Page 1753 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 15 May 2019
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there sometimes just needs to be a compromise. School service design also recognises that some schools have much larger demand that needs to be catered for, such as non-government schools drawing from a larger area right across the community.
The government recognises that the new network has been a big change for some existing users, and that is why Transport Canberra has gone the extra mile to help customers adjust, especially school students and parents. This has included: launching a major communications campaign to inform customers about the new services and encouraging as many Canberrans as possible to give public transport a try, particularly during the free travel period; deploying customer service assistants at key transport interchanges to help students and other customers use the new network supported during the initial launch of the network by additional Transport Canberra staff; and creating a bespoke school pack for each school showing walking routes from each bus and light rail stop near the school, routes that students can use and timetable information for these routes.
As a parent I know that the previous information provided about schools was incredibly difficult to navigate. You would have to look down a long list to find which service better met your needs. Compare and contrast that with what Transport Canberra have done in terms of providing information packs to school and you see it has been a fantastic effort. Everyone who needs to use public transport to get their kids to and from school would agree the information provided about both dedicated and regular route services is a considerable improvement on what was previously provided.
We also have an improved online journey planner to help people understand and use the new network, and the journey planner has included dedicated school bus services for the very first time. We have also employed a dedicated staff member in Transport Canberra to focus on improving engagement with schools and encouraging more students to use public transport to get to and from schools.
To support the new integrated public transport network the government has also added another five supervisors to the school crossing supervisor program. The additional crossings were selected based on how kids will access public transport as part of the new network and existing pedestrian and traffic volumes. This is a clear commitment from the government to continue delivering support to schools and families to make it safe and easy to travel to and from our schools. Indeed, the removal of school-service-only bus stops is one of the great enhancements to student safety in the new network.
Transport Canberra has engaged and will continue to engage extensively with schools, school communities and parents to help students transition to the new network. We are prioritising any issues and concerns raised with us that relate to student bus travel. On 5 March, 14 March and 10 April Transport Canberra wrote to all schools to ensure that the school communities, parents, students and staff were aware of the changes and offered assistance in helping schools to understand and communicate the changes to their communities. They also provided schools, as I mentioned, links to detailed information about the changes available online.
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