Media Release – Katy Gallagher MLA – Released 17 April 2012
ACT Chief Minister and Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Katy Gallagher, said one year on the MyWay ticketing system on ACTION buses has proven to be a resounding success.
The MyWay smartcard ticketing system went live on 11 April 2011.
"MyWay makes it easier and cheaper for the vast majority of bus travellers to enjoy bus travel," the Chief Minister said.
"Passengers now have access to a wider range of payment options including autoload (direct debit), BPAY, online, cash, credit card and EFTPOS. Payment via autoload or BPAY attracts a 5% discount on bus fares.
"The MyWay system has also proved to be very reliable and averages over 300,000 bus trips per week, while providing valuable data on the travel patterns of our bus users which will be used to help build future networks.
"While other jurisdictions like Sydney and Melbourne faced a range of issues with the rollout of similar smartcard ticketing technology, we have been fortunate to only have minimal teething issues. This is as a result of the hard work of ACT Government staff in rigorously testing the system before it became live and then working to ensure the implementation has gone smoothly.
"I would also like to thank the Canberra community for so readily embracing this new technology and for their commitment in remembering to tag on and off. Over 98% of people are tagging off which means they access discounted MyWay fares while also providing travel data."
The Chief Minister said the Government is committed to exploring other possibilities for the system and is currently investigating options to have MyWay cards enabled to access bike and bus storage cages.
For more information on the MyWay system, including details of the two MyWay Centres in Belconnen and Civic and the 18 MyWay recharge agents located throughout Canberra, please visit www.transport.act.gov.au
If only she knew/spoke the truth!
That would require her actually using public transport.
What was untrue? The system is far more reliable than what it replaced. But yes, it could have been done better (especially top up options).
If route56 were to use twitter, he would know that @KatyGMLA has been known to catch a bus now and then - she even dropped in on a depot one morning.