Labor and the Greens have quickly dismissed the Canberra Liberals' Civic-to-Woden busway proposal because it will not deliver wider benefits to the capital, but public transport advocates welcomed the pitch for increased bus timetable frequencies.
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Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the Liberals policy would not deliver the public transport network Canberra needed to support a population larger than 500,000.
"This proposal is essentially doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different outcome. We already have buses running on transit lanes from Woden to Civic," Mr Barr said.
"Canberrans would see no housing benefits, job opportunities or economic gains that light rail has delivered for our city. The world's greatest cities are not built on bus networks. They all have mass transit.
"It's more of the same from the Canberra Liberals."
The opposition on Wednesday released its public transport policy, which included an expansion of the bus fleet, increases to frequency, traffic-light priority for bus services and dedicated bus lanes.
Greens leader Shane Rattenbury said the Liberals were trying to put forward a competition between light rail and buses that did not exist.
"The future of this city, we need buses, we need light rail, we need better walking and cycling infrastructure. We need to give Canberrans options to make it easy to get around this city," Mr Rattenbury said.
Mr Rattenbury said the Greens wanted to see improvements to Canberra's bus network made alongside the delivery of light rail to Woden.
"There's no doubt the improvement in infrastructure that we've seen from light rail has attracted new users to public transport," he said.
"You can't keep doing what you've always done and expect things to change. ... [Light rail] is enabling us to build a city around that infrastructure."
Mr Rattenbury said light rail was the change Canberra needed.
"It's not just tweaking at the edges. It's a serious extra investment in public transport that makes a difference, [and] encourages more people to take public transport," he said.
Public Transport Association of Canberra chair Ryan Hemsley said a handful of double-decker buses and some road paint would not tackle Canberra's future transport needs.
"However, it's great to see some of PTCBR's key demands picked up by the opposition. Many measures outlined in their policy would deliver much-needed improvements to our bus network," Mr Hemsley said.
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"We hope to see key issues addressed before the election. Canberra is a growing city in need of mass transit. Weekend bus services are failing to meet demand and won't be fixed with a slogan. PTCBR looks forward to seeing these issues tackled by all political parties in coming months."
Woden Valley Community Council president Caroline Le Couteur said the council wanted an efficient and equitable transport system for south Canberra and welcomed the attention the Liberals' announcement would put on the issue.
"Light rail - even if light rail materialised somehow tomorrow morning - it wouldn't solve all the problems. But it's not going to materialise tomorrow morning, right? Whether you want it or not, we need to look at the problems of now," Ms Le Couteur said.
Ms Le Couteur, a former Greens MLA, said improvements to public transport in the Woden Valley would also need to consider the frequency of buses and the poor state of shared paths.
Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
