Transport Planning in Canberra

HomeTransport in CanberraTransport Planning in Canberra

PTCBR supports an integrated public transport network for Canberra, with high-capacity light rail connecting our town centres supported by frequent suburban feeder bus services. We believe such a network is best placed to serve the current and future transport needs of our nation’s capital, as it grows to a population of half a million and beyond in the years and decades ahead.

When the first stage of Canberra’s light rail network commenced operations in April 2019, over one million bus kilometres were made available from buses that previously serviced that corridor. As future stages of light rail are rolled out, more bus kilometres will be redirected towards providing frequent feeder services right across the city.

Current bus routes and timetables can be found at the Transport Canberra website.

Historical bus information can be found at the ACTBus website.

Canberra’s Transport Future

Since the days of the Griffin Plan for Canberra, corridors have been preserved in our city’s urban fabric for use by high-capacity, fixed-route public transport. From the 1970s onwards, these corridors have formed the inter-town public transport network which runs between each of Canberra’s town centres.

After a decade of lobbying by ACT Light Rail, the ACT Labor Government announced that if returned at the 2012 ACT Election, it would build the Capital Metro light rail along the inter-town public transport route between Gungahlin and Canberra’s City Centre. This policy was supported by the ACT Greens and strongly opposed by the Canberra Liberals.

Following the re-election the ACT Labor Government in 2012, and with support from the ACT Greens, rapid progress was made in preparing a business case, reconfiguring government transport agencies and signing contracts to construct and operate the first stage of light rail between the City and Gungahlin. This approach won endorsement from the community at the 2016 ACT Election, during which it was announced that the second stage of light rail would extend across Lake Burley Griffin to Woden.

In addition to planning and constructing the first stage of light rail, the ACT Government developed and released a Light Rail Network Plan in 2015. This plan built upon the 2012 Transport for Canberra strategy, which was itself informed by the 2009 ACT Strategic Public Transport Network Plan by MRCagney. Both reports derived their frequent routes from the inter-town public transport corridors that had been in place since the 1970s.

You can read more about Canberra’s transport strategies below.

Recent transport planning studies

ACT Strategic Public Transport Network Plan 2009

Transport for Canberra 2012

Moving Canberra 2019-2045: This was a draft strategy circulated for consultation, but never formally adopted by the ACT Government.

ACT Transport Strategy 2020

Zero Emissions Transition Plan 2020

ACT Transport Recovery Plan 2021

ACT Transport Recovery Plan Refresh 2022

Transport Canberra Style Guide: Not a planning study as such, but one for the design geeks. A gorgeous work, sadly not all of it has been implemented.

Can Bus 2017
SCANIA-K320UB Bustech VST
Rapids
Canberra’s Rapid Bus and Light Rail Network (July 2020)