ACTION

This article is about an Australian bus operator. For the U.S. government agency, see ACTION (U.S. government agency). For other uses, see Action.

Custom Coaches bodied MAN 18.320 in January 2011
Founded 1926 (1926) by Federal Capital Commission as Canberra City Omnibus Service
Commenced operation 19 July 1926
Headquarters ACTION House, 200 Scollay Street,
Greenway
Locale Canberra
Service area
Service type Bus services
Stops
  • ANU Bus Station
  • Barton Bus Station
  • Belconnen Community Bus Station
  • City Bus Station
  • City West Bus Station
  • Cohen St Bus Station
  • Erindale Centre
  • Gungahlin Bus Station
  • Kippax Centre
  • Tuggeranong Bus Station
  • Westfield Belconnen Bus Station
  • Woden Bus Station
Lounge Westfield Belconnen
Depots
  • Belconnen
  • Tuggeranong
  • Woden
Fleet 422 (November 2015)
Annual ridership 18m (2012/13)[1]
Operator Territory and Municipal Services Directorate
Chief Operating Officer Bren Burkevics
Website www.action.act.gov.au

ACTION is a bus service operator in Canberra, Australia.

History

Ansair bodied Renault PR100.2 on Commonwealth Avenue Bridge in June 2009
Wright bodied Dennis Dart laying over at Woden Interchange in 2009
Custom Coaches CB60 bodied Irisbus Agora Line at Gungahlin Town Centre in January 2010
Custom Coaches bodied Scania K320UB at City Bus Station operating a route 200 Red Rapid service in July 2012
Custom Coaches bodied K360UA in Wagga Wagga in September 2012

On 19 July 1926, the Federal Capital Commission commenced operating public bus services between Eastlake (now Kingston) in the south and Ainslie in the north.[2]

The service was first known as "Canberra City Omnibus Service", but it has had a number of names over the years, including "Canberra City Bus Service", "Canberra Omnibus Service" and "Canberra Bus Service". On 14 February 1977, it was renamed as the "Australian Capital Territory Internal Omnibus Network", or ACTION for short.[2]

As part of the move to ACT self-government, responsibility for ACTION passed from the Federal Government to the ACT Government in 1989.

Corporate Structure

As at November 2015, ACTION is a business unit of the Public Transport Division of the Territory and Municipal Services Directorate of the ACT Government. On 27 October 2015, Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory Andrew Barr announced the establishment of Transport Canberra, which will commence from 1 July 2016.[3] This new agency will combine the Public Transport Division and Capital Metro Agency to manage all public transport operations within the ACT.[4]

Current routes

ACTION operates two separate networks of bus routes; one on weekdays and the other on weekends and public holidays. The latest change to weekday routes and timetables occurred on 18 May 2015 and for weekend routes and timetables on 17 October 2015.

Blue Rapid

Blue Rapid services provide a high-frequency link between the City and the bus stations at Belconnen, Woden and Tuggeranong town centres. Blue Rapid services consist of the 300 series routes (300, 313, 314, 315, 316, 318, 319 and 343) on weekdays and route 900 on weekends and public holidays.

Blue Rapid route 300 operates between Kippax and the town centres; the remaining weekday blue rapid services operate through suburbs in Belconnen or Tuggeranong and then continue along the trunk (or common) route to the four town centres.

On weekends and public holidays, route 900 travels between all stations as well as the Erindale Centre. Some route 900 services on Saturday service only Woden, City and Belconnen.

Red Rapid

Red Rapid Route 200 is a limited stop weekday service between Gungahlin Town Centre, Northbourne Avenue, City, Russell Offices, Barton and Iron Knob Street, Fyshwick (at the Canberra Outlet Centre). In the evenings, the service commences and terminates at the Canberra railway station, rather than Fyshwick.

Regular route services

ACTION's regular weekday services operate either as feeder services to a single town centre or connect two or three town centres via suburban streets.

During weekends and public holidays, ACTION provides a reduced level of service with most suburban routes operating with an hourly frequency.

Xpresso

Xpresso routes operate during weekday peak hours to provide direct links to the City, Russell Offices, Barton, Campbell Park and Airport Business Parks or direct services between Town Centres bypassing the City. These services are designed to reduce the travel time for commuters. Xpresso services are numbered 712 - 792.

Other peak services

Other weekday peak hour services operate as an extension to existing route services. These routes are numbered in the 1** and 2** series (where the ** represents the regular route service number). The 100 series routes travel along the Blue Rapid trunk route between Woden and City Bus Stations. The 200 series routes travel along the Red Rapid trunk route between Gunghalin Bus Station and Canberra Railway Station. The exception is route 202 which is a nonstop route starting at Gungahlin and finishing at the City bus station. It operates only during the morning peak hours.

School services

School services are provided by ACTION to schools and colleges throughout the ACT. These are numbered in the 401 - 699 and 800 - 899 ranges.

Special needs transport

ACTION also operates the special needs transport division which provides transport for school students with a disability. This division is operated using a dedicated fleet of wheelchair-accessible minibuses.

Flexible bus service

The Flexible bus service operates on weekdays to provide a free, basic bus service to passengers with limited access to normal public transport options.[5] Six services operate daily providing a pick up service in the morning from designated suburbs to shopping centres and hospitals, with return services operating in the afternoon.

These bus services are operated by the special needs transport minibuses.

Ticketing

Cash fares

There are four cash fare options on ACTION:

Concession tickets are available to school students, full-time tertiary students, seniors card holders and various government concession card holders.[6]

Pre-paid fares

The pre-paid ticketing system operated by the ACT Government is known as MyWay.[7] It uses contactless smart cards with MIFARE-Technology onto which credit is loaded. Passengers are required to 'tag on' when boarding the bus and 'tag off' when exiting, at which point the appropriate fare is calculated and, if required, deducted from the stored value on the MyWay card.

The MyWay system uses Parkeon software and equipment including Wayfarer 200 consoles[8] and Axio card readers.[9] The system was built and installed by Parkeon's Australian distributor, Downer EDi.[10] Instead of being developed from scratch, MyWay was adapted from Transperth's SmartRider system which also uses Parkeon hardware and software.[11][12]

Current fleet

As at November 2015, ACTION's route service fleet consisted of 422 buses, as follows:[13]

Make Model Body Type Air con Notes Number in service
Renault PR100.2 Ansair Metro[14] step entrance rigid, Diesel ✓ Branded as Macks 96
Renault PR100.3 Austral Denning Starliner[15] step entrance rigid, Diesel ✓ 34
Dennis Dart SLF Wright Crusader[16] low-floor rigid, Euro II Diesel ✓ 8
Irisbus Agora Line Custom Coaches CB60[17] low-floor rigid, Euro II Diesel ✓ ✓ ✓ 19
Scania L94UB Custom Coaches CB60[18] low-floor rigid, CNG ✓ ✓ ✓ 54
MAN A69 18.310 HOCL-NL Custom Coaches CB60 Evo II[19] low-floor rigid, CNG ✓ ✓ ✓ 16
MAN A69 18.310 HOCL-R-NL Custom Coaches CB60 Evo II low-floor rigid, Euro IV Diesel ✓ ✓ ✓ 2
MAN A69 18.320 HOCL-NL/E5 Custom Coaches CB60 Evo II[20] low-floor rigid, Euro V Diesel ✓ ✓ ✓ 87
Scania K320UB 6x2*4 Custom Coaches CB60 Evo II[21] low-floor rigid tri-axle (steerable-tag), Euro V Diesel ✓ ✓ 26
Scania K360UA 6x2/2 Custom CB80[22] low-floor articulated, Euro V/EEV Diesel ✓ ✓ 33
Scania K320UB 4x2 Custom CB80 low-floor rigid, Euro VI Diesel ✓ ✓ ✓ 77 of these vehicles have been ordered.[23] 47

Bicycle racks have been fitted to the front of 84% of the buses in the fleet. Each rack can hold two bicycles. Passengers may load a bicycle onto the rack for free, but must pay a regular fare to travel on the bus.[24]

Apart from buses with all over advertising or special designs, ACTION's fleet sport either a blue, orange and white livery (Renault and Dennis buses) or a green, orange and white livery (all other buses).

ACTION's Special Needs Transport division operates a fleet of eighteen Fuso Rosas minibuses.[13] These buses are white in colour and do not operate on route services.

ACTION also operate Toyota Hiace Commuter and Hyundai iMax vans which can be used to transport passengers, Hino Dutro trucks used by mechanics to attend broken down buses and a single Mack tow truck.

ACTION's heritage fleet consists of a 1949 AEC Regal III[25] and a 1961 AEC Reliance.

Current infrastructure

Depots

Belconnen Bus Depot in November 2009

ACTION operates three depots:

Bus Stations

Belconnen Community Bus Station in January 2011

ACTION operates five bus stations, which act as hubs for the districts of Canberra.

City Bus Station is located on East Row, Mort Street and Alinga Street with peak services departing from Northbourne Avenue. Limited local access is permitted on Mort and Alinga Streets, while East Row is a bus-only street. Woden and Tuggeranong Bus Stations are off street stations which permit access only to buses, essential traffic and emergency vehicles.

Belconnen Town Centre is serviced by two bus stations located along Cohen Street: Cohen Street Bus Station (located outside the Belconnen Bus Depot near the intersection with Josephson Street, opened in May 2009)[32][33] and Belconnen Community Bus Station (located between Benjamin Way and Emu Bank, at the site of the former Belconnen Interchange, opened in November 2010).[34] In addition, a major stop is located outside Westfield Belconnen, near the intersection of Cohen and Lathlain Streets. All bus routes travelling to or through Belconnen Town Centre service all three locations. Additional stops are located on Emu Bank and Eastern Valley Way which are serviced by most routes which travel through Belconnen Town Centre.[35]

Concrete bunker shelter outside Old Parliament House, Parkes

Bus shelters

Bus shelters installed at stops include what is referred to as a "concrete bunker" which were first installed in May 1975.[36] More modern shelters include glass-sided Adshel shelters (both with and without advertising) which were first installed in 2007[37] and CAM (Community Asset Management NZ Limited) shelters which were first installed in 2012.[38]

References

  1. ↑ "Territory and Municipal Services Directorate Annual Report 2012-13 Volume 2" (PDF). ACT Government. p. 204. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Canberra's Engineering Heritage". Engineering Heritage Australia. Archived from the original on 30 April 2010. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  3. ↑ "Transport Canberra - Public Transport Improvement Plan 2015" (PDF). ACT Government. p. 6.
  4. ↑ Lawson, Kirsten; McIlroy, Tom (27 October 2015). "ACTION and Capital Metro Agency to be rolled into one from 2016". The Canberra Times.
  5. ↑ "Accessible Public Transport". Transport for Canberra. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  6. ↑ "Concessions". Transport for Canberra. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  7. ↑ "MyWay". ACT Government - Transport For Canberra. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  8. ↑ "Wayfarer 200". Parkeon. Archived from the original on 23 September 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  9. ↑ "Axio". Parkeon. Archived from the original on 21 September 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  10. ↑ "Parkeon wins again down under" (Press release). Parkeon. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  11. ↑ Banks, Lisa (24 August 2011). "Canberra MyWay user base reaches 86,000". Computerworld. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  12. ↑ WA ticket validating machine system for Canberra buses Government of Western Australia 31 May 1993
  13. 1 2 "ACTION Fleet Summary". actbus.net. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  14. ↑ "Renault PR100.2 Mk II" (PDF). ACTION. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 September 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
  15. ↑ "Renault PR100.3 Diesel" (PDF). ACTION. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 September 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
  16. ↑ "Dennis Dart SLF Midi Bus - Diesel" (PDF). ACTION. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 September 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
  17. ↑ "Irisbus Agoraline CB60 Low Floor - Diesel" (PDF). ACTION. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 September 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
  18. ↑ "Scania L94UB CB60 Low Floor - CNG" (PDF). ACTION. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 September 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
  19. ↑ "MAN A69 18.310 HOCLNL CNG Low Floor" (PDF). ACTION. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 September 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
  20. ↑ "MAN A69 18.320 HOUCL-R-NL Diesel Low Floor" (PDF). ACTION. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
  21. ↑ "Scania K320UB 14.5m 6x2*4 CB60 Low Floor Diesel" (PDF). ACTION. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
  22. ↑ "Scania K360UA 6x2/2 CB80 Low Floor EEV Diesel" (PDF). ACTION. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  23. ↑ "Scania secures Australia's first Euro 6 bus fleet order". Scania Australia. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
  24. ↑ "Bike Racks on Buses". ACTION. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  25. ↑ "Entry to the ACT Heritage Register" (PDF). ACT Heritage Council. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  26. ↑ "Australian Capital Territory - ACTION" Australian Bus Panorama issue 12/6 June 1997 page 22
  27. ↑ Recommendation 22 Report on Inquiry into ACTION Buses and the Sustainable Transport Plan ACT Government October 2009
  28. ↑ "New Depot Opens" Fleetline October 1989 page 154
  29. ↑ "[No heading].". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). ACT: National Library of Australia. 22 November 1982. p. 15. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
  30. ↑ "Improved bus service at Woden.". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). ACT: National Library of Australia. 29 November 1972. p. 11. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  31. ↑ "[No heading].". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). ACT: National Library of Australia. 10 August 1991. p. 5. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  32. ↑ Belconnen Town Centre Developments ACTION Bus Timetable & Route Changes (Advertisement) Canberra City News 14 May 2009
  33. ↑ 3 stops to replace Belconnen interchange ABC News 25 May 2009
  34. ↑ Change at the interchange - the new Belconnen bus facilities ABC Radio Canberra 11 November 2010
  35. ↑ "Improvements to Belconnen Town Centre". ACT Planning and Land Authority. Retrieved 25 December 2008.
  36. ↑ "[No heading].". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). ACT: National Library of Australia. 14 May 1975. p. 9. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  37. ↑ "AdShel wins ACT tender". B & T. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  38. ↑ "Case Study - Canberra ACT bus shelters". CAM Shelters. Retrieved 21 February 2014.

External links

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