Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Shane Rattenbury, today thanked all the early birds in Canberra who participated in the trial of a $1 early bird bus fare.
“Today was the last chance for commuters to take advantage of the $1 MyWay fare for catching a bus before 7.30 am on weekdays, with the eight week early bird trial wrapping up this morning,” Mr Rattenbury said.
“I would like to thank everyone who participated in the trial and caught an early bus to work or study over the last two months.
“More than 1,000 extra passengers travelled on an ACTION bus before 7.30 am each week across the duration of the trial. This meant that passengers were more evenly spread over all our bus services making the bus journey less crowded during the peak period. Hopefully some of these passengers will continue travelling at this earlier time.
Mr Rattenbury said he would particularly like to thank commuters who completed a passenger survey.
“The passenger surveys help ACTION understand what services are most important to Canberrans. Whilst the initial response to the discount was very strong, when the cold weather hit the number of extra passengers declined.
“Passenger feedback, along with data from the MyWay system, will be used to evaluate the trial and will influence future policy around fares and services, including whether to offer an early bird fare on a more permanent basis.
“This was the first of many new public transport initiatives to be rolled out across the ACT this year. Network 14, NXTBUS and a new booking system for community transport are on their way to make bus travel even more convenient and accessible for the Canberra community,” Mr Rattenbury concluded.