17 November 2011

T2 lane to be restored on Adelaide Avenue

| johnboy
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adelaide avenue

The Greens’ Amanda Bresnan has announced that she’s convinced the Legislative Assembly to put the T2 lane back onto Adelaide Avenue and to have a look at the whole issue of transit lanes.

“We were disappointed that the Government removed the T2 transit lane on Adelaide Avenue without conducting a proper analysis of how it would impact on Canberra’s transport patterns,” said ACTGreens Transport spokesperson, Amanda Bresnan MLA.

“We agreed to reinstate the T2 lane.

“The Greens’ amendments additionally require the Government to conduct an evidence-based assessment of whether the lane will operate best as a T2, T3, T4 or bus-only lane. It will report back to the Assembly early next year.

“This paves the way for a future, evidence-based decision that best encourages sustainable transport on the road.

Success having a thousand fathers the Liberals Alistair Coe followed up this morning with his own happy dance having run hard on the issue.

“I am glad the majority of the Assembly has agreed that ACT Labor’s decision to change the T2 lane to a bus only lane was illogical and not in the best interests of the community,” ACT Shadow Transport Services Minister, Alistair Coe said.

“This successful motion follows concerns raised with me by the community about the lane closure.

“The onus is now on ACT Labor to respect the community’s wishes and restore the T2 lane as soon as possible.

“Simon Corbell’s decision to remove this lane was yet another poorly thought out plan by this Minister.


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dungfungus said :

Deref said :

I commute from Belco to Woden daily and back in the arvos. Apart from single-passenger cars doing 100kph or more, I’ve never seen the T2 lane offering any advantage to buses or cars. Cars in the ordinary lanes regularly pass buses in the T2 lane. I’d love to see the science behind the T2 lanes – I have a sneaking suspicion that there ain’t none.

Unusual route you take from Belco Woden return, daily via Adelaide Avenue. In case you are unaware, their is a more direct route via the TuggeranongaParkway and the GDE..

It’s an illusion, at least at peak hours.

I’ve tried it several times, and it’s always faster for me to do Northbourne Ave and Adelaide Ave. The GDE feels faster because there are no lights, but it’s a lot farther and, once you hit Woden, things immediately turn to custard. I save about 10 minutes by going the way I do.

BicycleCanberra said :

dungfungus said :

The “science” behind the T2 lane was revealed on ABC 666 this morning when Andrew Barr admitted it is the TWU that wants the T2 exclusively for their papmpered bus drivers.

It is the safety of the Bus driver and the 80 or more passengers he/she is responsible for! now if knuckle head drivers pull into the T2 (bus) lane from any where along the route and not at the start there is an a major safety issue and itsbnot about pampering to Bus drivers who do a good job considering.
Maybe a solid one line is not enough and there needs to be some small concrete bollards along the route.

Are you suggesting bus drivers are not capable of reacting to someone changing into their lane?

Majory safety issue. Give me a break.

BicycleCanberra said :

dungfungus said :

The “science” behind the T2 lane was revealed on ABC 666 this morning when Andrew Barr admitted it is the TWU that wants the T2 exclusively for their papmpered bus drivers.

It is the safety of the Bus driver and the 80 or more passengers he/she is responsible for! now if knuckle head drivers pull into the T2 (bus) lane from any where along the route and not at the start there is an a major safety issue and itsbnot about pampering to Bus drivers who do a good job considering.
Maybe a solid one line is not enough and there needs to be some small concrete bollards along the route.

I’m sure that some irresponsible drivers have cut off buses but then I’m sure some motorcyclists and taxis have done so too. I haven’t got a problem if, at the end of the day, the purpose of the lane is for in service buses only. I do have an issue though when the purpose of the lane is not clear and the variety of permitted uses (eg, motorcyles, taxis and out of service buses) do not logically support any one purpose. If the purpose should be, as you suggest, solely to improve bus times and passenger safety then prohibit motorbikes, out of service buses and taxis and make it illegal for in service buses to be out of that lane except when turning.

Gungahlin Al10:16 am 18 Nov 11

You’ve got to love how Alistair will slag off at the Greens any time a decision goes against the Liberals, calling them ALP’s coalition partners and all. But when it’s the other way, it’s just “the majority”.

BicycleCanberra9:56 am 18 Nov 11

dungfungus said :

The “science” behind the T2 lane was revealed on ABC 666 this morning when Andrew Barr admitted it is the TWU that wants the T2 exclusively for their papmpered bus drivers.

It is the safety of the Bus driver and the 80 or more passengers he/she is responsible for! now if knuckle head drivers pull into the T2 (bus) lane from any where along the route and not at the start there is an a major safety issue and itsbnot about pampering to Bus drivers who do a good job considering.
Maybe a solid one line is not enough and there needs to be some small concrete bollards along the route.

Deref said :

I commute from Belco to Woden daily and back in the arvos. Apart from single-passenger cars doing 100kph or more, I’ve never seen the T2 lane offering any advantage to buses or cars. Cars in the ordinary lanes regularly pass buses in the T2 lane. I’d love to see the science behind the T2 lanes – I have a sneaking suspicion that there ain’t none.

Unusual route you take from Belco Woden return, daily via Adelaide Avenue. In case you are unaware, their is a more direct route via the TuggeranongaParkway and the GDE.
The “science” behind the T2 lane was revealed on ABC 666 this morning when Andrew Barr admitted it is the TWU that wants the T2 exclusively for their papmpered bus drivers.

I commute from Belco to Woden daily and back in the arvos. Apart from single-passenger cars doing 100kph or more, I’ve never seen the T2 lane offering any advantage to buses or cars. Cars in the ordinary lanes regularly pass buses in the T2 lane. I’d love to see the science behind the T2 lanes – I have a sneaking suspicion that there ain’t none.

MummaBear said :

Does anyone know when the T2 lane will be reinstated?.

Monday. There was an electronic sign being errected this morning.

MummaBear said :

Does anyone know when the T2 lane will be reinstated? I know the Bus Only lane commenced on 13 November (Monday this week). I drove along Adelaide Ave today but there were Bus Only signs up. I also find it interesting that the Bus/T2 lane on Adelaide Ave, just after the Woden roundabout, heading towards the city, had unbroken lines at the beginning of the lane. Technically, all buses and commuters should have been booked entering the lane…. 🙂 I noticed they changed this with the signage promoting it as a bus only lane.

This “technicality” has already been brought up here, and it turns out that there’s an exception in the road rules allowing vehicles to cross an unbroken line to enter a restricted lane like a bus lane.

Thank Christ that Obama has gone and now we can get back to the BIG issues.

Does anyone know when the T2 lane will be reinstated? I know the Bus Only lane commenced on 13 November (Monday this week). I drove along Adelaide Ave today but there were Bus Only signs up. I also find it interesting that the Bus/T2 lane on Adelaide Ave, just after the Woden roundabout, heading towards the city, had unbroken lines at the beginning of the lane. Technically, all buses and commuters should have been booked entering the lane…. 🙂 I noticed they changed this with the signage promoting it as a bus only lane.

Proper analysis? Evidence based analysis?

And from the Greens of all people?

In other slow-moving-road-improvements news, they’re working on the Long Gully Road/Mugga Lane intersection at the moment, but not fast enough. There was another accident there yesterday afternoon, and it looked very ugly indeed for one of the drivers involved. Even with the top half of the car cut off, they had all sorts of trouble getting the driver out.
The biggest danger there is that westbound traffic intending to turn right onto Mugga Lane (a maneuver which should be banned from 8am-10am, just as similarly dangerous right-hand turns are banned during peak hour in grown-up cities) get impatient and they can’t see oncoming eastbound traffic until the last moment when they pop out from behind eastbound left-turning traffic.

DUG said :

Dose anyone remember when they decided it was a good idea to turn one of the lanes on atholon drive over the hill into a bus only lane? traffic was backed up all the way to Mawson dr.

You know I kinda recall that the road was duplicated by the feds using money to improve public transport as opposed to someone deciding to turn one lane into a bus only lane. Though yes a stupid idea, the best result for public transport and everyone in general was to get all traffic flowing freely. Same can be said for other places too, including Adelaide Ave.

artuoui said :

Can they be made mandatory? If you have two or more in the car you MUST use the T2 lane.
That’ll get all those slow moving drivers pottering along while they chat with their mate out of everyone else’s way.

What, so they could cut across two lanes of traffic when they need to make a left turn?

Can they be made mandatory? If you have two or more in the car you MUST use the T2 lane.
That’ll get all those slow moving drivers pottering along while they chat with their mate out of everyone else’s way.

BicycleCanberra said :

We already pay for them, and the health benefits of cycling economically are ‘much much’ more than driving everywhere in a car.
Dare I suggest we have tolls to use roads then maybe people might get the good idea to use public transport or ride a bike every now and then

So we don’t already pay for the T2 lane? We all pay for the roads, that’s why forcing a fee for car-pooling lanes is as stupid as forcing a fee for cycling lanes.

You’re also incorrectly assuming that car-poolers don’t ‘ride a bike every now and then’. Car-poolers don’t simply wait to perform an activity only when car-pooling is available to them. I can only imagine how long it would take me to get a loaf of bread if I needed to send a facebook invite out to all my car-pooling pals first..

dungfungus said :

Lillypilly said :

Is now a good time to tell Bussie to eat his crybaby comment?

Anytime is a goodtime to tell Bussie to suck eggs. Do you want to bet that he will be talking to the TWU already? Either that or he will be on stress leave or buying another home with his $100K plus salary.

Buying another home on $100k/year? Not in this city.

harvyk1 said :

Considering rego is assigned to a car not a person…

How about considering rego is a minimal, if any, component of monies used to pay for roads etc.

Lillypilly said :

Is now a good time to tell Bussie to eat his crybaby comment?

Anytime is a goodtime to tell Bussie to suck eggs. Do you want to bet that he will be talking to the TWU already? Either that or he will be on stress leave or buying another home with his $100K plus salary.

BicycleCanberra said :

ThatGuy said :

Careful there BicycleCanberra, if car poolers have to pay for a specific lane then why wouldn’t cyclists?[/quote>

We already pay for them, and the health benefits of cycling economically are ‘much much’ more than driving everywhere in a car.
Dare I suggest we have tolls to use roads then maybe people might get the good idea to use public transport or ride a bike every now and then

How does a bicycle user already pay for using such facilities? Considering rego is assigned to a car not a person…

winter said :

What I don’t get about the the T2 lane is that it goes down to 2 lanes when it hits state circle anyway, so the road can’t actually maintain 3 lanes of full traffic.

It’s not about maintaining three lanes of traffic, it’s about letting priority traffic skip the backlog of traffic on Adelaide Avenue before getting to the lane merge. The idea is that people will perceive an advantage in using the T2 lane, and thus arrange to carry a passenger in order to jump the queue. By taking another commuter, this immediately reduces the environmental impact and parking load by 50% for both people.

Is now a good time to tell Bussie to eat his crybaby comment?

DUG said :

Dose anyone remember when they decided it was a good idea to turn one of the lanes on atholon drive over the hill into a bus only lane? traffic was backed up all the way to Mawson dr.

Yep, it was single lane originally & then they started building a second lane which was awesome…………until they made it bus only.

BicycleCanberra said :

We already pay for them, and the health benefits of cycling economically are ‘much much’ more than driving everywhere in a car.
Dare I suggest we have tolls to use roads then maybe people might get the good idea to use public transport or ride a bike every now and then

So what does any of that have to do with charging people extra to use the car pool lane? Surely that would create a disincentive for people to reduce their car use?

BicycleCanberra10:13 am 17 Nov 11

DUG said :

Dose anyone remember when they decided it was a good idea to turn one of the lanes on atholon drive over the hill into a bus only lane? traffic was backed up all the way to Mawson dr.

Yes i do, the solution is to have six lanes with the centre lanes bus only, like ‘Adelaide Ave!’

ThatGuy said :

BicycleCanberra said :

I don’t agree with the Greens view on this one, If you want to car pool you don’t need a special lane to do it. To have faster Bus services you need more dedicated lanes.If car drivers want to use the lane then they should pay more for it like an annual fee and as they do in Los Angeles.

Careful there BicycleCanberra, if car poolers have to pay for a specific lane then why wouldn’t cyclists?

Rego fees for cyclists let’s talk about that!!!!

BicycleCanberra10:11 am 17 Nov 11

ThatGuy said :

Careful there BicycleCanberra, if car poolers have to pay for a specific lane then why wouldn’t cyclists?[/quote>

We already pay for them, and the health benefits of cycling economically are ‘much much’ more than driving everywhere in a car.
Dare I suggest we have tolls to use roads then maybe people might get the good idea to use public transport or ride a bike every now and then

DUG said :

Dose anyone remember when they decided it was a good idea to turn one of the lanes on atholon drive over the hill into a bus only lane? traffic was backed up all the way to Mawson dr.

Man, do I ever remember that!! What an absolute clusterf*** that was! It only lasted a week or so didn’t it?

If they’d actually thought that one out, they would have realised that the buses wouldn’t fare much better anyway, considering Athllon changes to a single lane after the sternberg roundabout anyway.

Glad to hear they’re going to properly evaluate the transit lane on Adelaide too. Shame they couldn’t have done that before wasiting money covering up the T2 signage on the road.

Given the cost of changing signs and lane markings in this town someone must be making a motza out of these knee jerk decisions. I just think the decision now to review the whole concept and purpose of transit lanes around Canberra is a good outcome.

As for whatever purpose these lanes are supposed to serve eg environmental, reduce congestion, improve bus times I hope that their review considers the purpose in the context of all vehicles that are allowed to use the lane. For example, if it is to ensure consistent bus times then why let any other vehicle of any type (including taxis and motorbikes and interstate or out of service buses) in the lane (and make it illegal for the buses to be out of that lane unless they are turning). If it is environmental, then why not allow a T2 lane and consider whether bikes as big as, say, a 2.3 litre Triumph Rocket (which I personally adore) should be allowed to use the lane.

And, whatever decision is reached, it should not be set in stone. If circumstances change the answer should not be because that’s the way it has always been done. For example, if T2 takes off and congestion increases then change it to a T3 lane.

Dose anyone remember when they decided it was a good idea to turn one of the lanes on atholon drive over the hill into a bus only lane? traffic was backed up all the way to Mawson dr.

BicycleCanberra said :

I don’t agree with the Greens view on this one, If you want to car pool you don’t need a special lane to do it. To have faster Bus services you need more dedicated lanes.If car drivers want to use the lane then they should pay more for it like an annual fee and as they do in Los Angeles.

Careful there BicycleCanberra, if car poolers have to pay for a specific lane then why wouldn’t cyclists?

BicycleCanberra said :

I don’t agree with the Greens view on this one, If you want to car pool you don’t need a special lane to do it. To have faster Bus services you need more dedicated lanes.If car drivers want to use the lane then they should pay more for it like an annual fee and as they do in Los Angeles.

Well it looks like the Greens have just required the Government to do a proper review and then decide what is the best use for the lane — “The Greens’ amendments additionally require the Government to conduct an evidence-based assessment of whether the lane will operate best as a T2, T3, T4 or bus-only lane. It will report back to the Assembly early next year.”

BicycleCanberra9:44 am 17 Nov 11

I don’t agree with the Greens view on this one, If you want to car pool you don’t need a special lane to do it. To have faster Bus services you need more dedicated lanes.If car drivers want to use the lane then they should pay more for it like an annual fee and as they do in Los Angeles.

Wow….wait….common sense prevailed? *looks around for the apocalypse*

What I don’t get about the the T2 lane is that it goes down to 2 lanes when it hits state circle anyway, so the road can’t actually maintain 3 lanes of full traffic.

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