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Workers in nearly every capital city around Australia are shunning public transport in record numbers when deciding on how to get to work, according to a new University of Melbourne study.
And Melbourne is the worst performing city over the past three decades according to the research, which examined the available census data on Australian workers’ preferred method of transport into work over the past 30 years.
‘Travel to work in Australian capital cities, 1976-2006’ was completed by members of GAMUT, the Australasian Centre for the Governance and Management of Urban Transport, based at the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning.
Dr Paul Mees, the report’s principal author, says that despite the recent focus on climate change and the push towards more sustainable living, city based workers remain unconvinced.
“There has been a dramatic increase in the number of cars driven to work each day in Australia capital city – a 70.1Despite the focus on climate change city workers around Australia are shunning public transport and driving to work, research has shown.
Workers in nearly every capital city around Australia are shunning public transport in record numbers when deciding on how to get to work, according to a new University of Melbourne study.
And Melbourne is the worst performing city over the past three decades according to the research, which examined the available census data on Australian workers’ preferred method of transport into work over the past 30 years.
‘Travel to work in Australian capital cities, 1976-2006’ was completed by members of GAMUT, the Australasian Centre for the Governance and Management of Urban Transport, based at the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning.
Dr Paul Mees, the report’s principal author, says that despite the recent focus on climate change and the push towards more sustainable living, city based workers remain unconvinced.
“There has been a dramatic increase in the number of cars driven to work each day in Australia capital city – a 70.1 per cent rise over the past 30 years.”
“That’s more than 1.4 million cars on the road each day since census data began recording work travel information. The result has been a huge increase in greenhouse emissions.”
Melbourne has endured the biggest increase in car driving and the biggest declines in public transport, car pooling and walking. More cars are being driven to work each day in Melbourne than Sydney, despite the latter’s bigger workforce.
Just over 78 per cent of Melbourne workers drive each day, while just 13.9 per cent use public transport.
Dr Mees says that there are a number of key reasons why Melbourne performs so badly, and points the finger at the state government. “Melbourne has built no significant extensions to its suburban heavy rail system in the past 30 years, and yet it has built more lane-kilometres of urban freeway and tollway than any other Australian city in the same time period.”
Sydney remained the most ‘sustainable’ city, thanks to the highest mode share for public transport (21.2 per cent of workers), while Perth’s revamped rail system has lead to a modest turn around in the use of public transport. Adelaide is Australia’s most car-dominated city, with the highest share of workers driving cars and the lowest share using sustainable transport modes.
Despite widespread publicity about cycling as the best sustainable transport for urban workers, it still accounts for just one per cent of trips everywhere, though the figure is higher in Canberra (2.5 per cent).
The report also criticizes the transport funding priorities of the federal government. “The Auslink scheme is exacerbating urban transport problems, because it is biased in favour of new roads and against urban rail infrastructure.”
“Investment needs to be redirected away from urban motorways towards more environmentally friendly modes, particularly public transport and walking. This is the only way Australia can meet its international environmental obligations in the transport arena.”
A copy of the report is available online.
Editor's Note:
Original news release can be found here.
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