news, act-politics, canberra, weekend bus drivers, klaus pinkas, transport workers union, new public transport network, act government, network 19

The Transport Workers Union has called for Canberra's weekend bus timetable to be pared back, after nearly 150 buses were cancelled due to driver shortages. But the ACT government said the cancellations amounted to just 4 per cent of the services scheduled over the weekend. One of the biggest selling points of the ACT government's controversial new public transport network was that weekend bus services would be bumped up, in exchange for Canberrans walking further and changing modes of transport more often. But on its first weekend of operation, Transport Workers Union ACT secretary Klaus Pinkas said "a significant number services were dropped over the weekend". "To sum it up they were scrambling," Mr Pinkas said. The Canberra Times understands fewer than 150 of the 3721 scheduled services were cancelled. All timetabled services could have gone ahead if 18 more drivers volunteered to work both Saturday and Sunday. The union warned the government six weeks out from the start of the new network there would not be enough drivers to carry out all the weekend services planned. While the territory employs nearly 760 bus drivers, staff must volunteer for the overtime shifts under current arrangements, of which there are 147 more due to the network redesign. The government tried to introduce mandatory weekend work during last year's enterprise bargaining agreement negotiations, but walked away from the proposal to head off potential strike action which could have threatened the launch of the new network. Asked about the threat of cancellations last week, Transport Minister Meegan Fitzharris said she was "confident" drivers would "do the right thing by the Canberra community" and put their hands up for the extra shifts. But Mr Pinkas said it was a "big ask" given the hours drivers were already doing. "We had people working 10 hours on Saturday and eight on Sunday as well as working full-time during the week. There are legal limits on what they can drive and just to cover that huge increase in work on weekends is proving to be problematic," Mr Pinkas said. Mr Pinkas said the frequency of bus services should be reduced to a more manageable level in order to guarantee the reliability of the network, at least until more drivers could be recruited. "Full marks for trying to increase services, we are always for increased services, but there's been a little bit of lack of foresight," Mr Pinkas said. A week ago, Mr Pinkas said the government should not make any kneejerk changes to the network in response to criticism from the public. Mr Pinkas said while it was a "big call" to make a judgement on the weekend services one week in, Transport Canberra needed to "reassess" how it approached the Saturday and Sunday services. "I'm a lot more confident the issues on the weekdays will be ironed out, the weekends are problematic," he said. An ACT government spokeswoman said while they were recruiting more bus and light rail drivers, it was not a shortage of drivers that caused the weekend cancellations but a shortfall in volunteers. She said the union had promised during the enterprise agreement negotiations all weekend shifts would be fully staffed, and the transport directorate expected them to make good on that. "The Transport Workers Union have committed under the terms of the recently agreed [enterprise agreement], to ensure that all weekend duties are covered at all times," she said. "We look forward to continuing to work with the TWU and their members to help ensure they deliver on their commitment and help us deliver a seven day network for Canberrans." She also disputed the union's assertion that a "significant" number of buses had been cancelled. "Overall reliability was good, and whilst it was just short of the total service level, we were able to respond proactively to spread cancelled services across high frequency services to reduce the impact on passengers," she said. "We expect more certainty in delivering scheduled weekend services as we bed down the new network." Canberra's new public transport network has had a tumultuous start, with reports of overcrowding and confusion as commuters adjust to the transformed timetable. The government spokeswoman said they were working to manage demand on some routes by putting on larger buses and increasing the frequency of light rail services during peak times. "Last week was the first week of a big change and we are taking on board all of the feedback received from both current and new users. Some of the issues that have been brought to our attention around passenger capacity or timeliness of services are already being followed up as a priority," she said.

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc756582fmipj2ck7o2cy.jpg/r11_17_4989_2829_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg