ACTCOSS highlights the need for Canberra’s transport system to plan for everyone to move where they need to, regardless of how they move, in our submission on the draft Moving Canberra 2019-2045 Integrated Transport Strategy.
Our submission emphasises that transport is a public good and plays a key role in life transitions. A strategy must go beyond buses and the tram to include all modes, especially community-managed on-demand transport as well as surrounding infrastructure.
People with transport disadvantage have the greatest need to travel, face greatest isolation when they can’t but the least flexibility about where and how they move across the city. Travel is an essential cost of living and falls hardest on those with the least ability to pay. In a smart and compact city, travel costs should not stop people doing the things they have to do or the things they want to do. We recommend the ACT Government considers making public transport free.