While PTCBR is interested in all things related to public transport, these are some of the issues we’re advocating for right now:
Extending light rail to Woden
This is the second stage of Canberra’s light rail network, extending from the current Alinga Street terminus to Woden Town Centre. It is being delivered in two stages:
- Stage 2A, from Alinga Street to Commonwealth Park
- Stage 2B from Commonwealth Park, over Commonwealth Bridge to Woden Town Centre.
PTCBR strongly supports the extension of the light rail network, but work is slower than we’d like. Construction is well underway on the Raising London Circuit project, which is a necessary step to get light rail tracks down Commonwealth Avenue. But there are still no contracts or works approvals to begin construction for Stage 2B, so it is unclear when work on extending light rail across the lake and through the Parliamentary Zone will actually begin.
We are urging the ACT Government to keep focussed on delivering this city-defining project.
Read more: Light Rail Stage 2B EIS drafting: PTCBR’s feedback.
Restoring the full timetable and weekend services
PTCBR has been calling on the government to restore the timetables they promised us when the new seven-day bus network began in 2019. Unfortunately, the timetable has been cut back twice now:
- Many local weekend services only run every 2 hours, as Transport Canberra hasn’t been able to find enough weekend drivers.
- On weekdays there is a reduced timetable, as construction-related delays in Canberra’s City Centre make it difficult to reliably deliver the full set of services.
Read more: Weekend bus improvements: inching towards 2019.
Completing the Belconnen Transitway
We need to do more to help Canberra’s buses skip though traffic and get people to their destination faster. PTCBR is calling on the ACT Government to develop a plan for identifying and implementing bus priority measures (“Transitways”), including:
- bus lanes
- traffic signal priority, and
- bus jumps at traffic lights.
Good progress was made on rolling out the first two stages of Belconnen Transitway project in the early half of the last decade. We think the time has come to finish the job, and complete the missing section of the transitway along Haydon Drive.