WE have been informed that to improve the Canberra bus service we must build a light rail network, but there is another initiative – build more interchanges i.e. make it easier to move between the suburban bus networks and the Blue Rapid networks.

I live in Chifley and want to go to Tuggeranong. I have two options: the first, I catch the 22 bus at, for example, 10.30am and go to Woden interchange and then catch the 313 and arrive in Tuggeranong interchange at 11.04am – 34 minutes for my journey. The second is to catch the 21 bus heading south at 10.49am and get off two stops after Torrens shops to catch the 314 bus arriving in Tuggeranong at 11.14am – 25 minutes for my journey. Or rather it would have been 25 minutes but I have to walk 400m to catch the 314 despite the fact that the route 22 bus crosses the 314 bus route.

This simple change of allowing suburban buses to have common bus stops with the Blue Rapid network outside the existing interchanges would greatly improve the overall efficiency of the Canberra bus system.

Aldo Bongiorno, Chifley

Get over it

ROBERT Macklin (Seven Days, June 30) certainly has a hate thing going against the British, which makes his sneers about their alleged xenophobia and racism hypocritical and ironic. Not to mention inconsistent, because according to his take on history the Aborigines must have been xenophobic to oppose the settlement of British boat people.

He should try to get over his unnecessary guilt complex.

Pam Lai, Weston Creek

Housing idea

I READ John Griffiths’ column (“The woeful world of homelessness”, CN June 30) regarding housing in the ACT.
I know how hard it is to get a foothold in the housing market. When I wanted to buy a house in 1980 for $28,000, the manager of the CBA told me I had to have a man as co-signer as I would need a man’s protection one day!
There are affordable houses for sale if you think outside the square.
I have a three-bedroom house at White Ibis Holiday Park, 15 minutes from the centre of Canberra on the Federal Highway. It cost $195,000 and is currently rented. I own another house as I saved so much from living at White Ibis that I am mortgage free.

Ann Clifton, via email