Page 12 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 12 February 2019
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start south of Woden will have to transit from the bus to the light rail. This will add at least an extra five minutes.
For people in Gungahlin or the city who want to go to Barton, of course the Barton dogleg is a good thing. There are also people in Woden who go to Barton and they would benefit. However, the reality is that more people—particularly, of course, more of my constituency—want to go from Woden to the city. Thus the Barton dogleg is a backwards step for them. Unfortunately, many of them have said to me that they would start driving if the travel time increases. That would be very regrettable.
Of course, there are many possible solutions to this. I have raised these before. One option would be to design the infrastructure and the timetable to allow for express services. This is also one of the points the petition makes. You could run the services that go express from Woden to Barton, and then on to the city. This would be a lot quicker because there is a real delay at each stop.
Another option would be to keep the Blue Rapid running in parallel with light rail. After all, the light rail with the Barton dogleg is actually servicing a different piece of Canberra than the direct city to Woden services. I imagine this would be particularly attractive to the people in Tuggeranong going to the city because then they would not have to change at Woden.
Interestingly, since this petition was started, the government announced that it would look at a State Circle option, which would not include the Barton dogleg. I am sure that many of the people who signed this petition would welcome that. Certainly, the feedback that I have had from the people in my electorate is that they prefer the State Circle option on the assumption that it would be quicker than the Barton dogleg.
With the Blue Rapid we have public transport that is as fast as a private car. This is one of the ways that we can really encourage public transport use, to have it as fast as the alternative. Certainly, if we are going to address our greenhouse gas issues, we need to increase the amount of public transport and decrease individual private car use.
I think this is important. It certainly would appear to be one of the guiding principles behind the new bus network, the planned network 19. I urge the government, when they are considering the various options for light rail, to consider the people in my electorate and the people beyond in Brindabella who use public transport, and to make sure that the light rail route is such that it best serves their needs as well as the needs of all of Canberra.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Justice and Community Safety—Standing Committee
Report 4
MRS JONES (Murrumbidgee) (10.12): Pursuant to order, I present the following report:
Justice and Community Safety—Standing Committee—Report 4—Report on inquiry into the Exposure Draft of the Motor Accident Injuries Bill 2018, dated
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