ACTION Buses achieves service benchmark

[Buzz Killington]

Media Release - Katy Gallagher MLA

ACT Chief Minister and Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Katy Gallagher, announced today that ACTION buses achieved its benchmark target of 99.5% of scheduled bus services for February.

This means that 68,504 out of 68,818 scheduled services successfully ran.

"ACTION's service delivery has consistently been at or above 99.5% since July 2011, which is a great result," the Chief Minister said.

"I am pleased that we have seen improvements in ACTION's service reliability over the past year with the number of cancelled services dropping from 1079 in February 2011 to 314 in February 2012.



"Service reliability is of course one of the major factors in attracting people to use public transport so I am delighted we have been able to provide greater certainty to passengers," the Chief Minister said.

In February last year ACTION's service delivery fell to 98.4%, largely due to a higher than average number of driver retirements and resignations. This left a staff shortfall which has been overcome with increased recruitment efforts. As a result ACTION took on 84 new drivers last year which has helped see ACTION's service delivery improve progressively.

Information on ACTION's service delivery is now placed on their website each month in keeping with the ACT Government's commitment to Open Government.

"ACTION will continue its focus on recruitment to ensure that it has the required numbers of bus drivers to deliver its services to the community," the Chief Minister said.

"When services do have to be dropped due to a bus break-down or lack of driver availability, ACTION will work to ensure these are on runs that are shortly followed by another bus.

"Improving Canberra's public transport services is one of the ACT Government's highest priorities and we have invested significant funding to ensure continued improvement over the coming years.

"The bus replacement program to meet accessibility targets and improve the comfort and customer experience on board an ACTION bus is just one major project we are undertaking to improve service delivery and reliability," the Chief Minister concluded.

The service performance information is available at www.action.act.gov.au.