Page 509 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 19 February 2020
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was a change of route in order to facilitate the introduction of the green rapid, the R6 route, which has been extremely popular. In fact, with the take-up of the green rapid R6 route in that part of Canberra there has been an increase in ridership.
I certainly acknowledge that concerns were raised in relation to this change, which preceded the network 19 introduction. Certainly, a lot of concerns were raised with me about the change, and about the lack of a direct route to Woden in those changes preceding network 19. People were concerned about the need to change buses on Goyder Street, and we took up those concerns—I certainly did as a member of the Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Kurrajong.
I had many conversations with Minister Fitzharris and her office about changes that could be made to address these issues. One of the changes to route 56 was to have it travel along Caley Crescent to provide some additional stops in the other part of Narrabundah. Most importantly, Ms Lee has completely ignored the fact that network 19 reintroduced a direct service from old Narrabundah to Woden via Canberra Hospital. It has been called, and is currently called, the AMC shuttle and it runs five days a week. It provides that direct service from old Narrabundah to Woden via the Canberra Hospital.
In the changes that Minister Steel recently announced, which will come into effect from 28 April, there will be a new route formalising the AMC shuttle and giving it a proper route name. I admit it is sometimes a bit hard to find if you do not know what to look for. The Canberra Liberals certainly will not tell you that it is there—I am sure they do not want to advertise the changes the government has made—but route 902 is going to be introduced in the new changes. As a member for Kurrajong I am very pleased to see this change; it is a demonstration that we listen to our constituents, including the people of the inner south. We recognise that people in Narrabundah have a direct link to Woden. Many people there see Woden as their town centre. So, under these new changes route 902 will provide a seven-days-a-week route connecting Woden, via Canberra Hospital and old Narrabundah, to Hume. Yes, it is a bus to Hume—a direct, seven-days-a-week service to Hume.
Hopefully it will also be of assistance to the constituent that Mrs Kikkert referred to. The changes are in response to the feedback that we have received from people. I acknowledge that Ms Lee and Miss Burch received concerns from members of the community, in the same way that I did, but it is absolutely untrue to say we have not listened to those concerns. We have consistently advocated to make these changes to the route and I very much welcome the new route 902, which will come into effect from 28 April. I encourage Ms Lee and Miss Burch, if they are talking to constituents in Narrabundah, to ensure that they are aware of the existing AMC shuttle service that runs five days a week.
MISS C BURCH (Kurrajong) (3.35): Well, that was quite a pathetic, shameless response from the minister today—typically dirty politics that we have been seeing from him recently. He has claimed that he will continue to listen to feedback from Canberrans. However, given that he has not been listening so far, I do not know why he expects Canberrans to believe him now. He still has not addressed the issue that we
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