SIMON Corbell has announced that with sufficiently leading questions his pollsters have managed to wrangle some supportive numbers from the community for his light rail plans.
“The results are encouraging, with more than 55% of Canberrans supporting plans for the development of the light rail project and 11 per cent of the wider community still undecided,” Simon said.
The project was most supported by under-30s (69% in support) but also had majority support from the 30-45 (60%) and 46-64 (58%) age groups.
“The positive results shown in this Canberra-wide survey are very encouraging and they will provide the basis for ongoing tracking,” Mr Corbell said.
“Up to 69% of people surveyed agreed light rail would bring other benefits to the ACT, including a more effective and reliable public transport system, reduced car dependency, an upgraded Northbourne Avenue, a boost to the local economy, and a creation of jobs and new investment.
“Many areas were explored in the telephone survey, including views on the future of Northbourne Avenue, the effect light rail may have on public transport use and the perceived issues or benefits for the project.
“Almost 70 per cent are in support of our focus on the opportunity to replace the Northbourne Avenue trees with a longer lasting species as part of a revitalisation of the corridor. It is also encouraging to see that 57 per cent of respondents said they would be more likely to use public transport if it involved a light rail system within walking distance or accessible by other means.”
“The most supported benefits were improvement of public transport, reduced congestion, job creation and the potential to upgrade Northbourne Avenue.”
UPDATE: Some may find this video instructive:
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