ANU student calls for bus to link Daley Road with Civic

ANU student and general representative on the ANU Students Association Skye Predavec has launched a petition calling on the ACT government to create a bus route between Daley Road and Civic.

"There are almost 4000 people living in this corner of Canberra, which is really a complete public transport deadzone," she said.

"These are people who are facing disproportionately rising rents because ANU campus halls aren't actually under ACT rent controls at all because they're on federal land.

"I've spoken to a lot of students who have said this would genuinely be really, really life-changing."

Ms Predavec said students doing a full-time study load plus working part time jobs to get by during the semester would find a bus service "invaluable" to save time getting to work or doing groceries.

She also said student safety would be improved in the campus which has rates of sexual harassment and sexual assault much higher than the national average.

"Currently, if you're coming back from a night out or just coming back from work and you live on campus, unless you want to spend a bunch of money on an Uber ... you are walking back through a very poorly lit campus, which is famously unsafe."

When living at Wamburun Hall last year, Ms Predavec said people were leaving shopping trolleys outside the hall to bring their groceries back from the shops. She said people with mobility problems would also benefit from a new route.

Currently buses stop at Marcus Clarke Street and Rimmer Street to the north and Liveridge Street to the south of the campus. The 3 and 81 routes used to stop near the residential halls on Daley Road and Clunies Ross Street respectively.

A similar petition in 2019 when the routes were axed attracted 1128 signatures. Ms Predevac said the aim was to attract more signatures this time around to demonstrate the demand for the service.

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"It wouldn't even have to be a new route. There are heaps of routes which just go from elsewhere to civic and back, and even just adding another stop on one of those routes which goes to Daley Road would be invaluable here."

The Canberra Times approached Transport Minister Chris Steel for comment but the inquiry was redirected to Transport Canberra and City Services who did not respond by deadline.

In a response to a letter from Ms Predavec in December, Mr Steel said there were no plans to increase bus services through the ANU grounds.

The petition will be open until March 20.

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