Hi all,

I wonder if any account is made for the infrastructure costs of roads and other facilities that are already in place for ordinary road traffic, and is now going to be used for buses when preparing “so-called” costs estimates between the two forms of transport i.e. buses compared to light rail (LR) and so on.

Much of the cost of LR will be construction including rail, power and all that which it entails, formation and relocation of underground services etc. I know there will be more but these listed are some of them.

Most of that would not be required for bus transport – well except for the electric bus recharging locations, and I have no doubt that the cost of those will be high. The capital cost of the electric buses compared to light rail vehicles will no doubt be different as well.
However, what about damage to the road by the heavy electric buses, and heavy they will be with all those batteries contained in them.
I have already seen evidence of the road damage caused by buses stopping in the same place each time; gradual collapse of the road being one of them. Someone has to fix those, and I bet it isn’t the bus company.

The snake oil salesman who wish to sell the idea to the various governments about the place will say and show all sorts of info and cost figures to prove their case, but will never provide true case info – such as road repair costs etc., to a prospective e client in case they shoot themselves in the foot and fail to get a sale.

Buses in their place – to provide a quick easy commute to a heavy or Light Rail transfer is the way to go. Let the LR (or HR) make the rapid high capacity journey between major centres.

Bob in Perth

Still not a happy fan of the “No LR or HR at any cost” brigade.

From:tramsdownunder@... tramsdownunder@...> On Behalf Of Greg Sutherland
Sent: Wednesday, April 3, 2024 6:19 AM
To: TDU tramsdownunder@...>
Subject: [TramsDownUnder] Canberra Liberals' proposed public transport plan would see a busway replace light rail with locally built electric buses


https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-03/act-canberra-liberals-proposed-public-transport-plan/103658852