The Minister for Transport, Chris Steel has announced that adjustments are to be made to weekend bus timetables while Transport Canberra continues its recruitment drive for more bus drivers.
Mr Steel said the reliability of weekend bus services had not met community expectations or the expectations of the Government.
“We have been reviewing the implementation of the new network to determine if tweaks were needed,” Mr Steel said.
“To improve reliability of bus services on the weekend, the Government will be making adjustments to the weekend bus timetable while we continue to work on actions to recruit more bus drivers and deliver expected services on the weekend.”
He said it was intended to keep the most popular elements of the new transport network, including services which started early and ran late.
He said frequent ‘rapid’ services and weekend services which run on the same route and same number as the weekday services were likely to remain.
“While Transport Canberra is still working on the weekend timetable adjustments, it is likely that local route buses will run less frequently, up to every 2 hours,” he said.
Mr Steel said Transport Canberra was continuing to work on a plan to improve the reliability of weekend services by recruiting more drivers.
“A key action is that Transport Canberra has now moved to a rolling recruitment campaign for bus drivers, rather than just once a year.”
He said 12 new drivers had recently commenced their training program, while another 16 trainees would start their courses in the coming weeks.
“I encourage anyone interested in becoming a bus driver, particularly on the weekend, to contact Transport Canberra,” Mr Steel said.
