delivering the new network will be to ensure that customers are well informed and provided with assistance on how to navigate their new travel options.
The ACT government is now considering all of this feedback from the community and will be able to provide further detail about the services to be provided, including timetables, once they have been developed. While we remain committed to the core design principles of the network, which are built on what the community has for many years told us they want in a bus network, and what we know makes for successful bus networks around Australia and the world, we are genuinely listening to this feedback.
Of course, I would like to be clear that it is impossible to develop a timetable without first finalising the underlying network. Once the timetable is released, there will be a final short period in which the community can alert Transport Canberra to any significant errors in that timetable.
We will have more to say about the final design of the network in the coming months. This will include timetables, as well as more information for schools and parents about their services, and what local infrastructure will be delivered as part of the rollout of the new bus network.
Madam Speaker, Transport Canberra buses are measured for on-time running through one of the strictest measures in the country using GPS technology from the MyWay ticketing system. On time running for Transport Canberra is currently at 73 per cent for the 2017-18 financial year. Performance data is published on the ACT government’s open data portal at www.data.act.gov.au.
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