ACT Election: Liberals promise more school buses and flashing lights at school zones

Liberal education spokesperson Elizabeth Lee said a Liberal government would invest $5 million into pick-up and drop-off zones and $7.5 million into flashing lights for school zones, following consultation with school communities.

"We know that when parents are busy and they drop their children off at school, they want to know that they are going to get to their classrooms safely," she said.

"In addition to the dedicated school bus, having peace of mind when [children] are crossing the road, and knowing that motorists will have a friendly reminder to slow down at the school zones is going to mean a lot to a lot of the working parents here."

Liberal transport spokesperson Candice Burch said the dedicated school bus routes were the most popular services for students.

"Forrest primary school, for example, previously had six dedicated school bus routes. They now only have four. Red Hill Primary School also had numerous routes and they now only have one."

Labor transport spokesman Chris Steel said increasing school bus services would mean a reduction of at least 25 per cent of all existing regular peak services.

"The majority of school students have always used regular services and pre-COVID-19 patronage showed school student numbers were unchanged as a result of the network change."

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He said a study commissioned by Transport Canberra and City Services found the ACT was different from other jurisdictions that flashing lights in school zones because schools were generally located away from arterial roads.

It also found the all day school zone from 8am to 4pm meant motorists generally did not require prompts such as flashing lights to show the school zone was active.

"The ACT Labor government introduced the 'Active Streets for Schools' program and the School Crossing Supervisors Program as effective means to improve children's safety," Mr Steel said.

"The election campaign is only just starting and the Canberra Liberals are already out of ideas, reannouncing policies that they have peddled since 2001 and ignoring the work the ACT Labor government has been doing to improve safety around schools."