Ruined by tram costs, Barr must fall on his sword
The time has come for Chief Minister Andrew Barr to do the decent thing and fall on his political sword, says The Gadfly columnist ROBERT MACKLIN.
light rail
The total cost for 1.7 kilometres of light rail stage 2A will cost more than $1.46 billion, based on answers from the Chief Minister to the Assembly's Budget Review Committee.
All up (build plus 20 years operations and maintenance), light rail Stage 2 to Woden will be about $5.2 billion ($1.7 billion for 2A and $3.5 billion for 2B. Hair-raising stuff, says letter writer MAX FLINT.
The Chief Minister says light rail won't reach Woden until 2033.
News
Government presses on with Woden tram approvals
The ACT government is seeking federal approval to examine alternative stops in the National Triangle and Barton in its quest to take light rail to Woden.
Opinion
The painful legacy of a ‘mediocre’ government
"The obsession with light rail has more than likely been at the expense of the education and health systems and the adequate provision of social housing," writes former planner MIKE QUIRK.
Letters
With 7% on public transport, tram doesn’t stack up
"Who, apart from fragile government egos, benefits from continuing to pour our rates into the bottomless tram pit? Of course, the answer is the developers," says letter writer IAN PEARSON, of Barton.
"Light rail has been from the outset and remains a financial disgrace!" thunders letter writer MAX FLINT, co-ordinator of Smart Canberra Transport
The Canberra Liberals have raised significant concerns following the release of the costings and timeframe of delivery of light rail stage 2A.
The cost of the three-stop extension to the light rail through Civic and on to Commonwealth Park will be $577 million.
Letter writer SUE BRUDENALL, of Crace, points to a UK example of getting out of a rail project that's draining the economy and says, similarly, it's time for the ACT government to rethink its light rail plans.
"The first thing Hanson's petition can achieve is to exacerbate the already strong feelings of many Canberrans who oppose building stage two of the tram," writes political columnist MICHAEL MOORE.
Reinstate the Causeway Axis and instal the tramway from Russell Hill (tramline-linked via Constitution Avenue to Civic) to tram-forgotten Narrabundah – on the axis alignment, says letter writer JACK KERSHAW.
"Once people learnt of the reality of how the tram had been funded, there was a reduction in trust in both the Greens and Labor. People now know that they have been and continue to be scammed," writes columnist PAUL COSTIGAN.
"The ACT government's public transport, city development and climate objectives could be achieved by a more rapid electrification of the bus fleet and increasing the frequency, comfort, speed and coverage of buses," writes MIKE QUIRK.
"The tram is not just some harmless 'virtue signalling' by the Labor-Greens team that has governed Canberra for almost a generation… It is an irresponsible, outlandishly expensive absurdity," writes "The Gadfly" columnist ROBERT MACKLIN.
From Monday, large trucks carrying thousands of cubic metres of fill will start delivering six-days-a-week, during daytime hours, to the London Circuit Light Rail Stage 2A construction site.
A male is believed to have been struck by a tram around Cooyong Street and Northbourne Avenue late this afternoon.
JON STANHOPE and KHALID AHMED break down the ACT government's economic arguments in support of the tram and reveal how they proved to be disastrously wrong.
