ACT bus and light rail trips fall in Canberra lockdown

Figures from Transport Canberra revealed public transport use in the week after the lockdown was announced has gone down 80 per cent compared with the same week in 2020, and down 89 per cent on 2019 levels.

Between August 13 - the first full day of the lockdown - and August 19, there were 50,392 trips made on public transport, with a little more than 42,000 of those being bus trips while the remaining 8000 were light rail trips.

That's compared with 261,556 total trips in the corresponding week in 2020 and 467,883 trips made in 2019.

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Transport Minister Chris Steel said Canberrans were doing the right thing during the lockdown.

"We continue to ask that people use public transport for essential purposes only and to please not travel if they're feeling unwell," Mr Steel said.

"It's really important that Canberrans continue to use the Check In CBR app on board all services. If people don't have access to the app, we ask that they travel with a registered MyWay card or keep good travel records."

Public transport trips between August 13 and 19:

It comes as data from Google has shown movement in the ACT has declined rapidly in the wake of the lockdown restrictions.

Mobility data, based on location information, revealed a 59 per cent drop in Canberrans going to retail locations, as well as restaurants, cafes and recreational venues, compared with regular levels.

The Google data goes up until Sunday, August 15, the third full day of the ACT's second lockdown.

Mobility at workplaces in the ACT has gone down by almost 40 per cent, while mobility around the city's public transport fell 75 per cent in that time.

In a sign that Canberrans are following the health orders and staying at home during the lockdown, mobility around residential locations has increased by 17 per cent.

Canberrans heading out into park areas, which also include national parks, dog parks and public gardens has also fallen by 25 per cent, despite a slight uptick just after the lockdown was announced.

People going to supermarkets, food stores and pharmacies have also had a dramatic drop of 21 per cent from baseline levels.

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However, the mobility data also showed how much Canberrans were racing to the shops to panic buy last week when the lockdown measures were first announced.

Movement around supermarkets increased by more than 40 per cent during the panic buying frenzy, before the mobility fell sharply below the normal levels.

Mobility data has been used by Google since the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020.

The baseline data used for the mobility was based off the median values in the five-week period between January 3 and February 6 in 2020.

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