[ABC Online] Canberra buses go MyWay + Bus stop bungle

[Barry Drive]

From ABC Online:

Canberra's bus network ACTION is hoping for a smooth transition to automatic ticketing on its buses from today.

The long-delayed rollout of the $8 million My Way scheme began this morning, although the first two weeks of operation will be restricted to senior cardholders.

Paul Peters from Territory and Municipal Services says the system is expected to be available to all users from March 7.

"With any of these systems that are being introduced we can expect some technical issues but as far as we're aware we've done the trial, we've addressed everything that's come up so far," he said.

The new smartcards are pre-paid tickets that users load credit onto which is then automatically deducted with each journey made.

Passengers must present their My Way ticket to a card reader as they get on the bus and then again as they get off.

"It gives us planning data. Because people tap on and off on the bus we actually get information about people's travel patterns and that'll allow us to plan a better system in the future," Mr Peters said.

Before the new system, a single journey cost $4 but that is now $2.52 for My Way users. There is a daily cap of $7.60 and lower fares for off-peak, weekend and public holiday travel.

"The My Way system's based on a flat fare structure with daily and monthly caps. We've set those fares at levels that are either the same or less than what you pay at the moment and most people should be financially better off," Mr Peters said.

Casual bus travellers using cash will pay higher fares.

Bus stop bungle

Meanwhile, Roads ACT says it will look to improve its processes after it spent about $5,000 upgrading several bus stops that are no longer used.

The ACT Government is halfway through a two year, $1 million program to upgrade 700 bus stops.

Roads ACT director Tony Gill says the department gave ACTION a list of bus stops to check against its routes before doing the upgrades.

But he says despite that, about five inactive stops have been upgraded.

"We're always looking to try to improve how we deliver a service so when there is some misinformation about an active bus stop we are concerned because we are conscious about using public money," he said.