Canberrans will enjoy free public transport from September 20 with Transport Canberra switching over the existing system to MyWay+ which is expected to take at least six weeks.
"Over the last few months significant progress has occurred in the design, development and testing of the new MyWay+ system," said Minister for Transport Chris Steel.
"We are now at the exciting point where system installation can commence. This includes removing the existing MyWay equipment on board buses and installing the new MyWay+ validators both in buses and along the light rail alignment.
"System testing will also take place with over 200 Canberrans providing feedback on the new system and its journey planning functionality.
"To enable these critical activities to take place the current MyWay and NXTBUS real time systems will no longer be available from Friday 20 September."
Bus and light rail services will continue to operate as per the scheduled timetable and frequency, however people will not need to pay during the transition period to MyWay+.
"A fare free travel period has been planned as part of a 'hard switchover' to the new MyWay+ system. We made this decision early on to avoid confusion for the public of having two systems in different states of commissioning and decommissioning," said Minister Steel.
"This fare free travel period will provide the community time to prepare for the change and encourage new users to try bus and light rail travel as part of their daily commute."
Key changes taking place from Friday 20 September 2024:
- The old MyWay ticketing system will no longer be available. Travel on buses and light rail will be free. Customers will not be required to tap on and off during this fare free travel period.
- NXTBUS will no longer be available. This includes on board buses at bus stops and stations as well as the SMS service, however timetable information is available online and at major stops and interchanges.
- Bus services will continue to operate to the scheduled timetable. Where possible, static timetable information be available at bus stations.
- Light rail will continue to operate to the scheduled frequency. Next stop information will still be available for light rail (onboard and at stops).
