Page 507 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 19 February 2020
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In February last year I raised the concerns of many constituents in old Narrabundah, in my electorate. I told the Assembly then:
Under several different route names, the No 5 route has serviced the residents of the inner south for decades. In particular, the residents of what is affectionately known as old Narrabundah have relied on this bus to take them to the city, Russell, Canberra Hospital or the Woden town centre. Similarly, the No 4 route, which connected residents of Red Hill, Narrabundah and Griffith with Woden and the city, was a popular route that many residents of the inner south had come to rely on.
In October—
2017—
all of that changed. The No 5 route was cancelled altogether and the No 4 route was changed in a poor attempt to fill the void left by the cancellation of the No 5. Two bus routes were hastily stitched together to create a monster route by the poor judgement and short-term thinking of its creator. Let us call this the Franken-route.
Ironically, the government that is so very good at talking the talk about looking after our vulnerable Canberrans has created a public transport network where many of our vulnerable Canberrans do not even have direct access to essential medical services.
Two years later, these residents are still waiting to learn whether a simple request for a direct route to Woden will be realised. However, those who in the last two years have needed to get to Canberra Hospital or to Woden have probably already given up on the public transport system, anyway—given up on wishing, hoping and thinking that perhaps this ACT government is actually listening to them.
We know this government do little for residents in the inner south, perhaps presuming that they do not need to catch a bus, or perhaps they simply do not care. In any event, when they have asked for a new bus stop or improved bus routes—and I have raised their concerns on numerous occasions—it has always fallen on deaf ears.
In November we wrote to the minister, seeking a new bus stop opposite Narrabundah College for residents wanting to travel to the city, because the arrangements at the time involved a difficult crossing and a very long walk, especially for many of my constituents who have mobility issues. We asked for a new bus stop on Sturt Avenue so that residents could access the No 6 rapid bus. Still no luck.
It is unacceptable that the Minister for Transport still absolutely refuses to accept any responsibility for the shambles that this government has made of our bus network. And the ones that suffer because of this incompetence and this arrogance are the hardworking, everyday Canberrans who rely on buses to get around our city.
It matters little whether the total failures of this bus network were caused before Minister Steel’s time. It matters little whether his government simply got it wrong. It
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