Light rail celebrates millionth boarding as minister rebukes backbencher's NCA claims

It came as Transport Minister Chris Steel rebuked claims from his Labor MLA colleague Bec Cody that the National Capital Authority was holding stage two of the project back.

He said the government had received positive feedback from the authority about its plans to split stage two into two projects.

Passengers on the 9am tram arriving at Alinga Street were greeted by an announcement they were the millionth passengers on the network and given a $20 MyWay card.

Mr Steel said people had been taking up public transport in a way never before seen in Canberra since the light rail launch in April.

The millionth boarding milestone had come much earlier than expected, after an average 14,500 people used light rail each day.

"We weren't expecting to see these kind of numbers until 2021 according to the business case of the first stage," Mr Steel said.

Since the completion of free travel, weekday journeys across the whole transport network to June 30 had increased by 6.1 per cent compared with the same time last year and weekend journeys had increased by 32.7 per cent.

Boardings are counted every time a passenger taps on to a service, while a journey can include multiple bus or tram services.

There has been a 32 per cent increase in the number of people starting their journeys in Gungahlin compared with same time last year.

"Patronage growth in the inner north has also been very strong, with light rail now accounting for 20 per cent of all passengers on Transport Canberra services, and we expect this number to continue to grow as the urban renewal projects along the corridor are completed " Mr Steel said.

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He said he didn't agree with Labor backbencher Cody's comments that the National Capital Authority was doing everything it could to block stage two from progressing.

Light rail stage 2 would cross at the Commonwealth Bridge and go through the Parliamentary Triangle, meaning it would need more complex approvals from the authority and need to pass Federal Parliament.

"That's not my view and that's not the government's view," Mr Steel said.

"We'll work constructively with the National Capital Authority to bring light rail down to Woden and across the lake and through the Parliamentary Triangle.

"We know that in relation to the referral we have made to the Commonwealth we've seen some very positive reaction from the National Capital Authority about splitting stage two into two parts.

"We've had a very good relationship with the NCA which has informed the referral we've put forward."