Canberra's light rail and bus network: who is using it and who isn't

Greens' transport spokeswoman Caroline Le Couteur said an overall increase in patronage was cold comfort to those living outside the "privileged light rail area" of Gungahlin to Civic.

The government data, released in answers to questions on notice, compares average passenger numbers across Canberra's public transport system in June 2018 to those of June 2019.

It showed a 7 per cent increase in weekday passengers, much of which could be attributed to large increases in Gungahlin and central Canberra.

It showed fewer people caught public transport on weekdays in Woden (-5 per cent), Belconnen (-2 per cent) and Tuggeranong (-5 per cent) this June.

Weston Creek appeared to be the only major winner outside of the north since the shake-up, with a 9 per cent increase in weekday passengers.

The transport network was overhauled in late April when light rail launched.

The government says the new hub and spoke model streamlines Canberra's bus network, funneling commuters into major interchanges and rapid routes.

But some services and stops have been axed as a result, forcing passengers to walk further to catch a bus.

The network added many more weekend bus services and while weekend use of transport is up across the board, the government has struggled to deliver many promised services due to driver shortages.

Ms Le Couteur told the ACT Legislative Assembly she was shocked to see the figures.

She said everyone deserved a decent public transport service, regardless of where they lived.

"The interesting thing is that all of these places where things have gone up has come at the cost of other areas," Ms Le Couteur said.

She said the government's justification that overall patronage had gone up was "cold comfort" to most people outside of the "privileged light rail area".

"One of the reasons for the problem is we have totally changed how our bus network works. We have finally implemented a hub and spoke methodology," Ms Le Couteur said.

"I suspect that in the long run this is actually what we need to do - that's for the rapids.

"While we do this we also have to maintain a viable service for the people for whom the rapids don't work,"

Ms Le Couteur said it was clear weekend bus services had been a big success, even if the government had struggled to run all the services promised.

Transport Minister Chris Steel said Canberrans had been "flocking" to the new rapid bus services.

"The government also recognises that Canberrans living in different parts of our city need different things from our network," he said.

Mr Steel said the government listened to residents in the outer suburbs during the consultation period and made changes to the bus network.

He claimed the numbers showed Canberrans in every district and every suburb were seeing benefits since the light rail network opened.

Liberal Mark Parton said people in outlying suburbs had been let down by the government.

"They are absolutely ropeable over the disdain that has been show to them in regards to the bus network changes," he said.

"Bus network changes in Tuggeranong have been decimated."