Government hates your family. More Coe Revelations

dpm said :

The bus service we had in my suburb (to the local interchange) was better in the 70s and 80s than it is now, so I kind of disagreee on this point too….. I’m guessing self-govt put a stop to these better bus services?
Overall, I think the ‘trunk’ routes are now OK, but getting from most suburbs to the hubs/interchanges is shite. That’s what stuffs it for me (and I imagine many others too).
I’ve said before (to ACTION and on RA), maybe they need more park and ride facilities in some satellite areas to allow people to at least bypass the slow suburban loop buses to the interchanges as much as possible? The one near Mawson is quite popular! My 2c….

I didn’t mean to say that it’s a good system, but I think there is a trade-off between trunk and suburban services (with limited resources) and the current system is heading to a best “least-worst” system if you know what I mean. My current bus commute is a golden ticket, with a bus outside my front door that heads straight to work, but that’s not the only trip I do. Many times I’ll compromise and organise a pick up point and catch the bus to there. The 300 series buses (Blues) are great.

More park’n’rides would help, as I think more routes like the 300s (Blue Rapids) in Belconnen, where they tootle round different suburbs, but all converge on the Belco interchange and then keep going onward to Civic and Woden (and beyond). A slow bus is easier to handle when it’s one slow bus, without having to transfer anywhere.

chewy14 said :

“We hate your family.”

If Labor campaigned on that slogan I just might vote for them.

The Greens have already been campaigning on that platform for years.

“We hate your family.”

If Labor campaigned on that slogan I just might vote for them.

In my experience it is other families that seem to hate my family most. Evidenced by the dangerous illegal parking practices by other parents at our school every morning and afternoon. I call them the “I can park anywhere because MY kids are special” brigade.

dpm said :

Martlark said :

Mysteryman said :

For many Canberra families, catching a bus is not an option. ACTION is unreliable, expensive, and simply not viable when you have children to drop off at different locations”..

Most travellers to work do not have dependent children who require hand holding from Mummy or Daddy to get anywhere. ACTION is a good option for most people getting to work in the main town centers. The fact it does not meet your exact narrow requirements does not stop it from meeting most transport needs.

Whoops! I think the quote you are referring to is from Alastair Coe, not Mysteryman (see the OP)…..
Be careful before you have a go at someone! 🙂
That would mean the narrow requirements mentioned apparently belong to the Libs.

I dunno, I think it applies to both 😛

Success!

I look forward to Mr Coe’s election winning platform of turning current green space into car parks – sure to be a winner.l

Hmm
∞
∞

Dammit – stupid thing won’t let me add the ‘+ infinity’ symbol

poetix said :

Jim Jones said :

EvanJames said :

Thank god I’m single… if I was a family I might become poor and disadvantaged, but apparently this only happens to families.

Single people are the devil’s work!!!

Apart from politicians saying the word ‘family’ as often as possible, I also dislike women who say ‘speaking as a Mum’ all the time, as if their brain has been totally subsumed by their…let’s say womb.

And I’m speaking as a Mum when I say that.

+ ?

Martlark said :

Mysteryman said :

For many Canberra families, catching a bus is not an option. ACTION is unreliable, expensive, and simply not viable when you have children to drop off at different locations”..

Most travellers to work do not have dependent children who require hand holding from Mummy or Daddy to get anywhere. ACTION is a good option for most people getting to work in the main town centers. The fact it does not meet your exact narrow requirements does not stop it from meeting most transport needs.

Whoops! I think the quote you are referring to is from Alastair Coe, not Mysteryman (see the OP)…..
Be careful before you have a go at someone! 🙂
That would mean the narrow requirements mentioned apparently belong to the Libs.

Mysteryman said :

For many Canberra families, catching a bus is not an option. ACTION is unreliable, expensive, and simply not viable when you have children to drop off at different locations”..

Most travellers to work do not have dependent children who require hand holding from Mummy or Daddy to get anywhere. ACTION is a good option for most people getting to work in the main town centers. The fact it does not meet your exact narrow requirements does not stop it from meeting most transport needs.

madamcholet said :

I’m not convinced the bus I bother to get a couple of times a week on my non childcare drop off days is bursting at the seams with singles/couples with no kids. You know what, they are all driving their nice shiny fast cars into our car parks because I do see them on the days I am doing the child care drop offs.

Just what can be done about the problem is beyond me though.

Only people with children should be allowed to drive and park, and the parking should be free. In fact, if you have children, everything should be free.

puggy said :

….I really don’t think ACTION buses can get any better….

For your home-office-home route maybe, not mine.

puggy said :

… The blue and red rapid introduced the high-frequency buses on trunk lines that everyone seems to demand and you can’t service the suburban streets any better than they are now.

The bus service we had in my suburb (to the local interchange) was better in the 70s and 80s than it is now, so I kind of disagreee on this point too….. I’m guessing self-govt put a stop to these better bus services?
Overall, I think the ‘trunk’ routes are now OK, but getting from most suburbs to the hubs/interchanges is shite. That’s what stuffs it for me (and I imagine many others too).
I’ve said before (to ACTION and on RA), maybe they need more park and ride facilities in some satellite areas to allow people to at least bypass the slow suburban loop buses to the interchanges as much as possible? The one near Mawson is quite popular! My 2c….

Maybe if they stuck some of those “My Family” stickers on the back of the buses…?

“It is true that if one has utterly failed to organise any aspect of one’s life then vast amounts of driving and parking is required to overcome that.”

Given that this statement comes after a piece that talked about families, one can only assume that it is aimed at people in these situations.

I’m not convinced the bus I bother to get a couple of times a week on my non childcare drop off days is bursting at the seams with singles/couples with no kids. You know what, they are all driving their nice shiny fast cars into our car parks because I do see them on the days I am doing the child care drop offs.

Just what can be done about the problem is beyond me though. Was actually thinking this morning about the fact that I pay a whole days parking fees even though I leave early – and thh fact that changing it to a true pay per hour system so you get what you actually pay for, would not cause any stampeding into the carparks by those who currently take the bus to try to keep costs down.

Maybe they shoudl just face facts that the bus service will have to be forever subsidised in order to make it viable.

Jim Jones said :

EvanJames said :

Thank god I’m single… if I was a family I might become poor and disadvantaged, but apparently this only happens to families.

Single people are the devil’s work!!!

Apart from politicians saying the word ‘family’ as often as possible, I also dislike women who say ‘speaking as a Mum’ all the time, as if their brain has been totally subsumed by their…let’s say womb.

And I’m speaking as a Mum when I say that.

Jim Jones said :

EvanJames said :

Thank god I’m single… if I was a family I might become poor and disadvantaged, but apparently this only happens to families.

Single people are the devil’s work!!!

It is PLAINLY UN-AUSTRALIAN to be single, financially responsible, not having spawn, not budging off the government, and not sitting around until the price of one’s house goes up.

“Buried report” = “one I didn’t notice until now (and even then only picked out one out of context paragraph)”

EvanJames said :

Thank god I’m single… if I was a family I might become poor and disadvantaged, but apparently this only happens to families.

Single people are the devil’s work!!!

Thank god I’m single… if I was a family I might become poor and disadvantaged, but apparently this only happens to families.

Blimey, he does keep on giving doesn’t he.

“It is true that if one has utterly failed to organise any aspect of one’s life then vast amounts of driving and parking is required to overcome that.”

I that comment shows a lack of understanding concerning the problem with the bus system in the ACT.

“For many Canberra families, catching a bus is not an option. ACTION is unreliable, expensive, and simply not viable when you have children to drop off at different locations”.

That comment is spot on. Even for many of those without family members to worry about, ACTION is still unreliable and simply not viable. I can drive to work in 20 minutes during peak hour, or I can spend 15 mins walking to a bus stop, and then another 40 minutes riding 1 (or 2) buses to work. And that is assuming that the bus is running on time. Let’s see… 40 mins in a car total travel time, or 1 hour and 50 minutes using ACTION.

I’d love to use more public transport if it were convenient. But I’m not about to sacrifice time and convenience to make the Greens and ACT Labor feel warm and fuzzy.

dtc said :

So does Coe commend and support the rest of the report – from which he has extracted that minor comment?

Given that the main thrust of the report (well, as set out in the CT) is that parking charges are far too low and the govt should be charging $28 per day (and that parking is, in general, underutilised).

Basing a whole complaint on a minor part of a report is a little dangerous

Too true. it will be interesting to see how Mr Coe “fixes” ACTION.

While I am not enamoured with Labour I am not convinced to go Libs either.

Part of the problem is there is no one real CBD in Canberra. We have scattered business districts all over Canberra. Changing jobs means more than likely you will move from working in the city to working in Tuggeranong, or worse out at the airport (thanks Mr Snow).

If they want Canberra to have a good public transport system then they need to knock down virtually all office space outside the city and build a few highrises in the CBD and concentrate all industrial development in one area (considering there is right now 3 different industrial areas in Canberra), that way peoples commuting will be point to point.

“It is true that if one has utterly failed to organise any aspect of one’s life then vast amounts of driving and parking is required to overcome that.”

It is true that if one has utterly failed to find a partner and start a family then they should refrain from commenting on things they have no experience about.

So does Coe commend and support the rest of the report – from which he has extracted that minor comment?

Given that the main thrust of the report (well, as set out in the CT) is that parking charges are far too low and the govt should be charging $28 per day (and that parking is, in general, underutilised).

Basing a whole complaint on a minor part of a report is a little dangerous

harvyk1 said :

It is also true that I don’t really want to spend 1.5 hours in the morning and again in the afternoon getting to \ from work, and that is assuming that bus timings all line up nicely. Where as if I drive I can do the trip to \ from work in about 20 to 25 minutes….

…it needs to be compariable timings to driving, and the trick there is to make public transport better, not removing cars as an option.

It’s true that ACTION is not for everyone, but it is certainly a viable option for more people than can be bothered working out the timetable. And the comparison to driving has to be door to desk. For myself, the drive may be 30 minutes in peak time, but I if want free parking to keep the cost comparable, that’s another 10 minute walk to the building. The bus will be 50 minutes tops. On the occasions that I have to go to Kambah after work, the 700 series “xpresso” buses get me there in 20 minutes flat.

I really don’t think ACTION buses can get any better. The blue and red rapid introduced the high-frequency buses on trunk lines that everyone seems to demand and you can’t service the suburban streets any better than they are now. The full network map gives you a good idea of where it’s all at and it’s taken me most places I need to go.

The thing that gets me is how much traffic drops of during school holidays. Sure, some may be because people take leave to be at home with the kids, but a lot seems to be traffic from ferrying kids to far off schools. I don’t know why (a) you can’t send kids to closer schools (b) get them to catch the bus. I was in Year 1 and catching 4 public buses a day alone. I’d then get home and catch the bus with mum to swimming lessons and back. This was in the 80’s. The bus system is much better now (although many of the buses are exactly the same!).

“It is true that if one has utterly failed to organise any aspect of one’s life then vast amounts of driving and parking is required to overcome that.”

To make that comment is just sheer ignorance and a lack of understanding about family life in Canberra. I have to live in the extreme south as that is where we can afford, we both have to work to pay the overpriced mortgage, the daycare centre is in Woden (they all have waiting lists) and we work at the airport and downtown. And just what happens if our child gets sick? I should jump on 3 or 4 buses to get home/ doctor? The car is here to stay, don’t hate it but perhaps invest in cleaner technologies such as hydrogen?

“It is true that if one has utterly failed to organise any aspect of one’s life then vast amounts of driving and parking is required to overcome that.”

It is also true that I don’t really want to spend 1.5 hours in the morning and again in the afternoon getting to \ from work, and that is assuming that bus timings all line up nicely. Where as if I drive I can do the trip to \ from work in about 20 to 25 minutes.

To extract the time difference over a week buses would add on 10 extra hours to my commuting time per week. For public transport to be a realistic option, it needs to be compariable timings to driving, and the trick there is to make public transport better, not removing cars as an option.