ACT Budget 2012: 90 new buses over 5 years

[Buzz Killington]

ACTION Buses has once more received funding over several years to continue its fleet replacement program, with ninety new buses heading the list of budget announcements made today.

Key funding includes:

    $48.527m for 90 new buses (13 in 2012-13, 19 in 2013-14, 19 in 2014-15, 19 in 2015-16 and 20 in 2016-17)

    $3m for the construction of bus priority measures along College St and Haydon Dr in Bruce between Cooinda Street and Battye Street.

    $1.5m for the construction of a major bus station on National Circuit, between Kings Avenue and Bligh Street, providing a centralised location for commuters traveling to or from the Parliamentary Triangle

    $0.35m for the design of a major bus station to be located at the Erindale Centre in Wanniassa to provide an enhanced connection point for rapid bus services between Tuggeranong and Woden.

    $0.25m for the design of improved bus stops on Southern Cross Drive and improved bus terminii at Kippax and Charnwood shops to improve service efficiency.

    $4.5m for upgrades to bus stops to ensure compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act.

    $0.1m for the purchase of ten new MyWay Agent Terminals to provide more recharge points for commuters.

In addition to these funding announcements for the bus network, a number of design studies have been funded to improve the road network, including:

    Duplicating Gundaroo Dr between Mirrabei Drive and the Barton Highway
    Duplicating Cotter Rd between Yarralumla Creek and Tuggeranong Parkway
    Duplicating William Slim Drive (full length)
    Upgrading intersections of Katherine and Mapleton Avenues with Horse Park Drive

(Extract from Chief Minister's Media Release)

[smitho]

By the look of it, that curious proposal for bus stations on Yarra Glen & Adelaide Ave at Curtin, Yarralumla and Deakin has not been funded.

[Irisbus Rider]

Another interesting budget find:
◦$0.201 million for ACTION – Third Major Bus Depot (Feasibility).
This was under the 'Gungahlin' section. Perhaps a depot at Mitchell is under investigation.....?

[Barry Drive]

Perhaps a depot at Mitchell is under investigation.....?

This study will assess options and provide a preliminary design for a third major bus depot to be located in the Gungahlin/Mitchell area. Establishment of a depot in this area will improve service delivery of public transport in north Canberra.

[Barry Drive]

More ACTION funding (2012-13 year. $'000)  - as Capital Upgrades -

Belconnen Workshop Upgrade      260
Passenger Seat Refurbishment     320
Tuggeranong Depot Admin Building Upgrade   80
Safety Improvements at Bus Stations       70
Suburban Driver Amenity Upgrades          60
Replacement of Driver Seats            175
Belconnen Depot CCTV Upgrade      200
Belconnen and Tuggeranong Workshop Office Upgrades  200
Bus Engine Overhauls                      475

Upgraded Bus Stop signage to support RTPIS rollout         250
Feasibility study for options to replace CCTV systems used by ACTION    100


Previously announced projects which have been scrapped -

Dickson Major Bus Station (Design) $0.3m
City Area Bus Layover Facility (Design) $0.5m


Also mentioned in the Budget papers, but with little detail provided -

Public transport fares in 2012-13 increase by $5.43 (2.5 per cent) for students and $28.08 (2.6 per cent) for adults, reflecting growth in costs. In the previous year, fares decreased by around 4 per cent.

Further down it states that these figures were based on fare increases occurring on 1 January 2013. Therefore expect fares to rise by 5% for "students" and 5.2% for adults come the new year. Statement was based on the MyWay fares, assuming the fare cap had been reached. Therefore cannot be sure whether cash fares will also increase.

So, new MyWay peak-period fare will be $2.65 for adults. Cannot determine the student fare from the figures shown, but a 5% rise will bring the school student fare to $1.00.

[King of Buses]

They could build another depot in the new Molonglo Valley possibly.
Although Gungahlin seems to be a better option considering how rapidly the Gunaghlin area is expanding.

[ajw373]

Why a terminus at Charnwood when no bus currently terminates there? Also interesting the stops on southern cross drive considering most Belconnen bound have recently been upgraded by recent talking last month or so.

But overall guess not too bad a budget.

[Barry Drive]

Why a terminus at Charnwood when no bus currently terminates there?

The reason why no buses terminate there is because there is no terminus there for buses to terminate at!

Which is WHY you would build a terminus - so buses can terminate.

DUH! 

[ajw373]

The reason why no buses terminate there is because there is no terminus there for buses to terminate at!

Which is WHY you would build a terminus - so buses can terminate.

DUH! 

What an absolute utterly stupid and niave answer. So Mr Smarty pants what services are going to terminate at this new terminus then?

To me it makes no sense what so ever when there is a perfectly good terminus at Fraser West. Unless of course there is some grand plan to cut short some services to Charnwood shops, the 313 for example with Lhotsky Street serviced by the 45 and not worrying about part of Shakespear Crescent, but to be honest cannot see any logical reason to do so, when as I said Fraser West is just up the road.

So common what services will use this terminus when built?

[Barry Drive]

Three words: "wait and see"

[ajw373]

Three words: "wait and see"

That is a cop out answer. If you have heard a rumor please share.

[Barry Drive]

So ... what services are going to terminate at this new terminus then?

To me it makes no sense what so ever when there is a perfectly good terminus at Fraser West. Unless of course there is some grand plan to cut short some services to Charnwood shops, the 313 for example with Lhotsky Street serviced by the 45 and not worrying about part of Shakespear [sic] Crescent, but to be honest cannot see any logical reason to do so, when as I said Fraser West is just up the road.

So common [sic] what services will use this terminus when built?

For an example of a well-thought-out design of bus routes including one which terminates at Charnwood Shops, take a look at this topic: http://www.actbus.net/forum/index.php?topic=1836.0

[ajw373]

Some interesting idea's for sure, seem like moden takes on the 450/451/452 from the late 70's. But does that mean that ACTION are planning on actually doing it? And besides still don't see any services terminating at Charnwood shops with those plans.

Will have a bit of a think and post some alteranatives in that thread that do terminate at Charnwood if you like, though still reckon if you are going to Charnwood you may as well go to one of the existing purpose built termini in Fraser. (though clearly only 1 still has driver facilities).

[Barry Drive]

No. The 45 couldn't terminate at Charnwood Shops because there was no terminus for the bus to terminate at. See earlier post.

If you have heard a rumor please share.

If you have a look at the Transport for Canberra 2031 Frequent Network plan page 20 (don't have time to post a link right now), you will see that a proposed 15 min "Frequent Local" service runs along Florey Dr and terminates at Charnwood.

[ajw373]

Having lived just off Florey Drive for most of my youth I cannot see any reason why it needs a 15 minute service, nor a 15 minute service connecting Charnwood and Kippax. My opinion is the whole West Belconnen area, vis Fraser West, Dunlop, Macgregor, "West Macgregor", Holt etc needs a rethink about how to best serve them with a break away from the traditional Belconnen focus and instead focus on Kippax instead. Moreso now the 318 and 319 terminate at Kippax. On that note I have made a new post in the (old) thread you mentioned above.

Guess the same could be said for the south too, with Erindale taking a far greater focus for the areas nearby rather than Tuggeranong and Woden.

[Irisbus Rider]

Guess the same could be said for the south too, with Erindale taking a far greater focus for the areas nearby rather than Tuggeranong and Woden.

Oh, this old can of worms! I thought this was a good idea, until I argued it until I was blue in the face, but it doesn't work. I'd like to think it does, and it looks great on paper, but the reality of the situation is very different.

However, I agree with turning Kippax into a greater transport hub than it currently is, particularly with proposed residential expansions out the back of Stockdill Dr, and eventually, North Molonglo, to the south of Kippax.

[ajw373]

True, having to change is indeed very much a disincentive, however by the same token the current system where the routes are far too long is also a disincentive. Maybe a variation to what I proposed in the other thread is to terminate the 313/318/319 in Belconnen then have the suburban buses run express from Kippax to Belconnen.

[Barry Drive]

If you have a look at the Transport for Canberra 2031 Frequent Network plan page 20 (don't have time to post a link right now), you will see that a proposed 15 min "Frequent Local" service runs along Florey Dr and terminates at Charnwood.

Or even the 2016 Indicative Frequent Network map shows a potential frequent service terminating at Charnwood.

Map link here - refer to page 67.

[smitho]

I've never seen any hard evidence that Erindale is a desirable hub alternative to Tuggeranong Town Centre.

But to save on bus running costs, there might be sense in terminating northbound 67 and 66's @ Erindale and having intertown express connections through to Woden via Yamba & Hindmarsh Drives, and (in peak times at least), running them through to Civic/Belconnen as a 100 Link.

[ajw373]

Or even the 2016 Indicative Frequent Network map shows a potential frequent service terminating at Charnwood.

Map link here - refer to page 67.

And as I said above I cannot see any need what so ever for a 15 minute service along Florey Drive that terminates at Charnwood shops. For those that don't know Florey Drive is a road just short of 3km in length, with houses in Macgregor on one side, grassland for 2km on the other and houses in Latham for the last ~1km before Charnwood. None of it is high density, nor could it be not easily be converted to high density. Development of the grassland part is neigh on impossible owning to a creek, storm water catchment and terrain. Traffic between Charnwood shops and Kippax is minimal as they both provide more or less the same service (though yes Kippax is bigger). So the question is why does Florey Drive need a 15 minute service?

The only reason I could see is to use Kippax as a mini interchange by funnelling traffic to Belconnen on the 300 series bus that now terminate there (which is what I suggested in another thread). However to do that you would need to bring passengers from suburban Charnwood, Fraser, Dunlop and Flynn which are all on the 'wrong' side of Charnwood shops, meaning you would go through rather than terminate at Charnwood Shops.