Bus information issue 'magically resolved' but communication needs to be better: advocacy group

A public transport advocacy group has slammed Transport Canberra for unclear communication around an issue impacting real-time information about its bus services.

The Government’s NXTBus system was down on Friday (3 March) evening, but the Public Transport Association of Canberra (PTCBR) claims it wasn’t until they “kicked up a fuss” that anything was done to rectify the issue.

The group issued a public statement on Tuesday (7 March), after which chair Ryan Hemsley said the issue was “magically resolved” at 9:45 pm that night – four days since the matter was first raised and hours after their public statement.

“All the third-party apps [which used the data] were down,” he said.

“Unless all the third-party apps managed to simultaneously get back online at the same time, this is really frustrating.”

When questions about PTCBR’s statement were sent to Transport Canberra, a spokesperson said it was made aware of a connection issue which was resolved by the Saturday (4 March) morning.

“Online resources about public transport information were still available on the Transport Canberra website,” they said.

They were also aware of an issue impacting information on third-party apps, which it had been investigating with its supplier.

“Transport Canberra provides data access to third-party developers to create apps for mobile devices, offering a convenient planning option for passengers,” the spokesperson said.

“None of these apps are owned, developed or authorised by Transport Canberra.

“Transport Canberra takes no responsibility for the reliability or completeness of these, or other third-party software.

“Transport Canberra have been advised late [Tuesday, 7 March] evening by third-party app providers that they are no longer experiencing issues.”

Mr Hemsley said no such explanation had been given to him.

“It’s frustrating, this lack of communication from Transport Canberra,” he said.

“There weren’t any publicly available notices [about the issue] … we didn’t hear this explanation about the NXTBus providers until we kicked up a fuss.

“It took public commentary for anything to happen.”

The apps were still able to display real-time information about light rail and Queanbeyan services.

Mr Hemsley said while Transport Canberra was not responsible for the operating of third-party apps, it shouldn’t have said the issue was resolved until all people could access the information again.

“They need to have more proactive communications, it was clearly not resolved on Saturday for the myriad of apps that used [the NXTBus data],” he said.

“In the future they need to be more upfront and clearer about what’s happening.”

The Transport Canberra spokesperson said people experiencing issues with real-time passenger information or through third-party apps could head online or call 13 17 10.

This isn’t the first time Transport Canberra has been accused of not clearly communicating with the public.

The Government drew criticism when its 2023 bus timetable was quietly released at the end of last year.

At the time it was accused of dropping the changes online “without warning” or consultation.

Meanwhile the ACT Government recently announced a contract had been signed for the long-awaited new public transport system, MyWay+.

Mr Hemsley said the Government still needed to make sure the old system was operating effectively in the meantime.

“Passengers rely on this information to plan their journeys and interchanges, and to know whether their bus has been cancelled,” he said.

Mr Hemsley said it was not acceptable for the system to be “out for an extended period of time like this”.