Bicycle friendly light rail service in Canberra high on public agenda
Canberra's proposed light rail network has been enthusiastically endorsed in the consultation process, according to the ACT Government.
The Government is planning to build a 12 kilometre light rail track from the city to Gungahlin costing an estimated $783 million.
The report released today by the Government comes after a six week consultation period that included an online survey, information sessions and a pop-up Capital Metro centre in Canberra's CBD.
Light Rail Minister Simon Corbell said more than 16,550 interactions with the community had helped shape the report.
"Some of the key findings include the strong level of support for the project," he said.
"Also questioning whether people can carry cycles on board the capital metro light rail service and feedback that helps inform where the final station locations should be, as we proceed to the request for proposal stage."
The multiple requests for bicycles to be allowed on board the trains has encouraged the Government to include it as part of the next stage of the tender process.
"Forty-four per cent of the respondents to the online survey said they would take their bicycle on the light rail service, and 25 per cent of those said they would take their bicycle every day," Mr Corbell said.
"As a result of that, we will be making it a requirement of the Request for Requirement process that the light rail vehicles are designed to accommodate bicycles on board.
"Clearly this highlights the capacity for light rail to support more active travel choices such as walking and cycling."
Two of the original 15 proposed light train stops have been dumped following consultation.
The stops at Lysaght Street near the Mitchell industrial area and next to the Owen Flats on Northbourne Avenue did not attract enough support.
However they may be added in future to meet demand.
Light rail 'won't service enough of the community'
But Opposition spokesman Alistair Coe said he had doubts over how much of the Canberra community was represented by the consultation process.
"I don't think they did a particularly good job at capturing the views of people that wouldn't use light rail or need some convincing," he said.
"I think it's unlikely that someone who's opposed to light rail, or has serious doubts about light rail, is going to walk into a government shopfront and tell a staff member that."
Mr Coe said the first planned route between the city and Gungahlin would not service many Canberrans.
"The people who live within a few hundred metres of the light rail route will get a pretty good service, but that's only about 2.9 per cent of Canberra," he said.
"There are questions about what is the best first route of light rail, how much should we be prepared to spend and what are the alternatives."
Mr Coe said it was an expensive undertaking for taxpayers into the future.
"We're looking at spending $100 million every year for 20 years on one light rail route," he said.
"We're replacing one bus line with light rail. So you have to be careful about these massive decisions which potentially laden a future generation with a lot of debt."
