Chief Minister Stanhope has announced that the favoured DFO retailing ghetto is going to get a special bus service to make sure all Canberrans can partake of the low, low prices.
- A weekend bus service to the new DFO shopping complex at Fyshwick will be in operation by early December, and a weekday service will be up and running by February, Chief Minister and Minister for Transport Jon Stanhope announced today.
The services are being introduced in response to community demand.
“ACTION management met with DFO management recently to discuss the transport needs of workers at the new complex, as well as shoppers,” Mr Stanhope said.
“As a result of that meeting the Government will move swiftly to have a weekend service up and running by Saturday December 6, with a weekday service to follow in February.”
Timetable information on the revised Bus Route 980 will available this week on ACTION’s website at www.action.act.gov.au or from ACTION’s Call Centre on 13 17 10.
If only the less favoured airport could get a decent bus service rolled out!
You can catch a special bus to a shopping centre, but not to the airport.
Does anyone else find this slightly unusual?
As if the airport really wants a bus service that they don’t cream rent from – it would merely take revenue away from the existing (Deane’s) bus, taxis and carparking that contribute to the airport income.
There isn’t a bus service to the airport? Are you joking? If that’s so, then that’s shite.
Are there busses to the brand depot thing too?
I still haven’t been to DFO, I have to check it out, maybe this weekend.
So the ACTION won’t provide buses to all ACT suburbs, but will put on special ones to the DFO?
Clearly the suburbs of Tharwa, Hall and Oaks Estate need better representation.
There is a bus service to the airport, and the times are ok if you want to catch a plane (but not too early or too late).
The bus service to Brand Depot (at the airport, but not right at the terminal) exists, but it really isn’t too good. It makes it hard for the store managers to hire retail staff when they can’t catch a bus home after (I think) 4:15pm. Note that young people, who might not yet have a car, tend to go for junior retail positions. No amount of begging ACTION seemed to fix this situation.
DFO is obviously better at the negotiation.
When Action changed it’s timetables a few months ago it extended route 40 (now route 10) to go to the airport, the business park and brand depot between peak times – but not after hours. I’m not sure about how a bus user would get there on the weekend though.
housebound said :
And location. A bit of detour from to an existing service is a bit easier to cope with. That, and isn’t Brand Depot free from ACT rates etc?
Tracker said :
It’s really not that exciting, similar to grand depot, just different shops with ‘perceived’ value for money.
It sounds like Hell, with extra lashings of Food Court.
Yeah, I just ate up the perception of all the bargains:
exposed air con ducts
concrete floors
girders
impressive subterranean carpark
Just don’t look at the price tags and you can just imagine those savings rolling in
I don’t mind DFO at all. Shop there all the time and I do find it cheaper than the full price outlets for the same brands. What is really required in that area is an Ikea. I miss my Ikea fix dearly. Back in Vegas, I even built our whole kitchen out of Ikea bits and saved myself $10,000 in the process!!
DFO is pretty good. Much better when compared to Brand Depot. Brand Depot would probably get more support from the Govt if Mr Snow wasn’t such an idiot!
I don’t mind brand depot, and I don’t mind DFO. Neither’s wonderful, but they’re OK. A few too many kiddy clothes shops at Brand Depot, but the cheap sheet shops are pretty good.
There used to be a normal bus to the airport, I think they cut it out in 1978 (and the walk to Duntroon got real old real fast).
But I don’t understand – I caught a bus to DFO on Saturday! The 980 drops you about a block and a half from the DFO…
Ikea: cheap chinese imported rubbish with obscure swedish names to give an air of class; might as well shop at Hot Dollar really.
If Snow hadn’t done the Deanes deal where the airport creamed a fee off each passenger then I’m sure Action would happily have provided some service years ago. I wonder if the economics ever came through for the govt depts that moved to the airport but then found that workers wanted transport, which they then paid for.