Canberra will need a new city bus interchange. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Canberra’s CBD has entered the time of upheaval, and it’s not going to be pleasant.
The most obvious sign is the ramping up of light rail construction for Stage 2A after the raising of London Circuit, but it is only one of a number of private and public projects that will change the face of the CBD over the next decade.
If one were to time-travel to the 2030s, the city would be unrecognisable.
While the great disruption will no doubt take its toll, and the businesses on the light rail route can attest to that, as project after project is completed, the CBD, and those who work, live and play there, will benefit from the economic and cultural activity they will bring.
The alternative would be for an ageing city of undistinguished buildings and carparks to decline and be even less attractive for businesses, shoppers and the big Commonwealth employers.
But there is one area that in recent years appears to have escaped attention – the city bus interchange.
While there will be gleaming new buildings, shiny new light rail stations and electric buses, there is no plan to give this transformed city a transport hub to match.
The interchange is a corridor of grunge – tired, dismal and depressing, hardly the place that should be the pulsating heart of Nova Canberra.
It doesn’t feel safe or friendly, and for anyone unfamiliar with it, such as tourists, the interchange is hard to navigate.
After all, it really is just a couple of streets with bus stop signs. There is no identifiable entrance with a big board of routes and times, and there aren’t too many Transport Canberra staff guiding people to the right ‘platforms’.
Light rail may be the glamour player in the transport network, but it is the buses that do the grunt work, so why shouldn’t their passengers enjoy a better place to board and alight?
An illustration of an entry to the possible underground bus interchange west entry. Image: ACT Government.
The City Renewal Authority recognises the problem and, in 2018, commissioned a study to replace the current at-grade interchange with an integrated underground facility featuring buildings above it. It canned the ‘audacious’ idea two years later because of the prohibitive cost.
The study considered two sites in Civic, the carparks on the corners of London Circuit and Northbourne Avenue.
Then CRA CEO Malcolm Snow said at the time there would be big payoffs for the CBD to remove the bus interchange from the street.
“The existing interchange has served Canberra well, but with the rate of growth in Civic and along the Northbourne corridor, it’s timely to consider how a bus interchange will best operate in the long term as this growth continues,” he said.
“We are doing this feasibility work now because it’s important to consider this option while we still have government-controlled future development sites available within Civic.
“Creating a new bus interchange under one or both of these sites could help manage the future growth of Canberra’s public transport network while providing better street-level urban design outcomes for Civic.”
But that bird has flown for the law courts carpark – the Snow family is about to start building a new landmark office building there.
The other site’s future is connected to the cultural precinct, and if cost was an issue in 2020, it will be even more of a hurdle now.
Yet Mr Snow was right back in 2018. With all the activity going on in Civic, Canberra will need a new interchange.
If nothing else, Canberrans deserve a clean, safe, easier and more enjoyable experience for their commute, especially if public transport is to become more important.
Canberrans will go through a lot in the coming years as their city reinvents itself. It would be a shame if a new transport hub wasn’t part of it.
