Catching Public Transport in Canberra

HomeTransport in CanberraCatching Public Transport in Canberra

Getting around

Transport Canberra provides light rail and bus public transport services all around Canberra. There are:

  • rapid routes (including light rail) which leave every 15 minutes or better, connecting major centres
  • local routes connecting suburban locations to interchanges at Gungahlin, Belconnen, Dickson, City, Woden, Weston Creek, Erindale and Tuggeranong. These usually leave every 30 minutes during weekdays, and less frequently on weekends.

Since August 2021, Transport Canberra has been operating on a reduced timetable, with fewer services. PTCBR is campaigning for the ACT Government to bring back more frequent services, particularly on weekends.

Tickets and fares

All Canberra public transport works on the “one fare, anywhere” principle. It is a single fare for any journey, including any connecting services within a 90 minute period, and buses and light rail have the same fares. There are also discounts for:

  • students, concession card holders and seniors
  • off-peak and weekend travel (for all passengers)
  • daily and monthly caps.

Full details of fares are available from Transport Canberra.

The cheapest and easiest way to get around Canberra is with a MyWay card, which automatically calculates the cheapest fare for you and applies daily/monthly caps. Just remember to tap on and tap off at the start of each trip, otherwise you’ll be charged the more-expensive cash fare.

Since March 2020, all fares have been pre-paid only, either by using a MyWay card, or buying a cash fare at vending machine (at interchanges and all light rail stops).

Apps and journey planning

With apps and live GPS tracking, it’s never been easier to plan and track your public transport service.

The Transport Canberra journey planner and Google Maps both make it easy for you to plan your trip. Just enter when and where you want to go, and they’ll plot out a journey for you. Sometimes advanced transport users think they know better, but it’s pretty reliable!

Transport Canberra makes all its timetable and journey data available to app developers. This means there’s a good range of Android and Apple apps out there, many of which can tell you exactly where your bus is at any given time. AnyTrip (Android) and NextThere (Apple) are some of our faves, but everyone has their own preferences.

Don’t have an app? NXTBUS.act.gov.au is the ACT Government’s web app for helping you find out when your bus is going to arrive. Enter the number of your bus stop (on the yellow and blue sign), or find it using the map, and you’ll get a list of the buses arriving in the next 90 minutes.