Bus routes across the ACT will be reduced next month due to disruption caused by raising London Circuit and building the new Woden bus interchange – and many are not happy about the term 1 timetable, released this week. The Canberra Liberals, the ACT Greens, and the Public Transport Association of Canberra (PTCBR) have all criticised it.
Most rapid bus services have been reduced to a 30-minute frequency after 7pm; all other rapids will continue to operate at least every 15 minutes, a Transport Canberra spokesperson said. Local routes have been reduced to an hourly frequency during off-peak periods; there will be no change to local service frequency during peak periods. Operating hours for rapid services at night have been reduced; no trips will begin after 11pm.
“There have been minimal changes to bus services during peak periods, when most customers travel,” the spokesperson said.
Transport Canberra stated that “an increase in journey times had resulted in some unavoidable reductions in services frequency”.
“Extra time has been scheduled into bus services to accommodate infrastructure construction impacts, with the most disruptive period to occur from early next year. This extra journey time will result in a reduction in the number of bus services which can be operated.”
But Canberra Liberals MLA Mark Parton, Shadow Minister for Transport, pointed out that the new timetable revealed a significant reduction of trips on many routes (many cut by 10 or more runs); night services will finish earlier across many routes, “which will mean that many workers will not be able to get the bus home after 8pm”; and weekend buses will continue to operate every two hours, despite government promises to increase weekend frequency.
A list of changes follows at the end of this article, based on an overview provided by the Canberra Liberals.
“These cuts represent a slap in the face for Canberrans who rely on the bus for day-to-day travel,” Mr Parton said. “What this demonstrates, quite clearly, is that the Labor-Greens government has no ambition to get more Canberrans using public transport.”
Mr Parton made a motion last month calling on the ACT Government to protect and maintain direct bus routes from suburbs south of Lake Burley Griffin to Civic when the Woden tram commenced, and to not increase public transport travel time. He noted that when stage 1 of the tram began, Gungahlin lost many of its bus services, and the travel time to Civic increased. His motion failed.
The Canberra Liberals have suggested that the government is cutting bus services by stealth. The timetable was released without any associated announcement just two weeks before Christmas, Mr Parton remarked.
A Transport Canberra spokesperson the timetable was released this week to provide updated information to schools before they go on break for the end of the year. “Broader communications will be undertaken in January, closer to the changes being implemented.”
Jo Clay MLA, ACT Greens spokesperson for transport, said she was “disappointed”. In May, the Legislative Assembly passed her motion to expand Transport Canberra’s workforce – at the time, operating an interim timetable due to COVID-related staff absences – and increase weekend services from two hourly after 12pm on Saturday and all day Sunday.
“We need a bus service that gets people where they need to go, when they need to get there,” Ms Clay said. “But this latest announcement doesn’t sound like it gets us there at all.”
Ryan Hemsley, chair of PTCBR, said: “No matter what way you slice it, these timetable changes have been poorly communicated and poorly justified. On the back of an already reduced COVID timetable, this is simply not good enough.
“People build their lives around their bus schedule. If you are going to make significant changes that affect the whole network, the least you can do is communicate those changes clearly. In our view, that did not happen.
“If delays due to construction work are the key issue, that can be easily fixed. Throwing down some red paint on the road costs very little, and can go a long way to speeding up buses in congested areas.
“Certainly, if the government had been more open about this issue, we could have advocated for a range of alternative measures that didn’t involve cutting bus frequencies.”
Transport Canberra said the government will consider “uplift in services in the second half of 2023 once we have monitored the impact of the most disruptive period of works”. “The Government’s focus is on the reliability of the network during the disruption period.”
Mr Parton speculated that another reason for the network cutbacks is because the electric buses supposed to replace the retiring Renault vehicles had not arrived.
- Electric buses will come to Canberra this year (23 February)
“Disruption associated with construction of major infrastructure projects is the main driver of changes to the timetable, not staff or buses,” Transport Canberra said. “The same number of buses will be used on the network while we replace the ageing bus fleet. This includes the new electric buses which will be delivered before the end of the year.
“Transport Canberra has also exceeded staff recruitment targets, recruiting an additional 70 bus drivers (since May 2022), exceeding the target of 60 new drivers.”
Major reductions in services
Route 18 – Gungahlin to City
- reroutes more direct to city, no longer services Harrison
- Mon – Fri: reduction from 34 to 24 trips
Route 24 – Belconnen to Gungahlin
- Mon – Fri: reduction from 36 to 24 Gungahlin – Belconnen services
Route 32 – Belconnen to City
- Mon – Fri: reduction from 40 to 30 trips
Route 41 – Fraser to Belconnen
- Mon – Fri: reduction from 32 to 25 trips; now every 30 minutes, reduction in peak frequency
- Route change in Fraser West
Route 43 – Spence to Belconnen
- Mon – Fri: reduction from 35 to 25 trips
Route 54 – City to Majura Park
- Mon – Fri: reduced from 31 to 25 trips
Route 55 – Duntroon loop
- Mon – Fri: reduced from 33 to 25 trips
Route 59 – City to Woden
- Mon – Fri: reduction from 60 to 45 trips
Route 62 – Woden to Southlands loop
- Mon – Fri: reduction from 36 to 24 trips
Route 63 – Cooleman Court to Woden
- Mon – Fri: reduction from 36 to 25 trips
Route 66 – Cooleman Court to Woden
- Mon – Friday: reduction from 34 to 25 trips
Route 73 – Tuggeranong to Woden
- Mon – Fri: reduced from 35 to 25 trips
Route 78 – Richardson loop
- Mon – Fri: reduced from 35 to 26 trips
Route 79 – Calwell loop
- Mon – Fri: reduced from 34 to 25 trips
R4 – Belconnen to Tuggeranong
- Mon – Fri: to Tuggeranong reduced from 120 to 114 trips
- Mon – Fri: to Belconnen reduced from 123 to 110 trips
R5 – City to Lanyon
- Mon – Fri: to Lanyon reduced from 103 to 78 trips
- Mon – Fri: to City reduced from 91 to 76 trips
Reductions in peak frequency
Route 41 – Fraser to Belconnen
Route 43 – Spence to Belconnen
Route 44 – Kippax to Belconnen
Route 45 – Kippax to Belconnen
Route 54 – City to Majura Park
Route 55 – Duntroon loop
Route 57 – Woden to City
Route 58 – Woden to City
Night services finishing earlier
Route 18 – Gungahlin to City
- Sat: last bus now 10.21pm, previously 11.35pm
Route 19 – Bonner Loop
- Sat: last service now 10.21pm, previously 12.18am
Route 20 – Bonner Loop
- Sun: last service now 7.21pm, previously 9.20pm
Route 23 – Belconnen to Gungahlin
- Mon – Fri: last bus now 10.33pm, previously 11.37pm
- Sun: last bus to Belconnen now 7.27pm, previously 9.26pm
Route 24 – Belconnen to Gungahlin
- Mon – Fri: last bus now 10.08pm, previously 11.52pm
Route 25 – Taylor Loop
- Mon – Fri: last bus 10.35pm, previously 11.17pm
- Sat: last bus now 10.30pm, previously 11.27pm
- Sun: last bus now 7.27pm, previously 9pm
Route 28 – Casey to Gungahlin
- Sat: last bus now 10.46pm, previously 11.40pm
Route 30 – Belconnen to Dickon
- Sat: last bus Dickson to Belconnen now 11.08pm, previously 12.22am
Route 31 – Belconnen to City
- Mon – Fri: last bus now 10.34pm, previously 11.31pm
Route 32 – Belconnen to City
- Mon – Fri: last bus now 10.07pm, previously 11.04pm
- Sun: last bus to Belconnen now 8.14pm, previously 9.12 pm
Route 41 – Fraser to Belconnen
- Sun: first bus now 8.30am, previously 7.24am; last bus now 8.30pm, previously 9.24pm
Route 43 – Spence to Belconnen
- Sun: last bus now 7.44pm, previously 9.32pm
Route 44 – Kippax to Belconnen
- Sat: last bus now 10.36pm, previously 12.13am
Route 45 – Kippax to Belconnen
- Mon – Fri: last bus Belconnen to Kippax now 10.20pm, previously 11.47pm
- Sat: last bus now 10.27pm, previously 11.39pm
Route 50 – Watson to City
- Mon – Fri: last bus now 10.01pm, previously 11.19pm
Route 53 – Dickson to National Museum
- Sun: last bus now 7.31pm, previously 9.18pm
Route 54 – City to Majura Park
- Sun: last bus now 7.22pm, previously 8.20pm
Route 57 – Woden to City
- Mon – Fri: last bus now 10pm, previously 11.45pm
- Sat: last bus now 10.36pm, previously 12.14am
Route 58 – Woden to City
- Mon – Fri: last bus now 10.34pm, previously 11.14pm
Route 60 – Mawson Loop
- Mon – Fri: last bus now 10.30pm, previously 11.20pm
Route 61 – Mawson Loop
- Mon – Fri: last bus now 10pm, previously 10.42pm
- Sun: last bus now 7.58pm, previously 9pm
Route 65 – Weston Creek to Woden
- Sun: last bus now 7.49pm, previously 9.33pm
Route 70 – Tuggeranong to Woden
- Mon – Fri: last bus now 10pm, previously 11.01pm
- Sat: last bus now 10.29pm, previously 12.27am
Route 71 – Tuggeranong to Woden
- Mon – Fri: last bus now 10.29pm, previously 11.30pm
Route 72 – Tuggeranong to Woden
- Sat: last bus now 11pm, previously 12.19am
- Sun: last bus now 7.33pm, previously 9.03pm
Route 73 – Tuggeranong to Woden
- Mon – Fri: last bus now 10.15pm, previously 11.23pm
Route 74 – Chisholm Loop
- Mon – Fri: last bus now 10.14pm, previously 11.22pm
- Sun: last bus now 8.20pm, previously 9.06pm
Route 76 – Tuggeranong to Woden
- Mon – Fri: last bus now 10.02pm, previously 11.48pm
Route 77 – Tuggeranong to Woden
- Mon – Fri: last bus now 10.33pm, previously 11.40pm
- Sun: last bus now 8.19pm, previously 9.22pm
Route 80 – Lanyon to Tuggeranong
- Sun: last bus now 8.06pm, previously 9.24pm
Route 81 – Lanyon to Tuggeranong
- Mon – Fri: last bus now 10.44pm, previously 11.24pm
Route 83 – Spence to Airport
- Mon – Fri: last bus now 10.35pm, previously 11.29pm
- Mon – Fri: last bus to Belconnen now 10.43pm, previously 11.34pm
- Sun: last bus now 8.53pm, previously 9.23pm
R4 – Belconnen to Tuggeranong
- Mon – Fri: last bus to Tuggeranong now 10.32pm, previously 11.33pm
- Mon – Fri: last bus to Belconnen now 10.41pm, previously 11.48pm
R5 – City to Lanyon
- Mon – Fri: last bus to Lanyon now 10.34pm, previously 11.57pm
- Mon – Fri: last bus to City now 10.44pm, previously 11.29pm
R7 – Weston Creek to City
- Mon – Fri: last bus now 10.34pm, previously 11.39pm
- Sat: last bus now 12.01am, previously 12.30am
- Sun: last bus now 9.01pm, previously 9.30pm
R8 – Gungahlin to Belconnen
- Mon – Fri: last bus now 10.43pm, previously 11.56pm
