Light rail will mean more ACTION buses on more routes

The commencement of light rail services with Capital Metro Stage One in 2019 will immediately release a great number of buses in the ACTION fleet for reallocation. This will mean that bus services in Canberra will be expanded. New services will be created to feed into the light rail nodes, but it will also be a tremendous opportunity to create new services in other parts of Canberra, and expand existing services (hopefully by increasing local bus service frequency).

Integrating light rail, buses and active travel will be the key to increasing public transport patronage. It will transform our city.

This press release was issued by the Chief Ministers office on 28 October 2015.

More buses on more routes when light rail starts

The introduction of light rail will benefit all of Canberra, not just those who live and work along the light rail corridors, with more than a million kilometres of bus travel reallocated when stage one starts running.

The first stage of the light rail network will free up around 1.2 million kilometres of bus travel every year. To put that in perspective, that’s about the same distance as travelling the circumference of the Earth 30 times.

It makes sense to re-allocate these kilometres to provide more buses, on more routes, for the benefit of the broader community.

Transport Canberra, the new agency I announced yesterday, will work with the community to get these freed-up buses where they’re needed most. It will also be responsible for the design of future bus networks and planning.

This will improve services across the whole of Canberra, as well as quickly transporting people onto the light rail corridor.

To manage Canberra’s growth, reduce congestion and protect our liveability, we need to improve our public transport system.

The ACT Government’s transport plan, which we released yesterday, will improve our public transport system so it becomes more convenient, efficient, affordable and reliable – a genuine alternative to driving.

The plan will be delivered by, Transport Canberra. It will be responsible for integrating buses with the new light rail, ensuring a single ticketing system, a central contact for information and coordinated timetabling.

Transport Canberra will be responsible for assessing how the bus network can best integrate with light rail. That means being able to step off a suburban bus and straight onto a light rail train to quickly move between town centres – saving people time and hassle.

Transport Canberra will coordinate buses and light rail planning, timetabling and fares and will develop a single ticket for use across the system.

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