The Internet and telephone survey for AAMI of 2503 people was conducted by Sweeney Research in every Australian state and territory.

The survey found 68 per cent of Canberra commuters drove to work or school; 10 per cent used public transport; 6 per cent cycled or walked and 2 per cent rode a motorcycle or scooter.

Public transport use was highest in Sydney at 26 per cent. Then came Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide at 20 per cent, 19, 18 and 14 per cent respectively. Hobart, at 10 per cent was similar to Canberra and Darwin, at 3 per cent, had the lowest use of public transport.

ACT AAMI manager John Crommie said half of commuters believed public transport in Canberra was unreliable, 34 per cent that it took too long and 35 per cent said they could not use public transport because it was not available where they lived, worked or went to school.

The survey had found 11 per cent of commuters were worried about their safety on public transport and 26 per cent simply preferred to use their cars.

Despite these concerns, the survey had found a reduction since last year from 70 per cent to 68 per cent of ACT people driving to work or school.

The percentage of people using public transport had increased from 7 per cent to 10 per cent.

The survey was conducted in February and March, before major changes to ACTION's weekday timetable were introduced on June 2.

ACTION general manager Tom Elliott would not comment on the survey but repeated a statement he made last week that more people than ever were using the bus service.

He believed fuel prices and better bus frequencies were behind the shift.

''Our challenge is to maintain that while making changes where they have to be made.''

Some people were still working out how best to use the new network.

''Where we think we might have miscued on part of a design or loading, we are making adjustments on the fly.''

Some services were very heavily loaded, putting pressure on schedules with the time taken to load. The more people who prepaid, the better.

Mr Crommie said increased use of public transport had been seen previously with fuel shortages. Fewer cars on the road would mean fewer crashes. So far, increasing fuel prices had not been reflected in the reduction of the rate of claims from 12 per cent.

Increasing fuel prices were already contributing to the growth of car sharing, particularly in larger cities. This was not simply car pooling, but a modified car rental system.

It was aimed at people who do not need a vehicle every day, or families which did not want a second vehicle. Members could pick up vehicles from reserved parking places, using a swipe card, then return the vehicles to the same parking places.