Canberra's public transport system was once a lot better, and more focus needs to go towards improving bus services as well as the light rail, a Canberra lobby group says.
The Public Transport Association of Canberra has used the 2023-24 budget consultation process to submit a five-point plan to improve public transport in Canberra.
The submission is inspired by the city's public transport network in the 1980s, and provides suggestions on how to improve what the city currently has.
The association's submission five points are:
- expansion of the light rail services,
- more frequent bus services,
- timed connections,
- faster services and
- better integrated active travel.
More frequent bus services are a priority. It suggests "a reasonable standard is every 10 minutes or better on rapid routes, 15 minutes in peak, 30 minutes off-peak weekdays, and 60 minutes late nights and weekends".
"This was the standard Canberra had during the 1980s, with a population of 282,000 and a fleet of 479 buses, compared to a current population of 456,000 and 456 buses," the submission said.
Association chairman Ryan Hemsley said a lot could be learnt from older transport systems in the capital.
"Even new suburbs [at the time] like Kambah had buses running every five to eight minutes in peak periods," he said.
"Timed connections also meant that you rarely waited more than five minutes for your connective bus at the interchange.
"No one should accept that good public transport isn't possible in a city like Canberra. We have the history to prove it, and a plan to make it happen."
The submission says the future of successful public transport in the capital also relies on "a seven-day integrated transport network [and the] extension of light rail to Woden and the full restoration of weekend bus services will be critical in meeting this goal".
It supports light rail, but wants the government to fund prefeasibility work for future stages as a means to speed up the process.
It also calls for more housing to be built around public transport corridors, new northside bus depots, an enterprise agreement between Transport Canberra and the Transport Workers Union and the expansion of the bus fleet.
Mr Hemsley said the discussion about public transport in Canberra needed to move past light rail, and instead focus on the network as a whole.
"Our ideas aren't revolutionary, they simply align with the ACT government's existing transport policies and intentions," he said.
"Canberra has a popular network of light rail and rapid bus services linking our city and town centres, there's no reason why our local bus services can't be improved in a similar way.
"If the government wants people to use public transport, it needs to invest in the frequent and reliable services that will make the network more useful for journeys, seven days a week."
