Transport officials are persisting with a contract for new diesel buses despite lengthy delivery delays, saying it would not have been faster to tear it up and buy the buses from another manufacturer.
The lengthy delay has forced Transport Canberra to retain a fleet of ageing Renault PR100.2 buses that do not meet disability access requirements.
The ACT government signed a contract with Scania Australia in March 2022 to lease 26 diesel-powered buses, with a delivery date before the end of that year.
Scania Australia notified Transport Canberra of delays as a result of "global pressures on supply chains" in July 2022. The buses were then expected to be delivered by February 2023.
Nine of the buses have now entered service in Transport Canberra's fleet, with another nine expected to arrive by the end of the year. The last eight are now expected to arrive in 2024.
Transport Minister Chris Steel said more than half of the old Renault buses had been replaced, and the remaining buses that are not compliant with access laws would be retired as the new Scania diesel buses and Custom Denning electric buses are delivered.
Transport Canberra had been monitoring the progress of bus manufacturing in Adelaide, where supply of steel and fibreglass components, along with air conditioning units, had been affected.
The government expects the last of the Renault PR100.2 buses - which have an orange-over-blue livery familiar to generations of Canberra public transport users - to be retired early next year.
"In undertaking due diligence in its management of the contract with Scania Australia, Transport Canberra came to the realisation that changing suppliers at this stage would not result in the delivery of buses in a shorter time," Mr Steel told the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.
"Although the delays are unfortunate, they were not deemed unreasonable under the circumstances being experienced by the sector. In addition to the supply chain challenges, the industry is now also experiencing a nationwide skills shortage which could result in further delays."
Mr Steel said Transport Canberra was working to limit the use of the old Renault buses, while maintaining service reliability across the bus network.
Transport Canberra unveiled the first of four Custom Denning electric buses at the Belconnen bus depot on Monday. The government signed the contract for the buses, which have been built in Sydney, in June.
Meanwhile, Mr Steel expects a new, long-awaited ticketing system for Canberra's public transport system to be rolled out in the second half of next year.
The system will be trialled - including on a demonstration bus, so the public can become familiar with the system - in the first half of 2024.
The ACT government in February signed a contract with NEC Australia to deliver the MyWay+ system, which will replace the existing smartcard-based one introduced in 2011. The new system will allow passengers to pay with debit or credit cards, their smartphones and provide better access to real-time travel information.
