'Frustration' as no-shows increase with popularity in free public bus transport

And so that's what we've been trying to remove." Loading... Northern Tasmanian Christer Osbeck said he used Kinetic's service to visit his kids in Hobart. "It's free, it's cheaper than the car and it's relaxing," Mr Osbeck said. He said it was unfortunate people were missing out on seats due to others not turning up. "It's a bit sad, some people want to book it and can't but it's a fact of life; people are how they are," he said. "I always book ahead of time; a week maybe. I've never missed out." Reminder system trial promising In a bid to address the issue, Kinetic has been trialling a new reminder system on the Hobart to Launceston service, which sends passengers a text message and email 48 hours before departure, asking them to confirm or cancel their booking. Mr Sewards said the two-week trial has been a success, with nearly 10 per cent of people taking the option to cancel when prompted. In a trial of the new reminder system, 10 per cent of people took up the offer to cancel when prompted. (Supplied) "We've also seen at transit centres a significant reduction in the use of standby queues, so more people are having the ability to get on the bus and use the bus," he said. Following the trial, Kinetic will now roll the reminder system out statewide. Despite the improvement, Mr Sewards said there are still some bookings that are not being used. The company said it will continue to monitor booking behaviour, and explore further options if unused bookings remain an issue. One of those options, according to Mr Sewards, would be requiring passengers to confirm their booking in order to keep their seat. "We've seen an improvement, most definitely, but if we did not see an improvement, we would have to think about saying to people, 'if you don't confirm, then we can't take your seat'," he said. "But at this point, we haven't done that yet. We're allowing people to click on to cancel and to click on to accept." Transport minister welcomes initiative Transport Minister Kerry Vincent welcomed the work Kinetic has done to reduce no-show bookings. The government contracted transport ticketing provider Cubic in 2024 to roll out a new "smart" ticketing system across Tasmania's public transport network, which would allow passengers to pay for fares with smart phones and bank cards. But Mr Vincent this morning said the work has been on hold since public transport was made free. "The Cubic ticketing system is on hold at the moment, while we work through some of these issues and look at how effective free fares are going to be now and into the future," he said.