Canberra Public Transport:-

Proposed Network - 330 km of Track

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government is currently planning a 12 km light rail line from the city centre north to the suburb of Gungahlin. They have budgeted $870 million - $72.5 million/km.

A 13 km light rail has just become operational on the Gold Coast. The original budget for this track was $949 million ($73 million/km) but the final cost was $1.2 billion ($92.3 Million/km), an increase of 26.5%. This figure does not include the rolling stock.

If the ACT proposal's cost blows out to the same degree, the final cost will be $1.1 billion ($91.7 million/km).

The map below shows a MonoCab VRT track layout of approximately 330 km, i.e. 27.5 times the proposed light rail. The estimated cost is approximately $2.0 billion.

Using the fare per passenger/km ($0.1208) from the detailed case study of the Gold Coast and weighting it to take into account the differences in populations and the total track lengths, it is estimated that the fare per passenger/km will be in the range of $0.20 - $0.25.

Hence the fare to travel from Gungahlin In the north (point A on the map) to Gordon in the south (point B on the map) will be in the range of $7.20 - $9.00. The travel distance is 36 km and the transit time is 22 minutes.

An recent ACT Government press release stated that, during peak hour, it takes approximately 45 minutes (16 km/h) to drive the proposed light rail route (A - C).

Also that the projected light rail transit time will be 22 minutes (32 km/h).

The projected MonoCab VRT time is 8 minutes (100 km/h).  The fare would be in the range of $2.40 - $3.00

The 330 km MonoCab VRT network as shown on this map is projected to cost $2 billion.

This will be without any financial input from the ACT Government.