Page 1951 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 3 June 2015
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Buses simply cannot provide these advantages in the same way that light rail can. Look at the Northbourne Avenue corridor, for example. Traffic on Northbourne Avenue is currently exceeding capacity and it is one of the most congested roads in the ACT. Modelling shows that, by 2031, a trip in peak congestion between Gungahlin and the city is expected to take 50 minutes or more. This compares to a journey time of around 25 minutes for light rail. There is great value in the reliability of light rail, which will avoid traffic by travelling on its own central median alignment. Buses cannot achieve this. The best transport future for Canberra is one that makes use of both buses and light rail, as both have a role in our future.
The same traffic issues are likely to impact on the Liberals’ proposal for super express buses in peak hours. We already run Xpresso services in peak hours, of course. I will be interested to see the advantages that come from adding the superlative “super” to the title. The point, though, is that whether a bus is called “express” or “super express”, it will still sit in the peak hour traffic.
Mr Coe interjecting—
MR RATTENBURY: This is the point. I hear Mr Coe interjecting. When he comes back to speak, he might explain to us the difference between a “super express” and an “express” and how it is going to get around the existing peak hour traffic. Buses can only avoid traffic with new infrastructure such as priority lanes.
Mr Coe interjecting—
MR RATTENBURY: Mr Coe will get his chance in a minute rather than shouting over the top of me. They can only avoid traffic with new infrastructure such as priority lanes, but I note that these were not funded in the Liberal Party plan announced this week.
Light rail benefits from separation. It will have its own right of way; it will have priority at lights; it will be consistent and reliable. I hear our opposition colleagues often complain about the on-time running statistics of the ACTION bus network. They are improving. Guess what the biggest factor is in on-time running? It is traffic. Buses caught in traffic, traffic accidents, traffic jams—all of this leads to inconsistent travel times.
There are several other problems the Liberal Party will want to fix for their new bus policy. Bus depots are currently full, so they will need to build new depot storage for the increased bus fleet. A new bus depot, depending on where you build it, will cost between $25 million and $40 million. We need to think about where that sits in the costings of their transport plan.
On the other hand, light rail will free up considerable bus capacity which could move elsewhere in the network. Effectively, this provides new bus services without buying new buses, depots or drivers.
Mr Coe interjecting—
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