What social media is saying about Canberra's new public transport network

Unfortunately for Transport Canberra, a lot of the commentary which played out over social media was well and truly against the schedule change. So much so that out of the more than 200 comments on The Canberra Times Facebook page, there was just one comment supporting the new timetable.

"The increased frequency gives me a lot more options throughout my day and is much better on the weekends, I'm all for it. People have to be willing to embrace change," Douglas J Robinson posted.

Meanwhile, everything from cancelled services, lack of bus stops and increased travel time were called out by social media users, many of which who were parents concerned about their children's commute.

"Thanks to the new bus system, my son has to walk 20 minutes to the bus stop to catch his bus, then to come home he has to travel to the Belconnen bus interchange and then take another bus," Elushka Gunatunga Scheumann commented on The Canberra Times Facebook page.

"His school bus was full in the mornings all this time, so the route was well utilised by students. All changes are not for the best. Should have kept the old routes; light rail is not even close to us and increased ticket prices."

Beck Schwarz also commented, saying: "My kids were late to school because the first two buses were full, third was inaccessible (one is in a wheelchair), so of course they missed connecting buses and the next two were inaccessible. And they pre-planned their bus route and connections. And this was after walking 15 minutes to the closest bus stop. Nice mess they (Transport Canberra) have made of it."

Commuters, such as Alex Elliott, were concerned that new routes were unrealistic and longer than previous routes.

"The bus that came past my place of work is no longer. The nearest stop is now a 26 minute walk along the side of a narrow 80 km/hr road. There are no footpaths and often lots of snakes around. Would like to see (Minister for Transport) Meegan Fitzharris do this every day especially on those very hot or very cold/rainy days. And this is what the current government calls improving customer service."

Andrew Webber added: "Kambah commuters (largest suburb in town) have been given an extra long journey by all being diverted to Coolaman court and then through more Hindmarsh Drive peak hour traffic each morning to get to Woden. So an extra 15 to 20 minutes.

"The idea of the new plan was to get commuters to a main hub to catch a fast bus or tram more quickly. This is not the case for Kambah residents with both main routes having journey time extensions. Both buses follow the exact same route for the last 10- 20 minutes of the journey if one went straight to Woden and used Kambah pool road as an exchange the other could still follow a longer journey past schools to Coolaman court and other people still get quickly to Woden."

Other Canberra Times Facebook followers were predicting an increase of cars on Canberra roads because of the change, which, as Sharee Schultz commented "defeats the whole purpose of encouraging to use public transport".

"100 per cent there will be more cars. My three kids are going to look into buying cars now. Getting to work, uni, and school has become a nightmare," Joh Letitgo Hodge added.

"My teenagers didn't even care to get their licenses because they were able to use the bus system easily enough. Now all three are getting licences and cars. So much for having more people use public transport. And for anyone saying we are just whinging and we can walk or ride bikes just a little bit further - you try getting to early morning classes at University of Canberra from Calwell. Even the simple trip to the Bogandome (Tuggeranong Hyperdome) has become a two bus trip. And the light rail doesn't help us in the slightest. Oh and the buses this morning to get to work were 10 minutes late."

Twitter was as equally supportive of the new network, although, at times did manage to find some humour in the situation.

@Bus400 said: "We should give Canberra's new bus network a bit more love. Now my 80 min drive home from one end of Sydney looks better than some people's bus commute home across only half of Canberra."

While @SpinnerGrace tweeted: "We are all equal in Canberra today. Equally confused at the new bus timetable."