00:02Free bus rides between Tasmania's population centres are popular.
00:07We got to here going, oh we need to get to Devonport.
00:09Boom came in here, oh we got free service, it's like e-beauty, saving money.
00:14But the fare free travel has resulted in some unfair experiences,
00:18with some people booking seats on buses then not showing up for the journey.
00:23Sometimes I don't find a booking, so I just have to go to the transit centre
00:27and say like, oh can I be in the waiting list?
00:29And most of the time it's like ten people that don't show up.
00:32I've only tried to book twice and both times it was fully booked,
00:35so that's why I always just rock up now.
00:37It's a particularly unique problem I guess that's come about as a result of the fact
00:42there's been massive demand, but we're pretty confident that our new initiatives
00:47have got a long way to fixing that issue.
00:49The intercity bus operator, Kinetic, has started sending SMS and email reminders
00:54to passengers 48 hours before their departure, asking them to confirm they'll travel
00:59or cancel their booking.
01:01Around 10% of people who use the service in the first two weeks that were trialled it
01:07have clicked through to say, sorry I'm not catching the bus now, I've cancelled,
01:11which has freed up that seat for somebody else.
01:13The industry is working to resolve that issue and the SMS system seems to be working very, very well.
01:19Kinetic says it'll keep monitoring booking behaviour, and if unused bookings remain a problem,
01:23they'll consider other actions.
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