Santa’s go card is at the ready ahead of his appearance at the Ripley Town Centre on Saturday.

Father Christmas will make a quick trip from the North Pole to the town centre from 10am to 11.20am to meet and greet the community and hear from TransLink Customer Liaison Officers, who will be at the event to provide information on TransLink services.

Member for Ipswich Jennifer Howard said Santa had used TransLink’s Journey Planner to arrange his travel on a specially-marked “Santa’s Sleigh” bus and had his go card ready to tap.

“TransLink staff will be on hand to provide information about public transport and travel tips to the Ripley community and residents of surrounding areas,” Ms Howard said.

“It’s been an exciting year in public transport for residents of Ripley Valley and Springfield, starting with the introduction of the Ripley Valley 531 service back in January.”

Just this week Translink announced multiple improvements to the Springfield bus network, including the introduction of a new bus service for Spring Mountain (533) along with a new bus interchange at Springfield station, which will be serviced by the newly introduced 527 and 528 routes after the former 522 route was split into two.

Member for Jordan Charis Mullen said use of the Ripley Valley 531 service had steadily increased since the start of the year.

“Since the service started on January 29 this year, more than 18,000 trips have been taken on the Ripley Valley 531 route,” Ms Mullen said.

“We’re seeing more people jump on board the service with the highest number of daily trips – 135 – taken on 21 November.”

Centre Manager at Ripley Town Centre Andrew Quinert said Christmas fever was in the air.

“We can’t wait to see Santa arrive on the TransLink Christmas bus at Ripley Town Centre. We are excited to provide the local community with some early Christmas magic,” Mr Quinert said.