Transport Minister Chris Steel said the changes would make it easier and more convenient to use Canberra's buses and light rail.

The changes would also offer flexible payment methods and an app providing improved real time travel information.

Mr Steel said the government had begun a procurement process to find a provider but could not say whether it would be by public tender.

It's also unclear when the ticketing system would come into effect, but the government said more information would be available when the procurement process ended towards the middle of the year.

"We want to make it as easy as possible for people to take a ride on Canberra's public transport system and a good ticketing system is really important to improve the transit experience," Mr Steel said.

"The current MyWay ticketing and NXTBUS real time information systems have been in place for some years now and are outdated.

"Many Canberrans have been to other cities around the world where it is much easier to use public transport than it is here because of modern ticketing systems."

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Mr Steel said the new ticketing system would allow travellers to tap on and off their bus or light rail fare using their credit card.

It would also include flexible payment options including with their phones, travel cards, and other options.

He said this will also make it easier for visitors to Canberra to travel on our public transport, without needing to buy and load money onto a MyWay card.

"Currently travellers need to purchase and top-up a MyWay card where the money is stored on the card itself rather than an account linked to the person, which is not flexible and causes problems like lost cards," Mr Steel said.

"We've heard from public transport users that they want better real time information to inform their travel plans.

"A new app will include reliable real time travel information and updates with GPS data allowing travellers to check details of their connecting services. These capabilities will improve the way people travel around our city."

Transport Canberra and City Services has commenced a procurement process for the new ticketing system.

NSW slowly rolled out the use of credit and debit cards to tap on and off from 2017.

It was rolled out across the whole Opal ticketing system by September last year.