Canberra's bus and light rail drivers, mechanics and support staff, have maintained a safe and fully operational timetable for public transport services throughout the pandemic.
"This is group of people who have been quietly and proudly delivering the important services that our community has relied on during the pandemic, and they deserve our thanks," Minister for Transport Chris Steel said.
"While there's been less people using public transport, each journey has been important to keep our society functioning and Canberrans moving."
Transport Canberra has seen a daily average of 8,873 journeys for the first week of term two*. This is a decrease of around 85% when compared to the first week of term two 2019** which saw the average of 66,766 journeys. The decrease since mid-March is due people working from home and taking heed of the ACT Government's direction to only use bus and light rail services for essential travel.
"We are now starting to see some Canberrans returning to public transport, which we are monitoring closely," Minister Steel said.
"There is a very real benefit for everyone, but particularly those travelling on public transport, to download the COVIDSafe app, so that you know if you've been in close contact with anyone on board with the virus.
"Health and safety is paramount and we'll continue to be guided by the AHPPC on safety on public transport," Minister Steel said.
9793 journeys were taken on the network on Monday 28 April 2020, our busiest day since the end of March.
Extra cleaning has been implemented at bus and light rail stations as well on-board vehicles. Precautions have also been taken to protect our bus drivers such as no longer accepting cash payments and only allowing rear door boarding except for those with mobility difficulties. Social distancing is also being encouraged on board.
"We've brought on 30 new people from within the wider transport industry to fill new positions, including the delivery of increased cleaning services on our bus fleet. These jobs will help Canberra stay afloat by ensuring people have jobs, while keeping our public transport network services running at the regular timetable so essential workers can get to and from work," Minister Steel said.
"The ACT Government has been working closely with union representatives from the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and the Transport Workers Union (TWU) during this time to ensure the wellbeing of workers is at the forefront of Transport Canberra's response to COVID-19.
"We're looking at how social distancing and other measures can be promoted on public transport as more people start travelling, but we are still asking Canberrans to reconsider the need to travel at this time."
Minister Steel said that Transport Canberra had started planning for the recovery and measures to support more people safely returning to public transport in the future, once restrictions are lifted.
"Canberrans have been able to rely on public transport during the crisis, because we've been delivering the same services week in week out on buses and light rail.
"We are in a much better position than many other cities having delivered constant reliable services throughout the pandemic to support more people back on to public transport once restrictions are eased at an appropriate time."
