Transport Canberra has made history by exceeding its 2017–18 bus patronage target by more than half a million boardings.
Minister for Transport and City Services, Meegan Fitzharris announced the record result, saying tertiary students were largely driving the boom in public transport use.
“New figures from Transport Canberra show there were a record 18.94 million bus boardings in 2017–18, exceeding the target of 18.4 million by over 500,000 and topping last year’s figure by over 600,000,” Ms Fitzharris said.
“Of the 18.94 million boardings, 39 per cent were on our popular Rapid services — up from 32 per cent in 2016–17.”
She said the proposed new bus network — now open for consultation — would provide more Rapid routes and better services across weekends, delivering more of the services that were so popular with existing and new bus passengers.
“It’s also great to see that this increase has been driven largely by growth in tertiary student trips, with an increase of 13 per cent over the previous year, with 360,000 additional trips,” Ms Fitzharris said.
“Tertiary student trips have increased by more than 60 per cent in the past five years, from just over 2 million in 2012–13 to almost 3.3 million in 2017–18.”
The Minister said Transport Canberra had continued to invest in bus network design, fleet and infrastructure to offer commuters a quick and easy way to get around and ensure Canberra remained one of the most liveable cities in the world.
