Ms BURNET – Thank you, Chair. Premier, just in relation to the Southern Outlet, this is a significant piece of infrastructure, it is going to take years to extend that to Kingston but if it does, and there has been considerable concern by the community in relation to the validity of the project and whether it’s the best project for the solution that we need on transport. So, was the idea of increasing bus patronage and reliability before building an expensive road upgrade considered?
Mr ROCKLIFF – Bus patronage?
Ms BURNET – Yes, bus patronage, bus services before actually building the road.
Mr ROCKLIFF – So, we’ve committed a $35 million to provide an additional transit lane on the Southern Outlet along with $16 million for bus priority measures at Macquarie and Davey streets, and we’ve gone through some of those matters. The Tasmanian Government committed a further $7.2 million for these projects under the targeting congestion package, and the Southern Outlet transit lane will operate between Olinda Grove and Macquarie Street as a T3 transit lane.
Can I also say, though, when it comes to supporting the increase of public transport, it’s important to recognise that the cutting of the public transport fares in half, whether it be ferry or bus or support a modal shift, or at least encourage it, and the transit lane, as a T3 transit lane, it can be used by private vehicles carrying three or more people, buses, taxis, motorbikes and emergency service vehicles that will support a greater uptake of public transport and carpooling with improved travel times and reliability for transit lane users and the like.
But we do need to – when we announced our half-price bus fares, it was of course a cost-of-living measure – but also important to just encourage that use of public transport as well, which is important.
Ms BURNET – I suppose my question, Premier, was has a feasibility study or cost benefit analysis been carried out for this project. I mean, did you consider other measures before going to this most expensive option?
Mr ROCKLIFF – Well, I can’t recall back to the decision-making process at the time. Denise may well have been here. I’m sure we canvassed all matters.
Ms BURNET – I know the feeling.
Mr ROCKLIFF – Not a reflection on your tenure, but yes,
Ms McINTYRE – I don’t think a business case as such has been done, but the Southern Outlet is part of the Huon Highway, which serves the south of the state and it’s the only transport route that serves – there is the Channel Highway, but it is the significant route.
So, there really is no alternative but to upgrade the Southern Outlet and the intention has been to have an end-to-end solution effectively from the south to the city and through the city and to maximise and motivate people to use public transport.
Ms BURNET – You can do that before you actually build a road.
Ms McINTYRE – As part of the process and as part of the development of the work that has been undertaken on the Southern Outlet, we also increased bus services to Blackmans Bay, Kingston and the Huon by about 67 services –
Ms BURNET – I’ll bring that up with the Transport minister. But my second question is: you talked about circular economy and how important it is, and there’s a group called the Circular Economy Huon, which you’re probably familiar with, and they put in a submission in 2022 just in relation to the Southern Outlet Transit Plan, they thought it was a bad idea for various reasons and theirs is a very simple solution.
So, again, why wasn’t the cheaper alternative – rather than building roads – actually having better public transport, reliable public transport, considered?
Mr ROCKLIFF – Look, thank you for the question and I’m not familiar exactly with Circular Economy Huon. I may well have missed some of their correspondence at some point in time. So don’t accuse me of misleading but it doesn’t spring to mind, a Circular Economy Huon, but Ms McIntyre has detailed a number of those matters in terms of the need for road infrastructure and accepting, we have Park and Ride, Kingborough Park and Ride as well.
Mr WINTER – A new bus stop that no one can use.
Ms DOW – Yeah, that’s a good one, isn’t it? It’s unfortunate.
Mr ROCKLIFF – The first state‑owned Park and Ride facilities opened at Huntingfield, at Firthside, in 2022.
Ms BURNET – I went to visit it the other day.
Mr ROCKLIFF – Did you?
Ms BURNET – I’ve been to Firthside, as well, yes.
Mr ROCKLIFF – And use of the two Park and Rides have been steadily rising as awareness builds, with approximately 50 per cent of car parks used at Huntingfield each weekday and 85 per cent of spaces in regular use at Firthside. The department will continue to undertake monitoring at different times of patronage and parking capacity. To support the Park and Ride facility, 65 express bus services were added each weekday. Is that where the 67 came from, Denise?
Ms McINTYRE – There were a couple further south as well.
Mr ROCKLIFF – Thank you very much. You’re right across it. To improve travel times and provide mode choice for commuters, a small number of express services have been impacted by Metro’s decision to suspend 177 trips each weekday since August 2023, but the express bus services will utilise the Southern Outlet transit lane once completed and Macquarie and Davey Street bus improvements infrastructure to improve public transport access from the southern suburbs into Tasmania. I do appreciate the question, Ms Burnet, and don’t take this the wrong way, but there seems to be a propensity from the Greens to not like roads much.
Ms BURNET – Why would I not take that the wrong way, Premier?
Mr ROCKLIFF – Was that right? You don’t like roads?
Ms BURNET – I like –
Mr ROCKLIFF – I’m not being smug, I’m just saying –
Ms BURNET – I like good solutions and I think there’s an appalling approach to – it’s a sledgehammer to a nut basically.
Mr ROCKLIFF – Well, I want to support more public transport services.
Ms BURNET – So do I.
Mr ROCKLIFF – I believe our half‑price bus fares support that modal shift and I know we’ll need to do more. The success and the key to public transport success is frequency and reliability.
Ms BURNET – Predictability as well, and being on time.
Mr ROCKLIFF – Yeah, reliability –
Ms BURNET – It’s different.
Mr ROCKLIFF – Right. Okay. That’s the key and we’ve got to get there and I know minister Abetz is working hard on it to ensure that.
