26 April 2005

Simon Corbell makes case for ending all public transport.

| johnboy
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Perhaps following on from Seepi’s questions in this place, ABC Online have some words from Simon Corbell explaining why we can’t have what we want.

But Planning Minister Simon Corbell says most people take private transport or taxis and the Government could not guarantee a bus service would not make a loss.

Now most of us will recall that all of ACTION makes a loss, and if it wasn’t there we’d all be using private transport or taxis. So remind me again why we spend so much money on public transport? And once you’ve done that, can you explain why that same reasoning should not apply to the Airport? (and large numbers of offices now attached).

UPDATED: ABC Online now brings news that Canberra Cabs are now going to offer a $10 service to Parliament House and the city.

Why not let Canberra cabs run all of the public transport?

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I heard a whisper the other day that the real reason Action won’t go to the airport, is that the airport owner can slug them with a big fee per bus. This is why DEWR is putting on their own busses for thier staff. I would be very careful of letting these people be in charge of any more major Canberra developments. (Ie Civic.) And where are our local news service when we need them to dig around a little into community issues like this? Simon says ‘we dont’ run a bus cos we dont’ want to’ and they just leave it at that????

Samuel Gordon-Stewart11:21 pm 27 Apr 05

yes, that first bus stop outside Phillip Pool is a joke, the other stop gets you closer to the majority of things in that area, and doesn’t require the bus to stop on a major road right near a slip lane.
Do the people who place bus stops just stick pins in maps while blindfolded?

Samuel

Just stumbled across this blog while trying to log onto the action website which seems to be down!

Anyway, whoever made the comment about letting Canberra Cabs run the public transport system has gotta be kidding themselves! The taxi’s are a law unto themselves and drive around, choose jobs and discriminate against people whenever they feel like it. How would you feel if the bus came past and just decided that because you were going to Civic and not Woden then they wouldn’t pick you up! That has happened to me with a cab!

And don’t get me started on the cost of catching a cab! Talk about highway robbery! $50+ just from Civic to Isabella!!!!

The taxi’s are independantly owned and anybody who has actually rung up to complain to Canberra Cabs about appalling driver behaviour or servie will know you get nowhere. They can’t take any responsibility because the taxi’s are all individually owned and they don’t really care cause they know they have enough fares anyway … what are you gonna do, you are a captive market at certain times of the night. No one takes responsibility for the complaints. At least Action will run the service anyway even if they are at a loss.

Light rail would be a great idea as it could stop all the unecessary stops in and around the interchanges and get people to work a lot quicker. Everyday when I catch a bus from Civic to Woden I feel like screaming when the bus pulls up outside Phillip pool, goes around the corner about 100 meters and stops again! Aaaaahhhhh! Can’t these people just walk the extra little distance?

Being able to catch a bus from Isabella to Tuggeranong and then get an express light rail to Civic would be awesome.

As for the reps comments about private transport, they aren’t too far off the mark but I catch the bus almost out of principal. How the governemnt can charge $6+ per day just to park the car and not provide any security or cover has dead set got to be extortion.

other advantages of light rail in the big scheme of things are that you can actually build higher density housing and not congest the roads further.

i think that the trend is already to wards infill, and properly planned transport/development should occur. whacking a bus stop in post facto isnt a solution.

the busways are a gross waste of money.

having used multimodal public transport in melbourne to get to work i have to say it isnt that much of an imposition to change trains/trams etc.

there may be a reason for simons odd statements. he did take a lot of time off last year…

But Seepi, you’re thinking in terms of common sense and the public interest.

I’m sure Simon’s heard of these thnigs but he’s a busy man with bigger things on his mind.

I still don’t understand why it would be sucha big deal to get Action to the airport. Simon is making out that a whole new bus route would have to be invented. But they ahve 4 busses that go to Campbell Park, which is the next suburb. Why can’t they just extend the route of one of those?

“Incomprehensible” is generally the Stanhope party’s policy.

Indeed, but is it cock-up or conspiracy?

Samuel Gordon-Stewart8:23 pm 26 Apr 05

“Incomprehensible” is generally the Stanhope party’s policy.

Samuel

I often suspect his incomprehensible answers mask a hidden agenda.

Is it just me or does the Ear ring boy seem to become more and more bizarre and incomprehensible with each week?

Almost all public transport runs at a loss. Even fully privatised systems like those in Melbourne are massively subsidised by the Gov’t.

Anyway, this misses the point. PT is all about providing a public service rather than a profit-making entity — classic example of where gov’t intervention is a Good Thing(TM).

A recent comment I heard by the ACTION CEO (paraphrased): “One of the big problems with Canberra is that we have a small ‘captive market’ for public transport. In other words, anyone who is physically capable of driving and can afford to drive probably will, since travel times are so short and traffic congestion is negligible.”

johnboy: Couldn’t agree more about the link to the airport. I can only assume that commercial interests (eg. the Airbus people) are preventing this happening.

bonfire: I think I’d rather keep the buses than switch to light rail. At the moment I can simply hope on a bus and it takes me to work. With light rail I’d have to hop off and wait at the Interchange — much less convenient.

How much do you think it’d cost the ACT Govt (read taxpayer!) to upgrade parking facilities, roads, and other associated infrastructure if everyone took their car into work?

Canberra needs a properly integrated multi-modal public transport system with Light rail at its core. Light rail can link the town centres and primary employment centres, and buses can feed the interchanges.

The ALP have a woeful record on public transport.

The sustainable public transport paper was a joke.

Prolly the Minister… but if the tag fits you can wear it too 😛

Another drug induced comment?

You talking about me or Simon?

He’s a git, pure and simple. Come along to Weston Creek Community Council at Royals (or whatever it’s called now) and heckle him this wednesday night @ 7:45.

Another drug induced comment?

The struggletown busses leaving from Woden interchange do go via the airport.

I don’t actually beleive we should do away with public transport (although I do think we should re-think it an re-engineer it to make it work).

I DO think the public transport network should extend to the airport.

Samuel Gordon-Stewart3:39 pm 25 Apr 05

I’m sooo glad that you and Simon both think that everybody can afford private vehicles…or that everybody wants a private vehicle.

I personally could probably afford a car if I wanted to, but why bother, ACTION do a mostly good job, certainly they lose money, but they are an essential part of Canberra.

Apart from which, bus travel is much safer than car travel. How many people have died in bus crashes compared to the number of people who die in car crashes? You will also note that, even when buses do crash, the survival rate is much higher due to the amount of space. The motor isn’t going to slam into you in a bus…

It suprises me that Simon would announce this straight after announcing an planning process for a costly, unneeded busway from Belconnen to Civic, and then deciding that we should allow bicycles on their. Bus size V Bicycle size. Bus speed V Bicycle speed. Bus patron protection V Bicycle patron protection…need I say more.

Mind you, Mr Corbell did also enlighten us to the benifits of fruit and vegetables during the week…maybe that will fix the hospital problem in 20 years.

And congratulations to all who voted for Labor…you voted for the Stanhope Lunatic Party, you deserve what you get.

Samuel

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