The ACT should have hired more bus drivers to maintain off-peak services during a period of disruption caused by light rail infrastructure works, a government backbencher has said.
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The Greens' Jo Clay said she was disappointed the government had not recruited enough bus drivers to maintain the weekday services and improve the weekend timetable.
"I'm really worried about people who rely on our off-peak services. Those who move around the suburb or from one town centre to another, those who visit friends or have medical appointments or take late-night shifs, they all rely on this network," Ms Clay said.
"We need to look after everyone. We particularly need to look after vulnerable Canberrans who need the bus to access daily life."
A 2023 bus timetable was quietly released on Monday, which revealed cuts to weekday service frequency and cuts to late-night services. The weekend timetable will remain the same.
Seventy bus drivers have been hired in the ACT since May, with a recruitment drive continuing to attract more staff to the government-run bus service.
Ms Clay said she was glad next year's timetable maintained reliability and services for routes at peak travel times.
Transport Minister Chris Steel on Thursday said the government had been up front about the need to adjust the timetable to account for delays on the road network caused by large-scale construction in the city centre and works at Woden.
Mr Steel said very few people caught late-night services during the week, and everyone - from public transport users to motorists - would need to consider changes to their routine during the light rail disruption period.
The government would consider whether it could increase the number of bus services in the second half of next year, Mr Steel said.
"We're currently operating the same network that we have been during COVID, the interim timetable, so the extra journey time has not been built into the network and so with this first stage of disruption, we have seen delays on services and that's not what we want to see next year, because reliability is key to making sure people know when buses are arriving and that they can rely on them to get around the city," he said.
"We have to factor that in to the timetable. We were up front about that in October, that we had to accommodate that extra time for bus journeys and that has had flow-on impacts to the way that the timetable has been designed to make sure we've still got peak frequency."
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However, Mr Steel in October said the service would move back to a "full timetable" in 2023.
"As we move into a new phase of the pandemic, our focus continues to be on reliability," Mr Steel said on October 4.
"Whilst those workforce shortages may not be as acute, we've been taking a significant amount of work, preparation and planning to deliver a full timetable that will fully utilise all of the workforce that we have, including new drivers and also the bus fleet."
The government did not in October provide any indication the number of weekday services would need to be cut to cope with delays on the road network and Mr Steel did not say, when asked on Thursday, when he became aware cuts would be required.
Mr Steel thanked Canberrans for their patience in adapting to the extra congestion on the ACT's roads in the first fortnight since the southern end of London Circuit and ramps into the city were shut.
Transport officials reduced the number of weekday services to account for additional travel time through the city, which added up significantly over the length of a driver's shift.
"[This] means we get less services to be able to run with the same number of drivers and the same number of buses," Transport Canberra executive group manager Judith Sturman said on Tuesday.
Ms Sturman also said there had been no public notification of the timetable's release on Monday because the public would not remember the information over the Christmas period.
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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.
