Twenty years have passed since Canberra's last new articulated bus took to the streets, but ACT Chief Minister and Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Katy Gallagher, announced yesterday that 20 new articulated buses will replace the ageing models.
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One of the new articulated buses was presented at London Circuit, its glossy exterior drawing the attention of curious bystanders.
The ACTION bus service will see the eventual delivery of 19 more articulated buses between now and March next year.
But the government said the new fleet was not an indication it would install bus transit, rather than light rail, along the Civic to north Canberra corridor.
''This is a part of the bus replacement program,'' Ms Gallagher said.
''This articulated bus has the latest fuel consumption efficiency, is wheelchair accessible and is environmentally friendly … we believe the articulated buses are of great quality.''
Ms Gallagher said the latest additions to the ACTION fleet had a capital cost of $780,000 each, a total of $15.6 million.
However, buses making trips with no passengers, referred to as ''dead running'', was still an issue the capital is finding difficult to deal with. Dead running accounts for 19.9 per cent of all kilometres covered by ACTION and is worse than the 17.4 per cent national benchmark. Ms Gallagher said this was due to having two bus depots and a dispersed city.
''Our solution to this is to reopen the Woden bus depot,'' she said.
''Instead of bus drivers having to drive their routes, then drive back to either Belconnen or Tuggeranong, they have the halfway point of Woden to house their buses. We're also working hard to implement changes to timetables in the effort to reduce dead running and we're quite optimistic that these changes will see improvement.''
The 20 new articulated buses have been funded as a part of $75 million allocated in the 2008-09 ACT budget.
National bus manager of bus maker Scania, Trevor O'Brien, said the manufacture of the articulated bus fleet focused on passenger security, vehicle safety and stability control.
''It's a large-capacity, environmentally friendly bus,'' Mr O'Brien said.
''The inherent design is to make the vehicle safer and also be fuel efficient. We're very conscious of CO2 emissions from vehicles.''
ACTION bus driver Paul Coleman has been with the bus service for seven years and he said the new articulated bus was a smooth drive. ''It's very nice, works well, especially the brakes and steering,'' he said.
''This is good because it gives people in Canberra more options - the old articulated buses are still all right to drive but it just takes getting used to. Once you get used to them, then you can enjoy interacting with your passengers,'' Mr Coleman said.
A spokesman for Sustainable Development Minister Simon Corbell said the government would announce a plan for either bus rapid transit or light rail for the Gungahlin to Civic corridor before the ACT election.
