Commuters ran into trouble trying to catch the tram in Dickson on Monday morning, with vehicles packed full as Canberrans embraced the new system of transport but struggled to negotiate a transformed bus network.
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Buses no longer run down Northbourne Avenue but are funnelled to the Dickson interchange.
Under a new "hub and spoke" model, commuters are finding themselves having to change buses at interchanges, not only in Dickson, but also in the city, Woden and elsewhere.
Commuter Anthony Crook said he had to wait while two packed trams passed at Dickson before he could catch a tram to the city interchange, such was the crush.
"I don't know whether there's enough capacity for people, but otherwise the tram's fast once it gets going," Mr Crook said.
"We used to drive half the time and commute on the bus the other half."
At the city interchange the commute appeared to go relatively smoothly.
Parents were negotiating the route with their children, many of whom have lost their dedicated bus to school and must now catch public transport, switching buses at the interchange.
Several parents in the city said it had added time to their children's trip to school.
Adam Herbst has two children aged 10 and 12 at the Rudolf Steiner school in Weston, who now have to negotiate the city interchange on their daily trip to school from Ainslie.
He said the new buses from Ainslie to the city would add 20 minutes to the journey to school each day.
"They now have to walk further from a bus stop to the school," Mr Herbst said.
"We drove in here today early to beat the traffic."
A Belconnen parent whose child caught a school bus directly to Daramalan last term was doing a trial run on Monday through the city interchange. The student now has to catch a public bus and change in the city.
The parent said it would take twice as long for her child to travel home in the afternoon under the new network.
"I reckon half the grandparents in Canberra could have done a better job with organising the bus system," the parent said.
"A lot of parents aren't happy about it, we used to have a great bus that now doesn't even exist."
The changes greatly affected the school commute for Sharon Dikmans' son Alex, who has autism spectrum disorder, post traumatic stress order and anxiety.
Ms Dikmans said Alex, who is in year 6 and goes to Macquarie Primary School, said after getting used to travelling on the old network, the changes to the bus route to and from school were disruptive.
"We were reaching goals and then the bus routes changed and now we've taken a step back," Ms Dikmans said.
"A small change is significant for him. Even changing the numbers on the bus routes is confusing."
The change in routine and the bus network has caused great anxiety for Alex, Ms Dikmans said, with the new buses also taking longer to get to school and back.
"His sister has had to step in to a carer role to help him navigate the changes at the bus interchanges, which is a big responsibility," she said.
"He now has to wait 20 minutes just to get his first bus after 3pm."
David, who is blind, now has to cross Northbourne Avenue, with the bus stop numbers changed, to catch his bus to the south side.
His commute now takes an extra 20 minutes.
"They renumbered every platform here in Civic, so I had to get special orientation so I could navigate the interchange by myself," David said.
"My buses to Woden now go on a different route, and it's adding more time and less convenience."
At Woden, there was "confusion" rather than chaos as commuters navigated the changes.
Transport Canberra staff in high-visibility vests were on hand on Monday to help people find stops and work out their new route.