![Transport Minister Chris Steel, pictured in October 2022. Picture by Sitthixay Ditthavong Transport Minister Chris Steel, pictured in October 2022. Picture by Sitthixay Ditthavong](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/35sFyBanpD896MKnAH5FRtj/59162a97-2571-441c-ab74-732f99e7aa2e.jpg/r0_79_3238_1899_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Canberra's public transport fleet will continue to grow, but buses are bigger and can now take more passengers than they did three decades ago, the Transport Minister has said.
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Chris Steel defended the size of the public transport fleet on Monday, after Greens backbencher Jo Clay last week pointed out the fleet was larger in 1990 than it was in 2022.
"Importantly what has happened over time is that the buses themselves have increased in capacity; they're much larger than they were two or three decades ago," Mr Steel said.
"That has meant we have had to make changes to the way we design bus depots as well, to make sure we can fit those larger capacity buses, including articulated buses, to carry more people more efficiently around the city."
Mr Steel also said the government was working to bring back passengers to public transport after the COVID-19 era, sidestepping a question of why the government's target for boardings was lower than the 1980s.
The government expects 19.9 million boardings on public transport in 2022-23. In 1985, there were 24 million boardings on public transport in the ACT.
Mr Steel said light rail vehicles could carry four times the number of passengers as a bus and a new depot due to be built at Woden would have the capacity for another 100 buses.
There were 479 buses in the ACTION fleet in 1990, when Canberra was around 282,000 people.
The latest Transport Canberra and City Services annual report shows there are 456 buses, 23 fewer than in 1990, despite a population of more than 456,000 people.
The ACT government is waiting on the delivery of new low-emissions diesel buses and has placed orders for more battery electric bus models.
A Renault PR100.2 Mk2, the oldest bus type still in service in the ACT, can seat 43 and has capacity for 26 standing.
A SCANIA-K320UB Bustech VST, introduced in 2017, can seat 48 passengers and has capacity for 20 people standing.
An articulated bus can seat about 63 people and have more than 40 passengers standing. The Renault PR180.2 articulated buses, withdrawn from service about a decade ago, could seat 69 passengers.
A CAF light rail vehicle can seat 66 people and has capacity for 141 passengers standing.
Mr Steel wielded a sledgehammer at the Woden Bus Interchange on Monday morning to mark the start of its demolition.
The interchange will be razed to make way for a Canberra Institute of Technology campus and combined transport interchange.
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Public Transport Association of Canberra chair Ryan Hemsley, who also took a swing with a sledgehammer at the interchange, said the best time to demolish it was 20 years ago.
"The second best time is today," Mr Hemsley said.
Mr Steel said the new temporary interchange - with shelters created from shipping containers - was working well and transport officials had received positive feedback from the community.
"I think that contrasts exactly with what we've got here in the current old interchange: it's a very concrete, cold and uninviting space that can feel unsafe at times," he said.
A performance report last week showed ACT public transport patronage was 16 per cent lower than forecast in the last six months of 2022.
There were 8.38 million boardings across public transport in the six months to December 31, 2022, compared to a target of 9.95 million.
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