Page 1340 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 12 May 2021
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COVID-19 has also changed working and social habits in ways that continue to affect people’s transport needs and choices. More Canberrans are working from home or in adapted, flexible modes, which can make the car seem like an easier choice than using public transport.
The pandemic is not over, but there are strong signs that Canberra’s recovery is underway. Canberrans will progressively be vaccinated throughout the second half of 2021, and local businesses, shops and services are gradually returning to their pre-COVID rhythms. This means that it is time to step up our efforts to encourage people back onto public transport in a safe and sustainable way.
Our goal is to return public transport patronage to its pre-pandemic levels and keep growing it in the years ahead, as health advice indicates that it is safe to do so. This is essential for cutting Canberra’s emissions and keeping our city moving as we grow. The ACT Transport Recovery Plan will drive the government’s strategy to encourage Canberrans back on board buses and light rail when the time is right by harnessing lessons learnt during the pandemic, setting us up for a future where more people choose public transport.
It has been a rough journey over the last year for public transport in Canberra, across Australia and around the world. Before the pandemic struck, patronage had been growing, and there had been a huge start to the year in 2020. In the first three weeks of term 1 we had seen an increase of more than 10 per cent in the number of journeys taken across the ACT compared with the same period in 2019.
But then the pandemic hit. Immediately, based on health advice, Canberrans were directed to reconsider their need for non-essential travel on public transport. People were encouraged to use public transport only if absolutely necessary, and to travel off-peak in these circumstances. It was a huge shock to the system. Journeys across the bus and light rail network fell by almost 87 per cent from February to April last year. While these numbers are confronting, we welcomed them at the time as it meant that Canberrans were doing the right thing by their community.
We took a range of steps to make sure that those who were still on board—both our passengers and our drivers—were safe. This included moving to cashless ticketing, stepping up cleaning, asking people to enter via the rear doors of buses and blocking off seats to maintain physical distancing.
The falls in patronage were mirrored in other cities around Australia and the world more generally. Many governments responded by cutting back services as a way to contain costs in the face of falling revenues. I am pleased to say that here in Canberra we actually did the opposite. We stepped up light rail services to run every five minutes in the morning and added 692 extra bus services. Weekday bus services actually increased by more than 17 per cent.
That was last year; where are we now? Fare box revenue is through the floor—down $9.3 million this financial year, or around 40 per cent. We have a vaccine rollout that is proceeding at a different pace to what was originally expected, resetting everyone’s
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