Media Release: Gary Byles, 17 September 2015
Director-General of Territory and Municipal Services, Gary Byles, today announced that ACTION’s weekday timetable changes scheduled to commence from Monday 12 October 2015 will now be deferred. The weekend timetable revisions will, however, proceed from Saturday 17 October 2015.
“The new timetable was largely in response to a requirement, determined by Fair Work Australia, to introduce a 10 minute break for drivers who drive for a period greater than three hours,” Mr Byles said.
“During the final detailed shift and bus allocation process, it was found the new timetable could not be implemented due to an increase in the number of buses that would be required. Unfortunately when designing the timetable the necessary checks did not fully take into account the impacts of the new driver break.
“As a result, ACTION will be undertaking further work in consultation with staff to determine the best course of action to address the 10 minute break issue.
“I would like to apologise to the Canberra community for any confusion caused and hope to have the situation resolved as soon as possible.
“I have asked ACTION to ensure further checks and balances are implemented when designing future bus timetables and networks.
“ACTION is committed to providing a service that meets the expectations of customers and staff. Proceeding with the weekday timetable change would introduce an element of risk to service delivery that would be unacceptable.
“The current weekday timetable that was introduced in May the year is operating well, and will continue to operate until an alternative solution is found.
“ACTION will be able to introduce the announced changes to the weekend timetable to include the 10 minute breaks. This timetable will commence as planned on Saturday 17 October. These changes are expected to result in improved running times, which will ensure the change benefits both customers and drivers. Further details of the weekend timetable changes will be made available on the ACTION website (www.action.act.gov.au) shortly.
“ACTION is committed to improving public transport and to utilising the data we receive through the MyWay and NXTBUS systems to build the best possible service offering. It is critical the next iteration of the ACTION bus service is another progressive step forward for public transport.”
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