Page 2816 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 13 August 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
This brings me to the most concerning changes that we have seen with network 19, those changes being the cuts to dedicated school bus services. We have seen children stranded at interchanges, left behind at bus stops and in tears. We have seen Transport Canberra officials forced to drop children home because of the upheaval that the school service cancellations have caused to their routines.
Amongst hundreds of stories from parents, grandparents and teachers, one of the most impactful stories I heard came from a parent whose two daughters used to catch a dedicated school service to and from their school together each day. The younger of the two siblings has a disability but was comfortable catching the school bus with her sister as she was somebody that she trusted in a controlled environment.
After their dedicated school service was cut, my constituent told me that her younger daughter no longer felt safe and that she would now have to drive her children to school because she did not want them catching public buses and standing around interchanges. Of course, this is only one of dozens of parents who have told us that they are now driving their kids to school. Another constituent wrote in to explain just how convenient and safe the dedicated school services were for her sons, as she was able to watch them get on the bus in the morning from home. After the changes, she cannot do so anymore and has also been forced to drive them to school.
I am terribly disappointed but not surprised that, six months on, this government has tried to just sweep these problems under the rug, but it has not helped. These are problems that still affect the most vulnerable Canberrans across the territory. Much like his predecessor, the new minister is nowhere to be seen, more concerned with the LA transport system than the one that he is supposed to oversee here.
Despite the removal of bus stops and the increased number of people expected to transfer through interchanges, we have seen very little investment in our interchanges and in infrastructure around the bus network, with the Woden interchange upgrades suffering numerous delays.
As Ms Lawder has also spoken about extensively, improvements to our footpath network are also key if we are to expect people to walk further to and from bus stops, as are improvements to bicycle racks and cycling infrastructure and to park-and-ride facilities. All of these we are yet to see from this minister.
We see further money allocated in this budget for the planning and development of light rail stage 2, but we are still yet to see a business case or any kind of cost-benefit analysis from the government. Instead, the minister and the Chief Minister continue to ask Canberrans to blindly trust that this is the right route and that it will in fact be worth the money. Overall, Canberrans who rely on public transport to get around our city and those who choose to commute by public transport continue to be let down by this government. They are still waiting to see what it is in fact that their rates money is delivering.
MR GUPTA (Yerrabi) (5.15): I rise today to speak to the ACT government’s Transport Canberra and City Services commitment outlined in the 2019-20 budget.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video