Page 3642 - Week 10 - Thursday, 19 September 2019
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MR STEEL: I thank the member for her question. I note that in the next sitting week I will be tabling some further information related to the petition that she brought to the Assembly in relation to this matter. More school students are in fact using public transport in Canberra than before the introduction of the new public transport network. During term two 2019 the number of journeys made by school students on school days was 0.77 per cent higher than in term two 2018. This equates to around 120 more journeys by school students each school day. On non-school days, including public holidays, we have seen a large increase as well.
MISS C BURCH: Minister, when will you fix Canberra’s school bus network?
MR STEEL: I thank the member for her question. It is very positive that we are seeing more students using public transport overall. Before the new network started we saw many students already using the route bus network and not necessarily dedicated school bus services. We have been working very closely with school communities to look at how the new system has been operating. I have met with some of those schools to talk about some of the specific issues and we will continue to do so as the new network continues.
MRS JONES: Minister, why, given the tiny statistical increase caused by bus interchange bus changes, has network 19 failed to get more students using public transport to get to and from school?
MR STEEL: I thank the member for her question but she clearly has not listened to my previous answers. We have more students using the public transport network overall, and that is a very good thing because we want to encourage everyone, particularly from the earlier stages, to use public transport and to see it as a viable alternative. Of course, with the new system, we changed to a hub and spoke model; so we did expect to see a slight increase in the number of boardings per journey made. That is what we have seen, but it has not been too dramatic and we are still seeing large numbers of students using the system.
Transport—park-and-ride bike facilities
MR MILLIGAN: My question is to the Minister for Transport. I refer to information you received in your incoming minister’s brief regarding the budget policy “'Supporting More Canberrans to Park and Ride”. In the briefing it states there has been $2.5 million allocated for a park-and-ride facility along Well Station Drive but “the current design does not provide for bike facilities”. Minister, given the amount of funding for this project, why were bike facilities not considered in the original design of this project?
MR STEEL: I thank the member for his question. Of course we have also funded a park-and-ride strategy which we will be working on over the coming months. This is going to set out a strategic plan for how we deliver park-and-ride facilities across the territory in the right locations and in relation to the facilities that they provide.
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