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The ACT bus network will undergo more changes from April this year following months of commuter complaints. The changes will see the capacity of school bus routes increased and the number of weekend services boosted. It comes as last year's timetable overhaul attracted strong criticism from Canberra residents, after many services were cut. More frequent services will run between Woden and the city under the changes, and new local services from Tuggeranong and Woden as well as Gungahlin to Belconnen have been added. A new route will be added connecting Barton and Russell from Woden and Civic. The changes will come into effect on April 28, the first day of term two for school students. The new timetable is expected to be unveiled by mid-March. READ MORE: ACT Transport Minister Chris Steel said the tweaks were made in response to community concern about the bus network overhaul. However, he did not concede the government was wrong to overhaul the network last year, which was due to the arrival of light rail. "I always said from day one we would monitor the implementation of the network and look at the data and make changes," Mr Steel said. "This won't address every single issue but it does address the key issues about [last year's bus timetable overhaul], and it will encourage more people to use public transport. "We've already made 136 tweaks to the network and these changes are more substantial and will address key issues from the community, and these changes will be welcomed." More than 3000 pieces of community feedback have cited issues with the network since the April 2019 overhaul. Among the key issues were cuts to some dedicated school bus services and weekend reliability issues with some Saturday and Sunday services cancelled due to a lack of drivers. Mr Steel said $1.48 million would be spent to recruit an extra 43 bus drivers to help reliability on the weekend. The government has hired 87 new bus drivers since the new network was unveiled. The government said weekend reliability was at almost 100 per cent in recent months following a suite of changes made last year in response to the bus-driver shortage. Mr Steel said further announcements about school services would be made in March, following talks with school communities and students. "We're working with school communities to make improvements with capacity issues," Mr Steel said. "We didn't want to start these changes on day one of term one, which is why we're waiting for term two to effectively communicate with students and families about the changes. ACT opposition spokeswoman for transport Candice Burch said while the changes were welcomed, finer details about the changes were yet to be revealed. "These changes are simply fixing problems that the government created," Ms Burch said. "The government could have foreseen every single one of the problems with the current bus network, and never should have let these problems eventuate. "Questions remain about driver availability and reliability for weekend shifts. The minister is yet to confirm whether dedicated school bus services will return." The opposition has promised to reinstate dedicated school bus routes if it wins the territory election this October. The government says since the new network was implemented last April, there has been a 7.1 per cent increase in journeys on public transport.

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