10 July 2013

Parliamentary Triangle public transport getting a boost

| Barcham
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Shane Rattenbury announced today a $9.7 million boost to public transport in the parliamentary triangle, presumably in an effort to alleviate some of the ‘paid parking’ concerns that have arisen.

The cash boost will involve two “significant projects” that will make getting to work on the bus quicker.

Sadly neither of these projects is called “put more buses on the really popular routes which are difficult to get on before 9 on a weekday”, but these ideas sound good too.

Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Shane Rattenbury, today announced the commencement of two significant projects to improve public transport and access to Canberra’s Parliamentary Triangle.

“Work has now commenced on the construction of a dedicated bus lane on an 800-metre section of Canberra Avenue between Hindmarsh Drive and the Monaro Highway. This major project will reduce bus travel times, especially for people travelling to Barton, and especially during peak periods,” said Mr Rattenbury.

“The Canberra Avenue Bus Lane will assist cross-border transport and hopefully encourage more Queanbeyan-Canberra commuters to make use of buses, helping to reduce congestion and parking pressures.

“Walkers and cyclists using Canberra Avenue will benefit from a new shared path on Canberra Avenue, enhanced lighting, additional footpaths, as well as a new signalised pedestrian crossing on Geelong Street.

Mr Rattenbury said that work has also commenced on the construction of a number of new bus stop facilities in Barton and Parkes.

“A new Barton bus station is being constructed on National Circuit to support bus services through the busy Parliamentary Zone. Two new bus stops are being constructed on Kings Avenue to support the increased services at this new Barton bus station,” Mr Rattenbury said.

“This project will also upgrade four existing bus stops on Kings Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue to include more comfortable seating and space for future electronic ‘real-time bus information’ displays.

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magiccar9 said :

dtc said :

magiccar9 said :

How about Rattenbury considers that people live further south than the triangle. How about a bus route that will service from the triangle to Woden, or heaven forbid Tuggeranong.
Instead of putting in a fandangled bus lane and a shared path – that face it, nobody will use because the roads are the only place for cyclists – how about he invests in some more bus routes and spreads them out the all of the public.
Also, why does Kings Avenue get more stops? I’m sure installing more stops within the smaller streets would be a more effective use of the money, and it would please a greater number of workers.

But once again, the pollies are only listening to themselves and the voices in their heads. For anyone reading, I’ll vote for any person/party will either abolish the idea of paid parking in the triangle, or at the very least provide an adequate transport system to support the changes.

Or, in other words, this doesnt suit me so it must be wrong

Well who does it suit? The small amount of workers who terminate their journey at civic interchange? Or the even smaller amount who work in the triangle but use public transport to get back to NSW?

These measures are designed to:
-Increase the capacity of the King’s Avenue and National Circuit bus stop for future increase in services -the Barton stop will be known as a “mini-interchange”
-Make sure travel times to Fyshwick, Queanbeyan and Xpresso services to Tuggeranong don’t blow out with increased traffic volumes on Canberra Ave in future, particularly given expansion to Jerra, Queanbeyan and Googong.

There are already excellent peak hour services Parkes/Barton to Woden and Parkes/Barton to Tuggeranong. A regular off-peak route would be nice, but isn’t in the transport plans as rapid services are all funnelled down high density residential corridors.

dtc said :

magiccar9 said :

How about Rattenbury considers that people live further south than the triangle. How about a bus route that will service from the triangle to Woden, or heaven forbid Tuggeranong.
Instead of putting in a fandangled bus lane and a shared path – that face it, nobody will use because the roads are the only place for cyclists – how about he invests in some more bus routes and spreads them out the all of the public.
Also, why does Kings Avenue get more stops? I’m sure installing more stops within the smaller streets would be a more effective use of the money, and it would please a greater number of workers.

But once again, the pollies are only listening to themselves and the voices in their heads. For anyone reading, I’ll vote for any person/party will either abolish the idea of paid parking in the triangle, or at the very least provide an adequate transport system to support the changes.

Or, in other words, this doesnt suit me so it must be wrong

Well who does it suit? The small amount of workers who terminate their journey at civic interchange? Or the even smaller amount who work in the triangle but use public transport to get back to NSW?

magiccar9 said :

How about Rattenbury considers that people live further south than the triangle. How about a bus route that will service from the triangle to Woden, or heaven forbid Tuggeranong.
Instead of putting in a fandangled bus lane and a shared path – that face it, nobody will use because the roads are the only place for cyclists – how about he invests in some more bus routes and spreads them out the all of the public.
Also, why does Kings Avenue get more stops? I’m sure installing more stops within the smaller streets would be a more effective use of the money, and it would please a greater number of workers.

But once again, the pollies are only listening to themselves and the voices in their heads. For anyone reading, I’ll vote for any person/party will either abolish the idea of paid parking in the triangle, or at the very least provide an adequate transport system to support the changes.

Given your view that you know how to solve all of the problems, why don’t you stand for public office and oversee fixing them yourself? Somebody of your capacity would have no problems making it all work.

I’ve worked in Barton for a number of years, and I think that the paid parking can’t come soon enough. And guess what – I won’t even consider voting for anyone who says that they’ll abolish the idea of paid parking. So, that sort of evens our votes out, I suppose.

I live well and truly on the south side and I regularly catch public transport to get to and from work (when I’m not riding my bike). It works just fine – maybe you should try it.

magiccar9 said :

..nobody will use because the roads are the only place for cyclists..

By the way, when I ride my bike, I do so on the shared paths – obviously you’ve never been anywhere near them or you’d see all of the cycle traffic in the mornings and evenings.

magiccar9 said :

How about Rattenbury considers that people live further south than the triangle. How about a bus route that will service from the triangle to Woden, or heaven forbid Tuggeranong.
Instead of putting in a fandangled bus lane and a shared path – that face it, nobody will use because the roads are the only place for cyclists – how about he invests in some more bus routes and spreads them out the all of the public.
Also, why does Kings Avenue get more stops? I’m sure installing more stops within the smaller streets would be a more effective use of the money, and it would please a greater number of workers.

But once again, the pollies are only listening to themselves and the voices in their heads. For anyone reading, I’ll vote for any person/party will either abolish the idea of paid parking in the triangle, or at the very least provide an adequate transport system to support the changes.

Or, in other words, this doesnt suit me so it must be wrong

How about Rattenbury considers that people live further south than the triangle. How about a bus route that will service from the triangle to Woden, or heaven forbid Tuggeranong.
Instead of putting in a fandangled bus lane and a shared path – that face it, nobody will use because the roads are the only place for cyclists – how about he invests in some more bus routes and spreads them out the all of the public.
Also, why does Kings Avenue get more stops? I’m sure installing more stops within the smaller streets would be a more effective use of the money, and it would please a greater number of workers.

But once again, the pollies are only listening to themselves and the voices in their heads. For anyone reading, I’ll vote for any person/party will either abolish the idea of paid parking in the triangle, or at the very least provide an adequate transport system to support the changes.

This isn’t an annoucement of a new project, rather a media release promoting work has commenced on work previously outlined in the Transport for Canberra long term planning document. These are sensible measures which will support the expansion of services outlined in the long term plans.

It should be noted that apart from the existing peak hour Xpresso services (768, 769, 788, 786) there are no plans to use the Monaro Hwy for additional services. The Canberra Avenue bus lanes (which will eventually extend up to Sturt Avenue/Wentworth Avenue roundabout) appear primarily focussed on servicing Fyshwick and Queanbeyan services better.

NXTBUS seems to be taking an inordinate amount of time and money to implement…From what I gather it requires installation of additinoal technology on buses to send real time information back to a central point. I hope the system works better than the TramTracker system in Melbourne where the boards on the platforms and mobile apps say “arriving now” constantly with no trams in sight!

For Southside people who find services to Barton, Parkes and Russell really full in the morning, consider 200-series buses, the 28 or 63 service. From my office window they seem to run through Barton half empty and provide a really good link from Woden Interchange. For some people they could be a better option for a lot of people than overcrowded 300-series services which drop off outside Albert Hall. Similarly I’m surprised by the number of people who don’t know about the 700-series services to Tuggeranong and complain they need to transfer through Woden and sometimes also Tuggeranong Bus Station to get to work.

OK, two questions:

put more buses on the really popular routes which are difficult to get on before 9 on a weekday

Doesn’t the APS have flex time? I work for a state PS where we have flex time which means I can be at work by 8 and gone by 4 or, as some others in the office do, in by 10 gone by 6. Seems to me that some demand spreading might be in order rather than trying to get everyone in Canberra to their desk at 8:59am.

This project will also upgrade four existing bus stops on Kings Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue to include more comfortable seating and space for future electronic ‘real-time bus information’ displays

I was hoping that the real time bus information system would be such that I’d be able to see when the bus was coming and time my walk, from the nice warm office, so that I got to the bus stop just as the bus pulls up. And why are there scare quotes around real-time bus information? Is it because it’s not going to be real-time, informative, or about buses?

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