The new network and school information about route services has been published on Transport Canberra and will give Canberrans more buses, more often, seven days a week.

We’ve listened to the community’s feedback and made a number of updates to the bus network. We’ll also introduce a range of services to support customers to use it thanks to the community’s suggestions.

You can check out a high-level summary of feedback we’ve received in the What We Heard report or read through the detailed Consultation Report with a breakdown of what happened during consultation.

For more information on the new network, school, and regional bus changes, check out the Transport Canberra website.

How you had YourSay:

Thank you to everyone who took the time to provide feedback and input on the New Bus Network for Canberra over Phase 1 and Phase 2 consultation.

To develop a new network for Canberra, there have been two rounds of consultation:

• Phase 1 – in 2017 we asked for your experiences of Canberra’s public transport network through a survey, interactive map and community events.
• Phase 2 – in 2018, following on from Phase 1, we wanted to know how we can best support Canberrans to use the proposed New Bus Network through a survey, focus groups, and talking to people at community meetings, bus interchanges and schools.

The significant and unprecedented responses from the community over Phase 1 and 2 speaks to the important role our public transport network plays in the daily lives of Canberrans.

For more information on feedback and ideas received during consultation, you can check out a high-level summary in the What We Heard report or read through the detailed Consultation Report.

We are looking at:

We’re getting ready for a city of 500,000 people by 2030. To support our growing population the ACT Government is delivering an integrated transport network with buses working alongside light rail to get Canberrans and visitors where they want to go.

We want Canberrans to be better connected.

Currently only eight percent of the population use a bus to get to work. The new network will be designed to get more people using Transport Canberra’s integrated public transport network.

The proposed bus network was created based on what we heard in Phase 1 in late 2017 about what you wanted from your bus network. Through that conversation we heard some key themes:

• we want buses to come more often
• we want services to be more reliable
• we want buses to run for longer hours across seven days-a-week
• we want to have faster journeys times.

From Phase 2 consultation, we heard:

• support for more frequent buses and services that run into the evenings and on weekends
• people want to feel safe when using public transport
• they had questions about some students having to change buses on their way to school
• you want more information on school services to prepare for the new network
• ‘Xpresso’ users are concerned the removal of single seat crosstown Xpresso services will make travel times longer
• people want more information on how the buses will run and an improved journey planner.

Our overarching goal is to provide a better, connected rapid transport network that will benefit all Canberrans, their families and visitors to the ACT – now and into our long-term future.

Your views are being used to:

We’ve heard your concerns and we’re making changes to help ensure the network works for as many people as possible.

Your ideas are helping to shape passenger and other transport initiatives that can make travel on the New Bus Network attractive, practical and accessible for more Canberrans.

A full timetable will be published later in the year before the network starts early in 2019. Canberrans will be encouraged to give ongoing feedback through the Transport Canberra website to help the timetable continue to evolve.

Project updates:

For updates on the new bus network timetables and to provide ongoing feedback check out the Transport Canberra website or Transport Canberra Facebook and Twitter.

Community feedback

The extensive bus consultation from June to August 2018 has heard that Canberrans support more frequent bus services that run into the evenings and on weekends and they want to feel safe when using public transport. People also detailed a number of concerns about changes that were proposed to individual routes, as well as changes to Xpresso services and dedicated school bus services.

More than 13,000 pieces of feedback over the two month consultation period were received to help Transport Canberra shape its new network of more buses, more often, seven days a week according to the detailed Consultation Report released 16 October 2018 and the What We Heard report released 20 September 2018.

You can check out a summary of the consultation that highlights the themes and feedback received in the What We Heard report.

Community Councils

Conversations took place with the Community via regional roadshows, community council briefings and targeted sessions with key stakeholders.

Discussions and feedback provided have been collected and are available for you to view: