tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post1153991213857617950..comments2024-03-28T16:48:18.088+11:00Comments on loon pond: In which the onion muncher does his very best to distract from the Caterists ...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-10100575542518776332017-04-20T17:54:28.470+10:002017-04-20T17:54:28.470+10:00Ah well, FD, I used to commute at least 5 days per...Ah well, FD, I used to commute at least 5 days per week from Swinden St Downer (just up near where Northbourne Ave does a half-turn right and becomes the Federal Highway) down to the Dept. of Health at Woden. But that was back in the mid 1970s so I was much too early for any thoughts of 'light rail' (aka tramways).<br /><br />But according to the demographics, I have about another decade or so to go (about as long as I have to stay around to see the cat off, too) so who knows: one day I might just be able to take a tram ride from Swinden St to the Woden Centre. Oh, joy, joy, happiness ! :-) GrueBleennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-18021230739517833002017-04-20T01:07:26.920+10:002017-04-20T01:07:26.920+10:00That's the plan, GB, but Woden is phase 2. The...That's the plan, GB, but Woden is phase 2. The first stage is just Gungahlin to Civic. TBH, I'm not too sanguine about getting it over the lake - I doubt the Commonwealth avenue bridge is wide enough to fit it in, without substantial reconstruction. The ultimate idea is to to extend it to Tuggeranong, Molonglo (the next plug'n'play town like Gungahlin, now being built), Belconnen and (pretty speculatively IMO) the Airport and Fyshwick. I'd say that only Gungahlin-Civic and Molonglo-Civic are really worth it, unless they start infilling suburbs down the Valley. The other routes wont have the patronage to justify them - the Parkway still copes with traffic from Tuggeranong and Woden - the suburbs haven't really grown in 20 years, and when they were planned, a bit more thought went into how commuters to get from the burbs to their work.FrankDnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-71616626135395344362017-04-19T08:24:09.007+10:002017-04-19T08:24:09.007+10:00But what about the other direction, FD - wasn'...But what about the other direction, FD - wasn't there some plan for Adelaide Avenue and down to Woden ? How is the Woden Valley traffic nowadays ?GrueBleennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-86845371797946743712017-04-19T02:09:10.330+10:002017-04-19T02:09:10.330+10:00If Cater wasn't a wanker from the wrong side o...If Cater wasn't a wanker from the wrong side of the lake, who hates the light rail on principle because he's never going to use it, and in any case lives walking distance from his place of "work", he would know three things about the "Gunghalin tram":<br />1. Ever since a couple of Liberal Chief Ministers handed over the land to developers say "Infrastructure, we don't need no steenkin' infrastructure", traffic on Northbourne has been a joke. Sure, its not like Parramatta Road or the snarl at the end of the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne, but its pretty fucked for a city the size of Canberra. And its because they dumped 50,000 people in soulless tract house commuter-burbs, most of whom work either side of the lake with one road out of the joint. <br />2.Studies have shown that light rail has a people moving capacity several times higher than even a dedicated bus lane, let alone the share bike-bus-car clusterfuck that exists now. So - more people moved more efficiently, getting buses off Northbourne, freeing up more road space for the Gungans who would still rather drive. Better return on investment than any other proposal that was floated.<br />3. You wont be able to catch the tram between the only two coffee shops along the whole length of Northbourne, as they are on opposite sides of the same intersection. They are both shitful (one moreso than the other), but neither has ever had a customer wearing a beret.FrankDnoreply@blogger.com