Transport Minister Chris Steel: “We are about to enter a very exciting period for public transport in Canberra.” Photo: Ian Bushnell.
Bus and light rail travel will be free from 20 September when the transition to the new public transport ticketing system kicks off.
Transport Minister Chris Steel today (5 September) announced the switchover date to MyWay+, which is expected to take at least six weeks.
Mr Steel said that after significant progress over the past few months in the design, development and testing of the new MyWay+ system, installation could commence.
“This includes removing the existing MyWay equipment on board buses and installing the new MyWay+ validators both in buses and along the light rail alignment,” he said.
As well as the old MyWay system being switched off, the NXTBUS real-time systems will also no longer be available from Friday, 20 September.
This includes onboard buses, at bus stops and stations, and the SMS service, but timetable information will still be available online and at major stops and interchanges.
Next stop information will still be available for light rail, onboard and at stops.
Mr Steel said system testing would also take place with over 200 Canberrans providing feedback on the new system and its journey planning functionality.
Bus and light rail services will continue to operate as per the scheduled timetable and frequency, however people will not need to pay during the transition period to MyWay+.
“A fare-free travel period has been planned as part of a ‘hard switchover’ to the new MyWay+ system,” Mr Steel said.
“We made this decision early on to avoid confusion for the public of having two systems in different states of commissioning and decommissioning.”
He said the fare-free travel period, in which passengers would no longer need to tap on and off, would provide the community time to prepare for the change and encourage people to try bus and light rail travel as part of their daily commute.
Mr Steel urged Canberrans to register their existing MyWay card.
He said that in the past few weeks, several thousand cards had been registered, but there were still some unregistered cards.
“Registering your card only takes two minutes and will make it much easier for you to transfer your balance or request a refund once MyWay+ goes live in November,” Mr Steel said.
“We are about to enter a very exciting period for public transport in Canberra.
“MyWay+ will seamlessly integrate buses, light rail and real-time information to get you where you need to be. Powerful journey planning, live service updates and more ways to pay will put the power of public transport in your hands.”
The government says the easiest way to plan your trip is by using the Transport Canberra Journey Planner or referring to timetable information. Visit Transport Canberra for updates and further information.
Original Article published by Ian Bushnell on Riotact.
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