Bunbury public transport gets new name, look and ticketing system

SmartRider, Transperth’s electronic smartcard ticketing system, has been introduced in Bunbury, coinciding with a change of name and new look for the city’s public transport.

Transport Minister Troy Buswell said the Bunbury City Transit town and school bus services would from this week operate as TransBunbury.

“The ‘Trans’ branding is consistent with a State-wide strategy to improve the visibility of the Public Transport Authority’s (PTA) regional operations in the 14 major centres in which it runs town bus services,” Mr Buswell said.

“As part of this strategy, the PTA is also in the process of acquiring the Bunbury bus fleet and bus depot.

“All other operations and administration will remain the same, but the name of the service and colour scheme of buses will change to be consistent with Transperth and other Transregional services.

“This involves a move to the standard silver and green colour scheme for the newer, low-floor buses, and green and white for the older buses.”

Bunbury is the fourth regional centre to introduce the electronic ticketing system and new look and branding, following successful rollouts in Geraldton, Kalgoorlie-Boulder and Busselton.  Esperance and Broome also have ‘Trans’ branding but do not yet have SmartRider.

There are 32 buses in the Bunbury fleet, of which 27 will be repainted.  The other five will come from the Transperth fleet and replace five of the oldest buses.

“SmartRider enables cardholders to travel anywhere on the TransBunbury system,” the Minister said.

“It is also valid for all other Transregional services and on all Transperth bus, train and ferry services in the greater metropolitan area of Perth.

“SmartRider also allows passengers to enjoy discounted fares such as the 50c fare for students and the free off-peak travel entitlements for seniors and pensioners.”

The extension of SmartRider to a fourth regional operation is a further consolidation of its position as Australia’s first and most successful, fully-integrated smartcard ticketing system.