Transport Canberra will reduce the number of bus services next year because of traffic congestion caused by light rail roadworks, officials admitted on Tuesday.
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The 2023 timetable was quietly released on Monday with no public notification because "people won't remember" the changes over the Christmas period, an official said.
Transport Canberra executive group manager Judith Sturman acknowledged there would be fewer services and said the timetable had been designed around expected disruption from London Circuit works and the Woden Canberra Institute of Technology construction project.
"That doesn't mean that we won't bring [services] back as soon as we're able to. That's certainly the intention," Ms Sturman said.
The opposition's transport spokesman, Mark Parton, said the cuts were a slap in the face to Canberrans who relied on the bus for day-to-day travel.
"What this demonstrates quite clearly is that the Labor-Greens government has no ambition to get more Canberrans using public transport," Mr Parton, whose party has vowed to stop light rail to Woden if elected in 2024, said in a statement.
Timetables published by the ACT government show there would be 25 fewer outbound R5 services between Lanyon Marketplace at the city on weekdays, with the last service to run at 10.44pm instead of 11.29pm.
The opposition said there had been significant cuts to routes 18, 24, 32, 41, 43, 54, 55, 59, 62, 63, 66, 73, 78 and 79. Cuts to late night services during the week would also make it harder for workers to get home after 8pm, the opposition said.
The level of weekend service will remain the same, but the government hopes ongoing bus driver recruitment will allow for an expansion of those services next year.
Transport Canberra released the timetable, which will run from January 30, on its website on Monday. Ms Sturman said schools had been notified of the changes. A holiday period timetable will operate with fewer services from December 19.
"With Christmas in between, mostly people won't remember - and this is from evidence that we've had in the past - that if you give people information too early, then they won't retain it when they need to use it in term 1, which is almost February," she said.
Ms Sturman said slight delays to the arrival of 12 electric buses had not forced the government to reduce the number of services. The buses have arrived in Australia but have not yet entered service, she said.
"We've got the same number of vehicles and pretty much the same number of drivers also," Ms Sturman told The Canberra Times on Tuesday.
"But because we've actually got to put in longer journey times - and that's longer journey times on a lot of buses - that means those buses are travelling further and the whole timetable needs to adjust to marry up those services.
"[This] means we get less services to be able to run with the same number of drivers and the same number of buses."
Ms Sturman said the new timetable had been designed to meet the travel needs of most passengers and would be reviewed next year.
"We do see that people generally still use their cars and so we try to encourage, obviously, people to use public transport by providing as many services as we can across the day," she said.
"If you can walk out and your bus arrives as timetabled, then that's ticking a very big box. When we talk about some reductions in frequency, that obviously means the buses are further apart to catch, but the important thing is that they arrive, and they're reliable and people can plan their journeys.
"That's really what we're aiming for: [that] is where most people want to travel, provide the frequency and still a good level of service where not so many people are travelling."
Ms Sturman said the new network would add a service to Lawson and improvements to school services and better access to the Amaroo shops.
"We would really encourage people to try public transport because there is plenty of capacity for people in the peaks, as well as off peak, to get around," she said.
Transport Minister Chris Steel in October announced the full bus timetable would return in time for term 1 in 2023, following an extended period of a reduced timetable implemented to manage COVID-related absences among bus drivers and other staff.
The interim timetable was first introduced during the lockdown in August 2021 and has run in a modified form since January 31, 2022.
"Our focus has always been on reliability. We delivered reliable bus services during the pandemic - that's why we had an interim timetable in place while we've had some workforce impacts," Mr Steel said at the time.
"As we move into a new phase of the pandemic, our focus continues to be on reliability."
The ACT government established a disruption taskforce in July 2021 to manage congestion related to light rail, including encouraging commuters to "rethink their routines".
"This could include using public transport or active travel if it's viable, changing how you drive to work, or adjusting your travel time to avoid congestion," Mr Steel said at the time.
Mr Steel was contacted for comment on Tuesday but enquiries were directed to transport officials.
An ACT government spokesman later provided a statement to media which said light rail works disruption, not staff levels or the bus fleet, was the underlying cause for the service cuts.
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"There have been minimal changes to bus services during peak periods, when most of our customers travel, and we have maintained a minimum of 15 minute service frequency on all rapid bus services during the day until 7pm," the spokesman said.
"Disruption associated with construction of major infrastructure projects is the main driver of changes to the timetable, not staff or buses. 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.
"The government's focus is on the reliability of the network during the disruption period and we will consider uplift in services in the second half of 2023 once we have monitored the impact of the most disruptive period of works.
Public Transport Association of Canberra chair Ryan Hemsley on Tuesday said it was disappointing the government had released next year's timetable with no warning or consultation.
"People plan their lives around these timetables. When changes are made, and especially when service cuts are proposed, a silent drop on the website doesn't cut it," Mr Hemsley said in a statement.
"Public transport users deserve to be told how their travel will be affected by these changes and why these service cuts are occurring."
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Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
