Canberra residents are embracing their public transport with new data revealing the best patronage numbers for the first week of school since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Celebrating the travelling milestone, the Minister for Transport and City Services, Chris Steel said early figures showed that buses and light rail recorded more than 234,500 passenger journeys between 30 January and 3 February.
“This represents a patronage return of 77 per cent compared to journeys taken in the same weekdays in 2020 and 87 per cent of journeys taken in the same week in 2019,” Mr Steel said.
“This is nearly 75,000 more journeys for the same first week of the school year in 2022 where we recorded 159,602 passenger journeys on our public transport network, an increase of approximately 47 per cent,” he said.
“Passenger boardings increased by 42 per cent with more than 323,209 boardings on bus and light rail services compared to the 228,259 passenger boardings that were recorded in 2022.”
Mr Steel said the Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate was actively encouraging Canberrans to return to public transport to continue growing patronage in the years ahead.
He said this was essential for cutting the ACT’s emissions and keeping the city moving.
“The current timetable prioritises frequent and reliable services so that it is a great alternative to driving, helping to reduce congestion on our roads during major construction works this year,” the Minister said.
“I want to thank our community coming back onto public transport, adjusting to the new ‘disruption timetable’ and to those who are already making changes to their routines to help reduce pressure on our roads.”
