On this day in 1977, a major announcement was made to introduce a super transit system in Canberra.
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The plan included loads of details that are currently present in the region, including new express bus route, bus interchanges and exclusive bus roads.
The first stage was a $13 million bus service express route from north Belconnen, through to Civic and Tuggeranong, and from the northern reaches of Canberra down to Kambah within half an hour.
Other longer-term plans were to build new exclusive bus roads from Florey to Kambah in 20 years and Belconnen to Civic in 15 years.
In the shorter three-year plan, a priority system was to allow buses to use a few kilometres of exclusive road sections parallelling parts of Belconnen Way and extensive stretches of bus-only lanes for an efficient system.
Additionally, plans to develop two bus interchanges worth $2.5 million each in Belconnen and Civic were outlined.
It also included the development of electronic 'trip' mechanisms that activate traffic lights to get buses through rapidly.
These plans have come to fruition as the region has developed a rather impressive transportation compared to some 50 years ago.
Not wanting to remain stagnant, the public transport system has been the subject of political jousting between Canberra Labor and Liberals.
Canberra Liberals have been pushing for more bus lanes instead of the Labor planned light rail from the city to Woden with locally built electric buses.
Politics aside, Canberrans have been demanding for more weekend transport with public travellers increasing by 5.5 per cent without a service expansion.
The demand for more weekend transport demonstrates a desire to increase reliance on public transit.
