Canberra's Public Transport...

After looking into current public transport systems in Canberra, as well as future plans and strategies, I found that both Canberra and the whole ACT focus heavily on buses and not trains, which I found to be quite odd. Train systems, whether heavy or light rail are successful in major cities as well as remote areas so Canberra would benefit greatly from an additional public transport system to help in the reduction of car use. Although Canberra promotes walking and cycling in their city, it is very spread out and impossible to ride or walk to all parts of the city. In the chart below the rise in public transport is also much greater than walking or cycling, and with a lot of the demographic consitsing of an older society, a train system would be the most accessible to use.

CANBERRA ACTION PLAN
http://www.actpla.act.gov.au/topics/significant_projects/planning_studies/stp_actions

"Transport for Canberra is a new policy and action plan for the ACT that aims to reduce the overall cost of the transport system while maintaining high levels of accessibility. Providing convenient alternatives to private cars will shift transport patterns towards more use of walking, cycling and public transport. This in turn will:

·        reduce traffic congestion

·        provide health benefits such as reduced road accidents

·        provide environmental benefits such as reduced air pollution

·        provide the community with more transport options, and

·        reduce the cost of building and maintaining transport infrastructure."

MODE	2001	2011	2026
Walking	4.1%	6%	7%
Cycling	2.3%	5%	7%
Public Transport	6.7%	9%	16%
Total	13.1	20%	30%

The following is a a very useful link to the ACT'S Accessible public transport plan:

http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/166525/APT_Action_Plan_2009-2012.pdf

These links are also very helpful in gaining some insight into facts and statistics about the ACT and Canberra, which will be useful for our presentation:

http://www.cmd.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/154501/canberra-quickstats-2009-10.pdf

https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/DAB810/Canberra%20Visitors%20Stats/National_Visitor_Survey_-_March_Quarter_2011.pdf?w=fa088e25

https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/DAB810/Canberra%20Visitors%20Stats/tourism_facts_figures_may_2010_screen%20-%20Copy.pdf?w=67311d39

https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/DAB810/Canberra%20Visitors%20Stats/ACT_%28State_regional%29_acc.pdf?w=5bfdaf37