Public Transport to our favoured businesses!

To re-establish this discussion – latest frustrating note to add here is that DFO is no longer playing a party to the informal idea of “park and ride” – DFO have recently in the last fortnight I believe, refused to open the carpark before 9am, so as to avoid the parking spaces being clogged up by “non-shoppers”. This idea is ridiculous to me as a user of the abovementioned, as there have never in my time of parking there been more than around 10 obvious “park and riders” parked underneath, nor have I ever seen the carpark full even on a long weekend of busy shopping.
This has now stopped me using the bus for transport into the city for work as the 9:15am is too late to leave. To catch the bus from there we now have to park our car on the spare block of land between the baby shop and DFO. Not sure if that is more or less safer than the DFO underground carpark, but frustrating nonetheless re. protection from the elements, and the contrary to the spirit of the system.
I really think that DFO is missing out on a good promotional opportunity with this partnership, and ACTION is losing customers (i know others who have had to avoid this situation).
When my car was parked there I sometimes (albeit not always) used the opportunity to pop into the shops before or after the bus ride depending on times.
Back to paying ridiculous amounts for parking in the city, clogging up the roads and getting p’d off with the traffic.

arescarti42 said :

I fail to see how improving the service by running it to Fyshwick will stop it from being air conditioned or force it to stop more frequently on Northbourne Avenue. In fact I fail to see how extending the service does anything other than benefit people who want to go to Fyshwick.

Let me SPELL it out for you. As there will be no more buses provided then because each bus will take longer to complete the route then that results in a lower number of services. The air con and stopping on Northbourne is irrelevant to the route extension for setting up a new service for people who just can’t wait to do more shopping for things they don’t need. The people in Gungahlin who catch the bus in summer do appreciate the air con as it happens but then maybe you think that is something too good for working people in the suburbs. The continual toying with their civic amenities could just be one reason why Labor always does so poorly in the Gungahlin booths.

georgesgenitals said :

Why doesn’t the bus run directly from my house to my office when I want?

It does…its called a taxi.

emd said :

Makes sense to run a service from Gungahlin to DFO via Civic.
Lots of young people live in Gungahlin and work at DFO and/or Civic.
And lots of people who live in Gungahlin want to buy homewares etc from DFO too.

Also many of these people have relatives in Bungendore-how about that!

Makes sense to run a service from Gungahlin to DFO via Civic.
Lots of young people live in Gungahlin and work at DFO and/or Civic.
And lots of people who live in Gungahlin want to buy homewares etc from DFO too.

Why doesn’t the bus run directly from my house to my office when I want?

merlin bodega said :

If the REDEX trial is supposed to be a success why isn’t the trialled service being implemented?

I guess it is not feasible to run a separate trial for every single new route/timetable… If the idea works, why not extend the coverage and/or implement a redex style system elsewhere?

Personally I think it is a good idea and I will use it. Heaps cheaper than driving 25km each way to work and more comfortable than bicycling (especially in winter).

merlin bodega said :

Not a bad service but its real benefit is that it is air conditioned and doesn’t have to stop at every single stop along Northbourne Avenue which adds an age to any trip for a route service to get to Gungahlin suburbs from Civic. It is saddening to see this being jeopardised.

I fail to see how improving the service by running it to Fyshwick will stop it from being air conditioned or force it to stop more frequently on Northbourne Avenue. In fact I fail to see how extending the service does anything other than benefit people who want to go to Fyshwick.

Why is a successful service like the REDEX being amended after the trial? Of course. So it will be like all other ACTION services and take longer to complete its circuitous route, result in a less frequent service and ultimately demonstrate that even more money should be poured into this hole in the ground masquerading as public transport to pay ever higher salaries for the executives. Don’t worry about what the drivers get paid. Read the fine print in the budget papers about how much the management gets paid. What happened to accountability?

If the REDEX trial is supposed to be a success why isn’t the trialled service being implemented? I use the REDEX from time to time to get to or from Gungahlin when my bus doesn’t turn up and I have to improvise to get to or from work. Not a bad service but its real benefit is that it is air conditioned and doesn’t have to stop at every single stop along Northbourne Avenue which adds an age to any trip for a route service to get to Gungahlin suburbs from Civic. It is saddening to see this being jeopardised.

I wont even drive to DFO.why the hell would I catch a bus.If DFO is so good why are 36.7% of the shops MT(empty)?