Government wants your say on buses as new 'rapid' network unveiled

I tried out the number 2 bus. Almost a km walk now, and some others have further than that with the cutting of the local 5 bus; some over 1.5kms.
Yesterday, to Woden, walking to the bus was not a problem (for me; not sure how those in aged care placed along the old 5 route will manage it). It was returning with shopping that was harder. I did about half of the amount of shopping I would have done in the past, because of the walk, so now a restriction on what I can bring home by bus.

Today I caught it again; a medical appointment at the hospital. I jogged some of the way because of the time it takes to walk to the bus. (Timed 15 minutes yesterday with shopping.) I don’t image this 60 plus year old non-jogger would have been an elegant sight. That bus arrived on time.

After my medical appointment I thought I would continue onto Woden. I waited half an hour and no number 2 bus turned up. In that time there were supposed to be two buses. Saw neither of them. It’s possible the earlier bus could have been running early, but that would have been by at least five minutes, as I was there before time, and perhaps the later bus was running late. After half an hour the number 3 bus (which was scheduled to come a few minutes later than the second number 2 bus) came by and I caught that.

I will likely drive from now on, because needing to carry home a load of groceries is harder now. With bus 5 my first choice was the bus; now, with in effect no local bus, not now. I am fortunate in that I have a car.

When will ACTION replace their often-quoted policy that buses only need to be on time at “timing points”. I caught one of the new rapid services recently with a driver who travelled so dangerously fast that we were seven minutes ahead of the sign-posted time at the bus stop where I alighted, which was one stop before a timing point. Receiving the explanation that the bus would have waited at the timing point for seven minutes to get back on schedule does not help the many people who would have already missed this bus. I am told that the NXTBUS system warns the driver immediately if they are ahead of schedule, but not all drivers take notice. How much ahead of schedule will the tram be allowed to run, remembering they will be less frequent than the existing buses?

The Green Rapid is really convenient for me – about 17 minutes to work. If I wasn’t lucky enough to have a car space at work (and that probably won’t last forever), I would definitely catch it every day.

But I do feel very sorry for the residents of Old Narrabundah, who no longer have a direct bus to Woden or Russell, and a very slow trip through Red Hill to Civic. Surely it would make more sense to have the Green Rapid 6 swing past the Narrabundah shops?

Given that Old Narrabundah (between Canberra Av and Sturt Av) has about 23 per cent public housing, including relatively new supported aged housing along the route of the dear departed 5, why can’t it have a bus that takes people to the support services they need?

How does Ms Fitzharris even have the gall to claim that a ‘Rapid bus link’ from Erindale to Civic would travel its way through Kingston and Manuka on its ‘Rapid journey’. Who would ever drive from Tuggeranong to Civic through those zones (other than someone with the defunct Apple Maps release 1 😉

She absolutely leads the pack in this Government for being able to make dodgy claims whilst maintaining a straight face.

If she was honest, her press release for these bus route changes would tell the truth to say that…. the previous weekend ‘direct bus route’ from Erindale to Civic has now been reduced from a very reliable ‘every 15 minutes’ to ‘never’.

It’s an absolute joke that they can dress up reduced services and a slower journey as an improvement for passengers.

The word “bus” has been dropped in favour of just “rapid” to accommodate the Gungahlin-City tram which is planned to start operating next year, replacing the existing rapid bus services.

This name change gives Transport Canberra scope to then tweak the initial tram service to a “rapid tram” service when they find out it is actually slower than the busses it is replacing. There will be more stops than Mitchell being eliminated.

Labor failed to meet its election commitment of 10.5% of journeys to work by public transport by 2016, and will need to well and truly pull its finger out if it is to come anywhere near its commitment of 16% by 2026. 8.2% of journeys to work included a public transport component – up from 7.8% in 2011. Lack of suitable incentives (such as effective transit lanes) has resulted in fewer people travelling as car passengers (down from 8.6% to 7.3%). Some of them have switched to public transport, walking and cycling, but others have switched to driving their own cars (up from 73.3% to 73.8%).