Farewell ACT Light Rail, hello Public Transport Association of Canberra

Say hello to the 'Public Transport Association of Canberra' or 'PTCBR'.

Light railers, the following announcement is a little delayed in its release, but I'm sure you'll appreciate the wait.

Following on from our success in helping to secure a light rail future in Canberra, a question was raised amongst a few of us on the ACT Light Rail committee about where we should go from here. The consensus reached was that we should continue our advocacy, not just for light rail, but also for overall better public transport in Canberra and our immediate region.

To that end, a brand new community based public transport advocacy group has been created with members drawn from ACT Light Rail, and a few new faces. We have now formally registered the 'Public Transport Association of Canberra', or 'PTCBR'.

An interim committee has been formed, a constitution written (we are using the model rules, as recommended by the Office of Regulatory Services), and a set of objectives established. The organisation has been registered with the ACT Governments Office of Regulatory Services and in the New Year we will be in a position to start inviting applications for membership, and for those so motivated, several positions on the interim committee that remain vacant.

Along with the formation of PTCBR, we'll be starting a brand new website at ptcbr.org and changing the name of the facebook group to recognise this change from a focus on light rail to better reflect a bigger focus on public transport in Canberra.

This website will no longer be updated, but remain online for future reference.

Our objectives as an organisation will be as follows:
1. Promote public transport in the Canberra region.
2. Act as the peak body for public transport consultation in the ACT.
3. Further the integration of light rail, bus services and active transport within the ACT.

Whilst we won't be asking every member of the group to join the official organisation, we are keen for as many of you as possible to do so. The more people we count as members, the greater sway we'll have to effect better public transport and planning outcomes.

We will be asking people who wish to become members to pay a $20 annual membership fee, or $10 for students/pensioners.

Your fees will enable us to hold regular public forums where we intend to invite organisations, businesses and government departments involved in public transport to come and speak with us. We intend to become a proactive voice in Canberra’s public transport and planning future, and we need to do this in a professional and organised way.

You are of course welcome to remain in this group and continue contributing as you see fit without any further commitment, and we likewise understand if you no longer wish to be a part of the group following this change.

What we can say, however, is that becoming a member of PTCBR will provide you with the opportunity to become a part of a group that will have a real, tangible impact on the quality of our city's livability. It would be great if you could all be a part of it.

Damien Haas, Chair PTCBR
(on behalf of the PTCBR Committee)

ALP and Greens form agreement to govern for the new Assembly - light rail a key initiative both can agree on.

Greens MLA Caroline le Couteur, Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury, ALP Chief Minister Andrew Barr and ALP Deputy chief Minister Yvette Berry 

Congratulations to the ALP and the Greens on reaching an agreement to govern for the new Assembly. This is the third term in a row that the ALP and Greens have supported each other in the Assembly, and the second formal agreement. At the election on October 15, the ALP claimed 12 seats, the Greens 2 and the Canberra Liberals 11. Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury will take a position in Cabinet as part of the agreement. 

For this term of government, there are 77 separate initiatives in the agreement that both parties can agree on. The primary initiatives of interest for this group are those related to public transport.

A link to the full parliamentary agreement is here.  

ABC Online reported on the agreement here. 

The Canberra Times reported on the agreement here.

In the 2012 to 2016 term, the agreement to govern delivered signed contracts and construction for Capital Metro light rail Stage One, and the delivery of the Light Rail Master Plan. 

In this term, the agreement refers to 'Building an Integrated transport network' with a focus on light rail Stage Two improving bus services, looking at new transport technologies and promoting Active Travel. 

For more frequent updates on Canberra Metro and Canberra light rail related news, please visit our Facebook page 'Light Rail for Canberra'.  

Don’t wait for driverless cars - build light rail now

The autonomous car

Light rail has already started construction in the first stage of what will be a Canberra wide network. This will transform our city and change our culture over time, from a car-centric society where each family needs to have at least two cars, to a place where public transport is easily accessible, frequent and reliable.

Opponents of better public transport are largely drawn from the 93% of Canberrans who don’t use it now, and can’t see why they should have to pay for it. They are used to driving everywhere and parking at the door for free. That is what it was like when they arrived in Canberra in the 1970’s and they can’t understand why it needs to change.

Canberra is changing. The Y Plan was of its time and followed current planning trends, but the NCDC is not a religion and logic needs to be applied to future planning. Some elements of the Burley Griffin vision were adopted, others weren’t. Some elements of the Y Plan have been successful, others not. The current trend of a family home having not one or two cars, but four or more in the driveway is a trend the Y Plan fostered, that cannot continue.

Parking is no longer free, and the vast free car parks of Civic and our Town Centres are no longer there. Free car parking in the Parliamentary Triangle no longer exists. As our city matures, those vast spaces are being replaced with buildings that are of greater economic use than having a car sit on them for eight hours or more a day.

Buses in Canberra once coped admirably with the task assigned; yet as the Y Plan stretched to Tuggeranong and Gungahlin, a bus trip became long and circuitous. We asked ACTION to be both a local bus service and a mass transit provider. It has struggled with this dual task, and under varying management and union approaches, it has seen patronage trend down as private car use soars.

At the same time, the intertown routes are at capacity. On some routes the buses sail past people, as they are full. Clearly a better approach needs to be adopted, and in 2012 the ALP and Greens went to an election with light rail as that better approach. 

In 2016 light rail construction has started. Over time a network will link Canberra and encourage greater public transport use, better planning around transport corridors and decrease road congestion.

If you could travel in comfort to work every day, why would you drive? Wouldn’t you rather sit and read, or rest instead of wait in a traffic jam and then spend fifteen minutes looking for expensive parking? 

Opponents of light rail talk up a bus only solution, yet it is obvious that more of the same will deliver us, well, more of the same. More buses wont lead to greater public transport use or encourage Transit Oriented Development. More buses on the roads wont reduce road congestion either. Not on Northbourne, and not anywhere else.

They also claim autonomous cars will suddenly emerge from labs and become the panacea to the private car, and miraculously reduce the need for mass transit. While this technology may eventually become practical, it isn’t now and not for the foreseeable future. Even if it was, it really only replaces one car for another, and a robot car going home and returning twice a day doubles road congestion instead of reducing it.

14,000 Raiders fan leave Bruce Stadium and have to wait for 14.000 autonomous cars

The biggest flaw in the self-driving car dream is what happens when fourteen thousand Raiders fans exit Bruce stadium after a victory? Or when the Department of Inland Drainage closes down at 5.30PM and eleven hundred employees walk out the door at once? Which person’s car arrives to pick them up first? Where do they queue?

We replace traffic jams with driverless traffic jams. Driverless cars are not a mass transit solution. They are a part of a larger transport picture with multiple solutions to multiple demands.

Light rail offers passenger capacity beyond current buses, with 220 people able to be carried in a single light rail vehicle.  When light rail service commences, over a million bus kilometers a year will be freed up to increase frequency of local bus services.

Your once an hour bus service in Kaleen could become once every half hour or better. As each light rail stage rolls out, the integration of bus and light rail becomes better, and service becomes more frequent and more reliable.

Driverless cars and buses alone cannot provide these future options. We need to support the politicians that have invested enormous political capital in our future, by recognising that the Canberra of the past has changed, and we need to let that change happen in a planned way.  

A version of this article was published in City News on 2 Oct 2016

For more frequent updates on Capital Metro and light rail related news, please visit our Facebook page 'Light Rail for Canberra'.  

ACT Government release new rapid bus routes and bus expansion for 2017

The ACT Government today released details of new rapid bus routes and expansion to the ACTION Bus fleet, accompanied by funding details to support the expansion. These improvements to the bus network are aimed at increasing public transport patronage and have been planned to follow growth along public transport corridors. In time, several of these routes are likely to be replaced by light rail. The start of light rail service in late 2018 will free up over one million bus kilometres that can be allocated across the ACTION Bus network. It is the equivalent of buying a new fleet of buses and extra drivers.

The new routes include expansions of existing bus routes to enhance the 'rapid' aspect, and completely new routes. Importantly, funding is attached to the plans - $55 million for the services and $51 million for 80 new buses and a new depot to house them. This is a government announcement, not an election policy, with funding to be allocated in the pre-election budget update.

Buses and light rail will always coexist in an integrated transport plan, and we need to make sure we get maximum utility and value from our bus fleet. The big picture plan is that we need more people using public transport.  Light rail, more buses, better frequency, better routes. It's a very compelling plan, and achievable.

The only way to convince Canberrans to use public transport over the private car, is to offer reliable, frequent and attractive public transport. Bus fleet renewal, expanding the reach and frequency of bus services, integrating bus services with light rail and planning for future expansion provide that alternative. This will also lead to reduced travel times and reduced road congestion.

Seven new lines are added to the current Blue and Red Rapid services, with new services supporting Woden, Weston Creek and Canberra Airport every six minutes during peak times and every 15 minutes at other times. The network expansion starts with Belconnen to Gungahlin and Woden to the City rapid services commencing in 2017.

The announcement of new rapid services in 2017 follows on from last weeks announcement of extensions of the Blue Rapid bus from Lanyon to Kippax, and the introduction of a new ACTION Timetable on 27 August. In 2017 a new Green Rapid from Woden to the City via Manuka and Barton, and the Black Rapid from Belconnen to Gungahlin will commence. 

These new services will be phased in through to 2020.

• Woden to City via Weston Creek (2018)
• Belconnen to Watson via Dickson (2018)
• Tuggeranong to City via Erindale (2019)
• Lanyon to Airport via Barton (2020)
• Belconnen to Airport via City (2020)

It may appear as if these are simply extensions to existing routes, that is not correct.

• The Green Rapid is a new route from Woden to the City via Manuka and Barton
• The Grey Rapid is a new line that goes from Belconnen to Watson via Dickson
• The Purple Rapid is a new line that goes from Tuggeranong to Civic via Erindale, Woden and Barton
• The Pink Rapid is a new line that goes from Lanyon to the airport via Tuggeranong, Woden, Barton and Russell
• The Yellow Rapid is a new line that goes from Belconnen to the airport via Civic and Russell

Also important things to note about the new Rapid Network:

• All rapid services will run at least every 15 minutes everyday with increased frequency during peak periods
• The Blue Rapid now extends to Kippax and Lanyon
• The Black Rapid from Belconnen to Gungahlin will have increased frequency 
• These routes have most likely been planned thoroughly using data available to the government (MyWay, traffic)
• These routes have been depend on the fact that light rail will be implemented, which will free up more than 1.2 million kilometres of bus travel

Transport Minister Meegan Fitzharris said "When people know that there's always going to public transport where they need it ... that really drives patronage," "That's exactly what these rapid bus services already do and what future rapid bus services will do."

Minister Fitzharris also said that the debate about Canberra being a car-centric city was over and more rapid bus routes were planned for Molonglo and Gungahlin as the population grew.

The new bus route plans differ markedly from the release earlier in 2016 of the Canberra Liberals bus plans, in that they are funded, are based on research and future population patterns, and integrate light rail services with future transport planning.

ACT Government media release
Canberra Times article 'ACT Govt announces seven new rapid bus routes in network overhaul' here
ABC News Online 'Labor reveal nine line Rapid Bus network for Canberra' here

WIN TV Canberra covered the announcement on the 29 August 6PM TV News

ABC TV Canberra covered the announcement on its 29 August 7PM TV News

For more frequent updates on Capital Metro and light rail related news, please visit our Facebook page 'Light Rail for Canberra'.  

Transport Canberra - Public Transport Survey

The Transport Survey that TAMS Minister Meegan Fitzharris has been talking about for a few months has finally gone live. The aim is to collect feedback on our existing service and plan a better future service with integrated buses and light rail.

ACT Light Rail want better public transport, and light rail integrated with more frequent local buses is the best way for Canberra to sustainably grow. We have shared our views, why not share yours?

The Transport Survey is at this link.

As well as this website, the facebook group 'Light Rail for Canberra' carries frequent updates on Capital Metro and light rail related news. 

Government confirms Capital Metro Stage Two will be an election policy

Facebook page of Tara Cheyne Labor candidate for Ginninderra

Tara Cheyne, Labor candidate for Ginninderra was campaigning at the Belconnen Markets on Saturday April 30th with MLA Meegan Fitzharris, Minister for TAMS (and that includes Capital Metro and ACTION Buses) and Gordon Ramsay. While campaigning, she made a short video on the spot and uploaded it to her facebook page Tara Cheyne - Labor for Ginninderra. 

Minister Fitzharris briefly lays out the affordable nature of light rail, discussed other transport initiatives like ride sharing and active transport and then revealed that the government would release a Stage Two light rail policy in the lead up to the election. She says that she is looking forward to speaking to people over the coming months about Transport Canberra and the light rail project. 

One thing that Minister Fitzharris said in the video that I think resonates, is this:"No matter where you are we will be getting a transport mode improved for you"

"No matter where you live in Canberra, we are improving transport for you"

In the 90 second video Minister Meegan Fitzharris discussed Transport Canberra, light rail, a range of transport initiatives and the ALP election strategy around light rail.

Minister Fitzharris laid out the way that money will be spent and the small proportion of the total budget that would be going to the light rail contract, saying that "It is an affordable project for our city. " For every 100 dollars spent by the government over a 20 year period she says the government will spend:
35 on health and hospitals,
25 on education and schools,
10 dollars on roads and parks,
1 dollar on light rail

She also said that "No matter where you live in Canberra we are improving transport for you. Light rail will free up one over million bus kilometres which will be redeployed around the city"

"No matter where you are we will be getting a transport mode improved for you"

"We are looking to increase the use of park and ride, and bike and ride, upgrade our walking and cycling facilities, and complement that with new and exciting forms of innovation in transport  like car sharing, ride sharing the community transport options like the flexible bus service"

"Now is our chance to do this incredible project. its a great transport project and its also a great city building project."

"We have committed to a Stage One of Gungahlin to Civic, but we will also be taking to the election a Stage Two, a vote in this election is a vote for light rail stage one and stage two."

"We have spoken to the community about where they would like to see light rail go next through the Light Rail Network Plan and we are really looking forward to pulling all of that feedback together and letting you know that Labor will have a stage two light rail, and we will be taking that to the election"

As well as this website, the facebook group 'Light Rail for Canberra' carries frequent updates on Capital Metro and light rail related news. 

Light rail will mean more ACTION buses on more routes

The commencement of light rail services with Capital Metro Stage One in 2019 will immediately release a great number of buses in the ACTION fleet for reallocation. This will mean that bus services in Canberra will be expanded. New services will be created to feed into the light rail nodes, but it will also be a tremendous opportunity to create new services in other parts of Canberra, and expand existing services (hopefully by increasing local bus service frequency).

Integrating light rail, buses and active travel will be the key to increasing public transport patronage. It will transform our city.

This press release was issued by the Chief Ministers office on 28 October 2015.

More buses on more routes when light rail starts

The introduction of light rail will benefit all of Canberra, not just those who live and work along the light rail corridors, with more than a million kilometres of bus travel reallocated when stage one starts running.

The first stage of the light rail network will free up around 1.2 million kilometres of bus travel every year. To put that in perspective, that’s about the same distance as travelling the circumference of the Earth 30 times.

It makes sense to re-allocate these kilometres to provide more buses, on more routes, for the benefit of the broader community.

Transport Canberra, the new agency I announced yesterday, will work with the community to get these freed-up buses where they’re needed most. It will also be responsible for the design of future bus networks and planning.

This will improve services across the whole of Canberra, as well as quickly transporting people onto the light rail corridor.

To manage Canberra’s growth, reduce congestion and protect our liveability, we need to improve our public transport system.

The ACT Government’s transport plan, which we released yesterday, will improve our public transport system so it becomes more convenient, efficient, affordable and reliable – a genuine alternative to driving.

The plan will be delivered by, Transport Canberra. It will be responsible for integrating buses with the new light rail, ensuring a single ticketing system, a central contact for information and coordinated timetabling.

Transport Canberra will be responsible for assessing how the bus network can best integrate with light rail. That means being able to step off a suburban bus and straight onto a light rail train to quickly move between town centres – saving people time and hassle.

Transport Canberra will coordinate buses and light rail planning, timetabling and fares and will develop a single ticket for use across the system.

For more frequent updates on Capital Metro and light rail related news, please visit our Facebook page 'Light Rail for Canberra'.  

ACTION bus patronage continues to decline

In disappointing news, figures released today from the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicate that ACTION Bus patronage continues to decline. These figures are from the 2011 Census and are the most recent and reliable figures available.

Read: New 2011 Census data reveals more about the ACT 

An excerpt from the media release states:

Method of travel to work

The latest Census data further revealed that people in the Australian Capital Territory still prefer to travel to work by car than any other means, with 69.3 per cent of the population reporting this as their primary method of travel to work (either as the driver or passenger). 

While the household car is still the preferred method of travel to work for most people, there is an increasing proportion of people walking and riding a bicycle to work. In 2011, 763 more people walked to work than in 2006, and 914 more people rode a bicycle to work.

There has been a small decline in the proportion of people who catch a bus to work, with 5.6 per cent of people in 2011 compared to 5.8 per cent in 2006, reflecting a slower rate of growth compared to other methods of travel.

While there is a rise in walking and cycling, these ABS statistics indicate that unless an alternative to the private car is provided, public transport patronage will continue to decline. 

Light rail will offer that alternative. Build light rail now!

Active Transport Forum - Thursday 30 August

Canberra Loves 40% are holding a public transport forum on Thursday 30 August. There will be several speakers, and also a panel that will field questions.

The main speakers will be Professor Cameron Gordon from UC, Jason Ward from GoldLinq (Gold Coast Light Rail)  and Simon Corbell, ACT Transport Minister.

Ian Ruecroft, ACT Light Rail Deputy Chair will be on the panel.

The event will be chaired by Alex Sloan from ABC666 local radio.

I would urge anyone interested in public transport in Canberra to attend, listen and ask questions. Details below.

Walk it off

One arm of the active transport trifecta is walking. any user of public transport has to accept that some walking will be involved in their trip from A to B. the increasing residential density on Canberra's town centres mean that some people will actually be able to walk to their place of employ. This is a good thing. Walking is a good habit to inculcate in children - sadly many parents 'have to' drive their children to school, and then drive on to work. Some sound planing and trust in childrens independence and responsibility could see many children incorporate walking to school, riding bicycles or using public transport (or all three) instead of being delivered and collected every day by car dependent parents. 

Encouraging people to walk more often is a problem that concerns not just public transport advocates, but public health professionals and researchers. The health and societal benefits are substantial. More walking means better health and a decrease in resource use across the board. It is also a vital way to stay in touch with your community. 

Recently Slate magazine looked at the issue from a US perspective. They call it 'The crisis of pedestrianism'. It is a fascinating article, and is the first of four similar articles over the next few weeks. I urge you to read it and think about walking a little further today than you did yesterday.