An ACT Legislative Assembly report into the troubled rollout of the MyWay+ public transport smart ticketing system has identified widespread failures in project management, planning, and communication.

The inquiry was launched on 9 December 2024 after public backlash over the $64 million launch, which “created uncertainty and stress amongst Canberrans who rely on public transport”, the Legislative Assembly noted when setting up the inquiry.

On the first day, users reported glitches, including QR codes not scanning, credit cards failing to scan when tapping off, app issues, ticket validators not working, and a shortage of MyWay+ cards after retailers quickly ran out of stock.

The Standing Committee on Environment, Planning, Transport and City Services was tasked with inquiring into the system’s procurement and delivery. At the time, the Assembly noted that the system was not fully functional when launched in late November; that pre-launch testing was inadequate; that launching it at one of the busiest times of the year was a mistake; and that customers were potentially being overcharged.

The report, tabled today, found that the government had decided to go live despite stakeholders pointing out that MyWay+ was “clearly not ready for launch”; that community testing “was undertaken so poorly that it was almost meaningless”; and that Transport Canberra officials failed to take security vulnerabilities and data breaches seriously, and told the committee there was no basis for these concerns.

It further stated that the government “lost the trust of public transport users by promising basic features, like real-time tracking that were not delivered at launch”.

It also found that MyWay+ did not meet accessibility standards for people with disabilities, and that the government did not provide senior Canberrans with adequate services or information.

Committee chair Jo Clay MLA (ACT Greens) said that the MyWay+ rollout was “unique in that the aspects that did not go to plan took place in full public view, as they happened”.

The inquiry received 109 submissions and held four public hearings and two in-camera sessions. At each public hearing, Ms Clay said, the committee “heard of new problems and issues with the MyWay+ system”.

“The level of community engagement, and the almost unanimously negative feedback, received by the Committee is a clear sign of the deep public impact that MyWay+ had in the ACT,” Ms Clay said.

“Project management and service delivery failed at many key points, and further inquiry is likely to lead to more findings of failure.”

The Committee’s report makes 22 findings and seven recommendations that aim to embed lessons from MyWay+ into future digital projects, through “stronger oversight, clearer accountability, and transparent public reporting”.

“The problems raised during this inquiry point to systemic shortcomings in the planning, governance, and delivery of large-scale digital projects,” Ms Clay said. “These issues must be addressed.”

The ACT Government must formally respond to the inquiry’s findings within four months.

Chris Steel censured

The ACT Greens moved a censure motion — the Assembly’s first successful censure motion in 15 years — against transport minister Chris Steel MLA, backed by the Canberra Liberals and independent MLA Thomas Emerson, arguing that the rollout constituted “a significant failure to manage a complex digital project”.

Greens transport and democracy spokesperson Andrew Braddock MLA said: “This damning report shows systemic failures of the MyWay+ rollout under the Transport Minister’s watch…

“Those in charge of the MyWay+ rollout were wholly unprepared, releasing a less-than ‘minimum viable product’ without regard for the Canberrans who rely on this service every day. They turned a blind eye to community members raising significant deficiencies and feedback with MyWay+, and demonstrated a significant lack of appropriate risk management.”

Mr Braddock said Mr Steel must be held accountable for his lack of leadership.

“While the report speaks to failures at many levels, it is clear that these issues were raised with the Minister on multiple occasions, and he failed to address them appropriately. And ultimately, the buck stops with him…

“The Transport Minister must accept responsibility for this plagued rollout and work to deliver the world-class ticketing system he promised Canberrans, which we’re still waiting for.”

The Canberra Liberals backed the censure motion against Mr Steel. Opposition leader and shadow transport minister Leanne Castley MLA — who initiated the inquiry last year — described the report as “absolutely damning”.

“There have been failures every step of the way, and one man is ultimately responsible: the Minister for Transport,” Ms Castley said.

“Has there been any internal accountability of the Minister by the Government? Has the Minister been subject to any form of adverse action by the Chief Minister or his colleagues? Remarkably, it seems the answer is no.”

Ms Castley also criticised Chief Minister Andrew Barr for failing to hold Mr Steel to account for “three high-profile, high-cost scandals: the $77 million HRIMS failure, the CIT corruption scandal, and the MyWay+ fiasco”.

“The Assembly is leading, and ensuring accountability, when this is actually the responsibility of the Chief Minister,” Ms Castley said. “If the Chief Minister continues to protect his ministers when he should step up and hold them accountable, we will be moving and supporting more censure motions in the future.”

Independent MLA Thomas Emerson supported the Greens’ censure of Mr Steel. He said the committee’s report confirmed what many Canberrans already knew: that MyWay+ had been “a catastrophic failure”.

“While public servants are tasked with implementing government policy and providing advice to the Executive, the ultimate responsibility for the MyWay+ failures lies with the Minister,” Mr Emerson said.

Mr Emerson was concerned that in the same year the ACT Government had announced a new 10-year Disability Strategy, Mr Steel had presided over the rollout of a system that breached disability discrimination laws at both the ACT and Commonwealth levels. 

 He urged the government to reconsider its refusal to strengthen the Ministerial Code of Conduct to ensure ministers are accountable for major failures in their portfolios.

Steel takes responsibility, but rules out resignation

Speaking to media, Mr Steel said:

“I accept responsibility for the issues experienced with the MyWay+ ticketing system since its launch, and also the fixes that have been put in place to address the issues immediately after launch, and the continued improvements that we’ve been making with the contractor NEC to make sure the system provides a better user experience.”

Pressed repeatedly on whether he would apologise or step down, Mr Steel said he would not resign.

“My focus and responsibility is on continuing to make improvements to the system,” Mr Steel said. “The system is functional. It’s delivering the things that we set out to deliver.”

Mr Steel conceded that “a greater period of user testing prior to launch … might have prevented some of the issues experienced on launch day”.

“With the benefit of hindsight, a later launch might have provided opportunities to address some of the issues experienced on launch day, and a further period of user testing could have also provided greater feedback about some of the issues that could have been prevented prior to the launch day, but we have a ticketing system that will deliver the functionality that Canberrans expect over the 10 years of the contract.”

Mr Steel said the government would work closely with contractor NEC to improve the system and user experience.

He has established an accessibility reference group to oversee fixes, while a new agency, Digital Canberra, will strengthen the public service’s capacity to deliver large ICT projects and implement the committee’s recommendations on risk and project management.

Public Transport Association

The Public Transport Association of Canberra (PTCBR) welcomed the release of the report, saying it confirmed that MyWay+ was launched when it was not ready for public use and in non-compliance with accessibility requirements.

​“This report details a project that ignored community advice and failed to deliver on basic requirements,” PTCBR chair Dr Amy Jelacic said. ​“As PTCBR has said repeatedly, Canberrans just wanted a simple and reliable public transport ticketing system.”

PTCBR said the report was in line with what PTCBR had consistently heard from the community: that the community user testing undertaken was so disorganised as to be “almost meaningless”, and that the system was launched with basic features missing.

PTCBR is pleased to see that the Inquiry centred the experiences of ordinary Canberrans, Dr Jelacic said.

“Public transport systems must be intuitive, user-friendly, and accessible, and the Inquiry’s report unfortunately reveals many points of failure here.” 

​Dr Jelacic called on the ACT Government to commit to implementing the report’s recommendations in full — including project management reform focused on accessibility compliance, and showing a passenger’s card balance on the validator screen.

​“PTCBR commends the authors of the report on a thorough document that sets out a complex issue in a fair and impactful way — and sets a clear path for positive change to ensure the ACT Government can successfully deliver major projects in the future,” Dr Jelacic said.

“PTCBR will be watching closely to ensure this report leads to timely further improvements to the MyWay+ system, and more broadly, that it leads to meaningful change at Transport Canberra.”