Page 2499 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 31 July 2019
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bus that she catches now does not stop at Woden and it is more direct. The article states:
The Conder resident travels 50 minutes getting between her home and her work in Forrest.
In relation to the Wanniassa bus services, which I think you are referring to, we are delivering more rapid services, more buses, more often, throughout Canberra. The R5, which Julie was in fact taking, has been widely welcomed in the Wanniassa community.
In response to that article, there were a number of comments made by Wanniassa residents. Morama Camira responded to the article by saying, “Really? We are in Wanniassa, and for the first time we have a decent bus service. We’re on the R5. It’s brilliant.” So there is a range of different views, and any significant change to a bus system will affect some people more adversely than others. But it is great to see that, overall, Canberrans are taking up public transport. In fact journeys on public transport are up by 8.5 per cent over the first eight weeks of the new network, since the end of free travel, than over the same period in 2018.
MR PARTON: Minister, aside from Morama and Julie, how many people have stopped using the bus network in Tuggeranong? How much has patronage fallen in the south?
MR STEEL: Any change of this magnitude to a bus network usually would see a decline in the number of people using the transport network. In fact, what we are seeing overall is an increase in the number of journeys being taken. I am happy to provide, on notice—I already have, by the way, in relation to questions that were asked of me through the estimates process—details about the region by region breakdown.
MR WALL: Minister, when will you restore a reliable bus service to Tuggeranong residents and fix the problems that your predecessor created?
MR STEEL: I thank the member for his question. As I have explained, we have actually introduced new bus services like the R5 rapid that are providing much better and more frequent connections throughout the south, right through Woden, Barton and the city. This is providing new opportunities for people who work in the parliamentary triangle in particular, in the employment centre there, to get to work from places like Condor, where Julie is from. It provides better connections through other parts of the city as well. We are continuing to monitor how the bus system is being embedded, and feedback on the new bus system, as we look forward to the future of the public transport network.
Planning—Dickson
MS ORR: My question is to the Minister for Planning and Land Management. Why did you exercise your call-in power to approve the Coles development in Dickson?
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