Buses will remain the dominant form of public transport in Canberra, whether or not a light rail is built, says a transport economist.
University of Canberra associate professor Cameron Gordon said authorities should be wary of "modal fetishism'' when planning for future transport needs.
Dr Gordon will speak on Friday at a public seminar on sustainable procurement and risk management at which the planned ACT light rail network will be used as a case study.
He said buses would remain an important form of transport after the ACT government's proposed Capital Metro light rail network was built.
"I think Canberra's a case where you're always basically going to see more trips on bus than light rail. That's just a reality,'' Dr Gordon said.
He said Canberra needed more "structural transit'' but it might be the case that rapid bus transit could deliver similar benefits to light rail at a lower cost.
"I'm more of an agnostic when it comes to an actual light rail,'' he said.
"I think you could basically get more bang for the buck if you focused on bus rapid transit.''
Rapid bus transit systems feature dedicated busways.
Dr Gordon said some people were prone to transport "modal fetishism'', including those car lovers who believed public transport was a waste of money.
"They say, 'Forget it, it's a waste of money and ACTION is a waste of money','' he said.
"I'm always fighting with those people because I don't think that's true. On the other hand you're also fighting with the rail advocates who say 'it's got to have steel-on-steel'.
"It's a question of moving people from one place to another and capacity for moving people. If a bus can do it as well and give people a reasonably good rider experience - and that is important - why not?''
Dr Gordon said light rail or rapid bus transit made sense on economic and environmental grounds but would probably need a public subsidy.
"It's going to be a loss-making operation for some time,'' he said.
"But depending on how you structure things you might be able to have that corridor route profitable, depending on how you price it and how you feed people into it.''
One of the arguments made for expanding public transport options in Canberra to include rail is the potential to help reduce carbon emissions.
Environmental activists on Thursday gathered outside the Legislative Assembly to launch a campaign to persuade the ACT government to stop investing in the "fossil fuel industry.''
Fossil Free ACT spokesman Josh Creaser said the government prided itself on ambitious climate-change polices but invested in coal, oil and gas companies.
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