climateXchange

Post edited 7:04 am – September 29, 2010 by Quetzal

I really am getting to be grumpy about all this, to the point I have started to internally refer to the ACT Chief Minister as Xxxxhopeless and to the bus services as INACTION. Since having an efficient mass transport system is key to reducing private car use, I feel it's worthwhile sharing my experiences of trying to raise the issue with the ACT government. 

I used to catch the bus, I no longer do so preferring to take my bike, but there's a great many people in my neighbourhood who are too old or have young children to do this. The relatively wealthy take their cars, the less so take the bus. The socio-economic divide is clear for anyone standing at the bus stop to see as the passing parade of nice cars go by to drop their kids off at school. 

And what a rustic experience taking the bus often turns out to be! There's one bus every 30 mins for a while, then only 1 per hour after 10am. Sometimes it's late, more often than not, it is dirty and run down. When it takes off, the brakes seem to propel elderly passengers down the aisle at knee collapsing velocity. Frequently, it has a broken ticketing machine, forcing the driver to ruefully allow passengers on for free. In peak hours, school kids are on the bus too since they changed the timetable, and none of them seem to stand up for the elderly. Occasionally, there's someone who is drunk or perhaps has some mental health issue who decides to vent at other passengers on the bus. On the rare occasion I've seen a good driver able to manage such situations, if not the rest of us simply have to endure the unpleasantness poured into a space from which we can't escape.

Before we even get on the bus, the stops set a negative tone. Dirty, littered with rubbish, covered in graffiti. There may be some heavy smoker and you have to judge whether a friendly hint to move on will be taken in the right spirit. I've seen people throw used cans on the grass besides the stops, why? Because ACTION has advised that TAMS is responsible for bins and rubbish collection and they won't place bins near a bus stop in Canberra. Nor, from the recent response I got from ACTION on this issue does it seem inclined to try and negotiate a solution to basic littering. It's my responsibility, as a member of the public, to write to the agency concerned myself.

We can talk here in this forum till the cows come home on how to make our lives in the ACT more environmentally responsible, but while this city remains inured in bureaucracy on public transport one of the chief areas where we could make a real difference will remain an intractable problem.

I think it's time we accepted that the economics of it all do not work in our favour, that's a given. But, I'm thoroughly fed up with all the other small obstacles to making the bus services a viable 'choice' for people, as a result of a complex of basic issues making the whole travel experience so inconvenient and unpleasant that people won't even consider taking the bus in the first place. These small issues are within the ACT government's power to fix, but so far I have not seen any will to do so. 

The ACT has a surfeit of government but, on a number of basic service issues which have ramifications for urban sustainability, a deficiency of good governance.  Passing the buck, shirking responsibility, failing to take initiative seem to be the preferred modes for interacting with the public on environmental sustainability and climate change issues. 

I would like to be disabused of this negative impression. I have participated in Canberra 2030, and while I remain hopeful I wait to be convinced much substantive will result from it if past history is anything to judge by. Let's hope I'm wrong.