Updated November 30, 2018 16:36:56

Photo: The start date for the new bus network has been pushed back four months. (ABC News: Penny McLintock)

A Canberra private school principal has confronted the ACT Transport Minister on ABC radio over a delay in the rollout of the new bus network, denying that schools had received adequate consultation and saying it was "just not good enough".

Transport Minister Meegan Fitzharris confirmed on ABC Radio Canberra this morning that the roll out of the new bus network has blown out to April 2019, due to uncertainty surrounding the launch of a light rail network.

Originally due to start operation in January, the new bus network was intended to deliver 30 per cent more buses for schools and to bring more students within walking distance of a Rapid express service.

But it drew criticism, particularly from Catholic and independent schools who lost some dedicated buses in the overhaul.

While Ms Fitzharris was on radio, Radford College principal Fiona Godfrey called in, leading to a fiery discussion.

"Our repeated requests for consultation have gone unanswered and, quite frankly, it's just not good enough," she said.

But when Ms Fitzharris insisted that many of the issues had been resolved, it drew a short response from Ms Godfrey:

Ms Fitzharris: "I understand that Transport Canberra's been working with both yourself and a number of your staff."

Ms Godfrey: "No I'm sorry they have not worked with us at all."

Ms Godfrey said the school was preparing to send out information to parents on Friday afternoon about the delay in the new network.

She said the school remained opposed to changes affecting their dedicated bus routes and would be running their own bus service to cater to students not included in the new network.

"We are very concerned about the lack of services, particularly from the southern suburbs of Canberra to us here at Radford," Ms Godfrey told Ms Fitzharris.

"We are a school that's expanding and yet our bus services have been incredibly reduced as a result of these changes.

"Our parents rely on a service to get their children to school and we're particularly concerned about our younger students, that they should not have to go through [bus] interchanges".

'We're the safest city in the country'

Ms Fitzharris again defended the changes to bus routes, arguing they were more efficient.

Photo: Ms Fitzharris said the new timetable would be released in time for parents to plan their children's travel for term two. (ABC News: Jake Evans)

"We have to have an equitable distribution across the city of our public bus services, whether that is normal route services or whether that is a dedicated school service," she said.

"My kids also catch buses to and from school at different points throughout the week — nearly 60 per cent of kids that travel our bus network today travel on the normal network."

The minister also attempted to allay fears for students' safety — something many private schools have pointed to as a major concern.

"We're the safest city in the country, our bus network is safe and we're going above and beyond to ensure that," she said.

Timetable to be released in March for term two start date

Ms Fitzharris said, by way of compensation, the Government would offer a month of free bus travel, at the beginning of the new network, to those using a My Way pass, costed at about $2 million.

But she denied the four-month delay was a "blow out" of the project and said they had announced a start date of April 27 to "give people certainty ahead of the new year".

"The advice to me from our bus network and Transport Canberra is that the optimal time to start the new network is at that beginning of the school term," Ms Fitzharris said.

"We just couldn't connect to term one because we don't know a start date for light rail — we wanted to make sure we aligned up as best as possible."

Canberra's light rail project has yet to receive the necessary third-party accreditation that allows it to become operational, a process that Ms Fitzharris said threw its start date — and that of the bus network — into uncertainty.

"I would love to have a start date right now," she said.

"At this stage there is nothing before me really to suggest that it will be later than the first quarter."

The new bus timetable would be released in March, Ms Fitzharris said, to give parents and schools time to prepare ahead of the second school term.

"The recommended option is to make sure we give certainty to people and we start in term two and that's what we're saying today," she said.

Topics: road-transport, education, schools, australia, act, canberra-2600

First posted November 30, 2018 13:39:21